You Have More Twitter Followers Than You Think

Recently a client questioned the effectiveness of their Twitter account, particularly the question of why people weren't following at a higher exponential rate as the months passed. One might expect, if you spend enough time tweeting about your business, products, or services, that eventually word will catch on and people will click that magic button to add you to their feed. In theory this should be the case, but to be fair we should consider how no two Twitter accounts are alike, and the reasons why people use Twitter will affect your business regardless of whether or not you are followed.You may not realize it now, but there are people reading your tweets now and finding the information useful, but deciding not to follow you. Before we get into an explanation of why, let's ponder a few points:1) If you operate a niche business that caters to local market where the population is about five thousand people, don't expect a million followers.2) In fact, don't expect a million followers unless you are Conan O'Brien, Lady GaGa, or that guy whose Twitter account became a television show.Feel terrible now? You shouldn't. You may look at your hard numbers and think that because your followers have yet to round up to three digits means that nobody is getting your message. This isn't entirely true. One thing to remember about Twitter is that - unlike Facebook, where somebody is expected to register and/or log in before information is made visible - the data is there for anybody to see. One doesn't have to have a Twitter account to read Conan's 140-character long bon mots, nor does one need to subscribe to Lady GaGa's feed to find out which Pulp Fiction inspired brassiere she plans to wear in concert tonight. Go to Twitter's main page and search anything you like: people are either tweeting opinions about it or telling you where to buy it.