How to Grow on Twitter: Offline AND Online

Twitter is a powerful tool.

Online AND offline.

‘Offline too?’

Yes. It’s one of the few social media which allows you to build your self-confidence & communication skills.

If you use it correctly.

Along with using it as a self-improvement tool, you get to also grow a personal brand.

A personal brand that is centered around your interests, skills & hobbies.

This article is going to teach you how to use Twitter to grow as a person.

And also teach you how to build a Twitter following.

Within the time of writing this article, I have grown my personal brand ArmaniTalks to 29,900 followers in less than 2 years.

I have built the brand around my passion for communication skills.

And attracted an audience from all around the globe.

Today, I will teach you how to do the same.

In this post, you’ll learn about the offline & online benefits of Twitter as well as a 3 step process to grow your brand.

Learn to leverage social media rather than being leveraged by it.

Benefits of Twitter: Offline

Before you invest in something, you have to understand what’s in it for you.

Otherwise, you will quit the moment stuff begins getting tough.

This blog deals with communication skills, so let’s start off with that.

Twitter makes you a better communicator.

Initially, I started my account to simply share my Toastmasters insights.

After tweeting daily for 1 month, I noticed my public speaking game improve.

Why?

Because Twitter forces you to write your thoughts down.

Not only do you have to write the thoughts down, but you also have to do it in limited characters.

This allows you to think more clearly & cut back on rambling.

Thinking clearly leads to reduced anxiety.

What is anxiety?

When your thoughts are disjointed & all over the place.

Twitter connects random thoughts into an aligned philosophy.

And talking about your skills makes you more proficient in the skills.

So a few benefits of Twitter include:

-Clarity in thoughts.

-Precision with words.

-Reduced anxiety.

-Enhanced self-awareness.

-Further proficiency in the skillset of choice.

Benefits of Twitter: Online

Now that I mentioned the benefits of Twitter offline, let’s talk about online.

The beauty of this platform is that you build a social network from all around the planet.

All the walls are broken down in the digital age.

We currently live in the “Global Village” as, Marshall McLuhan predicted in his famous book, The Gutenberg Galaxy.

A strong network allows you to connect with other people from your industry, entrepreneurs, doctors & much more.

To add to that, you build social proof for your niche.

Growing your Twitter following allows you to showcase that others find your body of work valuable.

It’s the modern-day business card.

Let’s not forget monetization.

Once you begin growing an audience, often, THEY will tell you their problems.

This allows you to have the market research delivered to your doorstep.

From the market research, you can go on to develop products or services.

Due to tools like Skype, Aweber (email delivery service), Amazon Influencers etc…

It’s much easier to look for creative ways to get an extra source of income.

So a recap:

-You build a global network.

-Add social proof.

-Monetize your skillset.

How to Grow a Twitter Following.

There are plenty of strategies out there, but let me keep it simple.

Here is my blueprint.

1. Tweet for yourself.
2. Network in the DMs.
3. Be consistent.

‘3 steps bro?? I thought it was going to be WAY harder.’

Nah, I like to keep it simple.

Let’s go through each one.

1. Tweet for yourself.

This isn’t me saying that you should be selfish.

But rather, authenticity wins in the long run.

What a lot of people do is that they see what is already working in other niches & try to copy that.

This may work short term.

But long term? Creating content will feel like work.

The long term strategy is to build your personal brand around YOUR interests.

What is it that you are trying to improve, get better in? What are some hobbies?

Your personality is the ultimate niche.

When I first started my personal brand, there weren’t many people talking about communication skills like public speaking.

So rather than mailing it in, I doubled down.

If you are consistent for a long period of time, others will be able to sense your authenticity.

They will understand that you truly enjoy what you are talking about.

Once they fall in love with you, you build trust.

And people do business with people they trust, not a snake oil salesman.

Content creation will feel like fun rather than work.

One of the best mind hacks I can give you is to give advice to your younger self.

This allows you to unlock the blueprint for infinite content.

2. Network In DMs

When I first started ArmaniTalks, I would always hop into people’s DMs.

Just say whatsup & introduce myself.

And if people don’t respond back, all good.

Big accounts get endless requests, so it’s hard for them to keep up. Don’t personalize it champ.

Find people in your niche & lead with value.

If you are a brand new account & don’t know how to lead with value, here are a few tips.

1. Compliment their work– This is as simple as it gets. If someone’s work had an impact on your life, then let them know. People will warm up to you.
2. Deliver your skill for free– So I would give others free public speaking consulting sessions. Even though I was a small account, they appreciated it & we built rapport.
3. Support their work afterward– After talking to them, continue to retweet & comment their stuff. It helps solidify the bond.

Networking online isn’t too different from networking offline.

The same principles apply.

If you are looking for a timeless classic on how to lead with value, then check out the book Never Eat Alone.

It has a lot of practical tips.

3. Be Consistent

If you did step 1 correctly, then this one will feel like LIGHT work.

No lie.

You are tweeting for yourself & sharpening your communication muscle.

The compound effect is real.

But the only people who see compounding effects are the ones who show up every day.

Make it a promise to tweet at least 1 time a day.

That’s light work. Any dummy can do that.

Twitter has a draft section too. So when you are free, write a few tweets, exit out, hit ‘save in drafts.’

So the days that you are busy, you’ll have a few tweets as a backup.

And don’t forget automation tools like Buffer.

I use them prolifically.

I’ll write some tweets in the morning on the days that I know that I’ll be busy.

So rather than checking on your phone throughout the day, you are able to check occasionally.

Self Improvement thru Twitter

Who’d ever think that Twitter would be responsible for:

-Improving communication skills.

-Building a business.

-Developing a global presence.

Pretty dope when you think about it.

We have come very far in terms of global communication.

Back in the days, it was difficult to send messages over long durations.

Then came the telegraph.

Followed by the wireless telegraph.

Radio.

Television.

And finally, the internet.

‘Is it too late to grow your Twitter?’

It’s only too late if you go in with that intention.

And if you are competing with others.

If you followed the steps in this blog, then you’ll realize that you are just competing with yourself.

And that’s the cheat code to building your online following.

Good luck.

– ArmaniTalks