Why Are You On Twitter?

Alrighty. We’re in the final part of this PWA series. Let’s wrap it up.

Here’s what we’ve learned so far…

1. How to pick your 1-3 core “content buckets”
2. The Twitter algorithm (Consistent Threads + Retweets (RTs) = Followers)
3. A simple way to create 108 pieces of content
4. The 3 types of threads that go viral
5. How to write great hooks specifically for Twitter

In this final part, I want to talk about your “Big Why.”

Why do you want to build your audience on Twitter?

In part one, I mentioned these as your potential reasons:

• Build a personal brand
• Monetize your following
• Create a TOFU for your funnel
• Turn your audience into “job insurance”
• Feed your insatiable, attention-starved ego

It’s important you know your “Big Why” because as you may recall, the hardest part of building an audience is the “consistency.”

It’s one thing to write a few threads here and there. It’s another to do it consistently, every single week, come hell or high water.

So if you don’t have your “Big Why” in place… you’ll burn out, get bored, or won’t have the drive to keep grinding out content even when you don’t feel like it.

Because here’s what you need to understand…

Building An Audience is Simple But Not Easy

I’ve given you a really great foundation to start here.

It’s simple to do and follow. But it’s hard to actually execute and keep doing it.

And what’s more – if you’re just starting out with less than 500 followers… you’re in for a world of pain for the first few months.

You see, if you don’t have enough followers… 

• Then not enough people will retweet your stuff. 
• And if you don’t get enough retweets, you don’t go viral. 
• And if you don’t go viral, you don’t get followers.

This sounds like a “chicken and egg” problem, doesn’t it?

If you don’t already have followers, you can’t get more followers.

So what’s the solution?

Start With a “Seed Audience”

Here’s what you need to do: Make a lot of friends (who are active on Twitter) fast.

It’s important that those friends are active. Because the last thing you need is friends who aren’t on Twitter.

Remember, you want engaged followers. People who will like, retweet, and reply to your content.

I’ve seen accounts with 60,000 followers… with little to no engagement. That’s as good as useless. It’s like a dead email list. Nobody is opening, clicking, or buying.

But how do you find that initial group of friends? 

(What we insiders call a “seed audience”)

Answer: You join Ship 30 for 30. (<– Affiliate Link).

Ship30 is a cohort-based class taught by Dickie Bush (280k followers) and Nicolas Cole (112k followers).

Every class, about 1,000 students commit to writing one “atomic essay” every day for 30 days… posting it on Twitter… and helping each other grow.

An “atomic essay” is a 250-word piece of writing… something you can probably do in your sleep (since you’re all copywriters here!).

This 30 Twitter posts in 30 days does several things…

1. You develop a strong writing habit
2. You’re posting on Twitter and getting feedback
3. You’re doing it with 1000 other people simultaneously
4. You make friends with them
5. You now have a “seed audience”

With a “seed audience,” when you post tweets and threads… you now have actual reactions from real people: likes, replies, retweets.

But best of all, you’re joining a community that supports each other. Ship30’s motto is: “Come for the writing, stay for the community.” It’s 100% true.

Doing Ship30 was the best decision I made two years ago. Because the other methods for getting those first 500 followers is a worse grind and hustle.

Other Ways of Getting to 500 Followers

The other proven method of getting followers is to be what we call a “reply guy.”

Remember all those accounts with 10k or more followers I told you to research?

• You’re going to click on the “bell” in their profile.
• This will notify you the moment they post something.
• You’re going to read what they post, and you guessed it, reply

Your reply shouldn’t be “great tweet,” “I agree,” or “love it.” DO NOT DO THAT.

Your reply should be thoughtful, useful, and add value.

You should say what you learned and how it was insightful… or add a further insight or relatable story… or if you’re clever/funny, a fun joke.

By being the first to comment, you will get attention. And if it was insightful, people will read it and follow you.

In fact, some Twitter gurus argue that you should do nothing but be a “reply guy” until you have at least 500 followers.

Then you can start writing threads. Because writing threads (or good tweets even) is pointless if your audience is less than 500 followers. It’s not enough people to retweet/like your stuff and push it out into the algorithm.

How NOT to Get Your First 500 Followers

 

• Don’t follow people just to get a “follow-back.” These are not people who will engage with your content. They’re just pumping up numbers.

 

 

• Don’t buy followers. Ditto. They’re not going to engage with your content. You can’t feed the Algo-Gods if your content doesn’t get retweets/likes/replies.

 

 

• Other channels aren’t “great.” Telling people on your email list or other platforms to follow you is OK, but not “great” because again… if they’re not active Twitter users, they’re not going to help you feed the Algo-Gods.

 

A Typical Path for Twitter Growth

Here’s the typical life cycle of a Twitter account:

• 0-500 followers – Be a “reply guy” and make friends. DM strangers. Add value.
• 501-2.5k followers – Write at least one thread a week, but keep being a “reply guy.” Interact with your audience, interact with bigger accounts you admire.

 

• 2.5k-10k followers – Slowly drop the “reply guy” activities unless you really like their content… and bump your thread-writing to 2-3X/week.

 

 

• 10k+ followers – The algorithm takes over. Keep posting threads, but followers should automatically find you now. Remember to interact with your followers!

 

OK, Back to the Original Question Though: But Why?

Why would you want to put in all this work on Twitter?

Let’s talk about the reasons again. Are you looking to…

• Build a personal brand?
• Monetize your following?
• Create a TOFU for your funnel?
• Turn your audience into  “job insurance”?
• Feed your insatiable, attention-starved ego?

Make sure you’re clear on WHY you’re doing this, because it is a lot of work.

But if your “why” is clear, I hope you can see the potential here.

Many of my “Twitter friends” have built businesses from being on Twitter. Others have found clients, jobs, partnerships.

And if you have any questions about what I wrote about the past four weeks… feel free to reach out to me at colin@pluralcopy.com or DM me on Twitter @colinyjchung.

I look forward to reading your viral threads.