Maximize your presence on X: Strategies to grow your followers

Maximize your presence on X: Strategies to grow your followers
Micky Weis
Micky Weis

15 years of experience in online marketing. Former CMO at, among others, Firtal Web A/S. Blogger about marketing and the things I’ve experienced along the way. Follow me on LinkedIn for daily updates.

In 2023, Twitter underwent a complete rebranding and was renamed X, following the ownership change to Elon Musk.

However, Twitter did not only change its branding; there was also an evolution in the platform’s content.

Instead of posts limited to 280 characters, it is now possible to use the platform for unlimited activity.

With 540 million users, X remains one of the most popular social media platforms after the ownership change, making it worth investing your efforts in this platform.

In today’s post, we will dive into how to leverage the platform’s full potential by gaining more followers and thus a larger audience for your content.

It should be noted that, especially for a platform like X, it’s not just the number of followers that determines your success; the level of engagement is equally crucial.

A large number of followers isn’t worth much if they don’t engage with your posts and share them.

In other words: the more engagement you generate, the greater your reach will be.

Below, we’ll explore how to gain more followers through profile optimization, as well as tips for your content and engagement on the platform.

Let’s dive in!

Streamline your branding on your profile

To succeed with your account on X and gain more followers, you need to streamline your profile with your overall branding.

Ensure that your profile reflects either yourself or your business and immediately resonates with users.

When users click on a profile, they form a direct first impression that will be crucial in deciding whether they want to follow or not.

Let’s go over the elements on your profile that you should pay attention to.

Profile picture

The profile picture is one of the most important elements of your X profile.

It is, naturally, your outward face, and for this reason, it should immediately resonate with your users.

If it’s a personal profile, I recommend using the same profile picture from your other social media accounts.

This ensures that users will instantly recognize you from your presence on other platforms.

If it’s a business profile, the most obvious choice would be to use your company’s logo as the image.

Biography

Besides your profile picture, your biography will also be part of users’ first impressions of your profile. You have 160 characters to briefly and precisely convey an impression of your business.

This doesn’t mean it has to be a boring description; on the contrary, I advise you to be creative.

A bio means more than you might think, as it also plays a role in search results on the platform.

Make sure to include relevant keywords in your bio so users can find you, and link your presence on other social media platforms to your bio.

Profile header

Once your profile picture and bio are in place, it’s time to look at your profile header—the background image that adorns your profile.

It would be advantageous if your profile header reinforces your branding.

This can be done by adding information that neither your profile picture nor your bio can accommodate.

If it’s a business profile, it could also be a good idea to use this extra image space to promote new products or similar content.

Pinned tweet

The final point on the agenda for your branding is to look at your tweets.

Your profile may currently contain several tweets prioritized chronologically (newest tweets are placed at the top).

You can pin a relevant tweet as a permanent feature at the top of your profile, above the other tweets.

For example, if you have a tweet that has achieved a high level of engagement and showcases the essence of your business, it would be a good idea to pin it to your profile so that users can get a preview of the type of content they can expect from you.

Create relevant content

Once your profile branding is sorted, it’s time to talk about content.

There are no rules about what type of content your profile should post.

For some profiles, it’s actually their replies to followers’ questions that have gone viral, not their posts.

My best advice is to be creative with your posts and ensure that your content provides value to your users.

There is no longer a character limit, so you have more space to work with.

Create content that piques interest and genuinely offers value to your users. Don’t be afraid to use interactive elements like polls and quizzes if they make sense for you and your brand.

Also, keep a close eye on which posts your followers engage with the most and get a feel for the type of content that performs best.

That said, it’s also important to maintain the visibility of your profile on the platform. Develop a posting routine that matches your followers’ usage of the platform.

X offers its own analytics page to gain insights into your followers’ behavior on the platform, so you can post at the most relevant times.

Engage with your followers

We’ve already dived into content on X, and we’ll stay here a bit longer.

X is a platform focused on content—in other words, it’s through your posts that you can gain more followers.

No matter what type of content this might be, it’s necessary to engage with your followers.

If a follower has posted a comment with a question about your post or tagged you in another post, don’t leave them hanging.

In the end, X is a platform where everyone can freely follow the comment thread, and it sends a negative signal if your followers’ questions are not taken seriously.

Your engagement will not only build credibility around your brand, but it will also validate your followers’ engagement.

This applies not only to public posts but is equally important for direct messages, also known as DMs.

In other words, if you visibly engage with your followers, it will ultimately encourage new followers to join in.

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