I would like to pose a question to you.  Which would you prefer, 500 targeted Twitter Followers or 5000 non-targeted Twitter followers?

Get Twitter Followers

Most people would say 5000, of course! I can see how that large number can be enticing, but if part of your business strategy in using Twitter is to attract people to your website, then wouldn’t you want to attract the people that would possibly forward your business?

I have to confess, although I’ve been an online business owner for two years, I’ve only truly dove into Twitter about three months ago.  At the time of this posting, I’ve acquired almost 600 (for the most part) targeted followers.

I decided early on that it was important to me that I create a relationship with my Twitter follows. If that meant less followers and a slow growth rate, then so be it. I saw the value in using Twitter, but my main focus was spending time building my business and not spending hours a day on social media sites.

Let’s play devil’s advocate for a moment though. I will present both sides and you can decide for yourself which strategy would work best for you and your business.

Option 1: Goal is to acquire targeted visitors relevant to your interest

With this option, your main focus is to seek out other Twitter users that have common interests.  For example, if you are in the business sector, you would seek out other users in this category simply by doing a search with Twitter search.

Your plan is to seek out other users that you can possibly establish joint ventures with. As well, you will target those first starting a business with the intention of eventually offering your products or services to them.  This strategy is very targeted and intentional and allows you build a core network of followers with a high prospect of obtaining useful leads.

Your growth rate is a lot slower but allows you the opportunity to network with your followers and build relationships.  You have an allotted amount of time each day to do so, but you are slowly building a strong foundation with your network.

Option 2: Goal is to get as many followers as possible

You growth rate is a lot faster using this method.  However, you will need to work very hard to get to the 5000 follower mark.  Instead of ten minutes a day on Twitter, you spend 2 hours a day, searching for people, following them, waiting to see if they followed back, if not un-following them and searching  for more followers.

In the process, by default, you are able to attract quite a few targeted visitors.  It will be difficult to evaluate the statistics because the game of acquiring as many followers as possible doesn’t allow you much time to decipher which followers can turn into leads.

You are basically phishing for followers to see which ones catch the bait. Your modus operandi is to get thousands of followers in the hopes that many of them will become leads.

[End of debate]

It makes sense that the larger number of Twitter followers you have, you increase the likelihood that there will be potential clients in the mix.  But what price are you paying by not using that time to work on tasks that move your business forward?

Don’t get me wrong, having 5000 followers is awesome and attempting to get as many followers as you can is great game to play. I can’t wait to get to that number!  All I’m asking is are you evaluating how you want to play the game and is it the best strategy for your business?

Twitter can be a great source of traffic for your business. In fact, currently, between 5-10% of my website traffic comes directly from twitter referrals.  When you take into account direct traffic, organic Google traffic, and traffic from other blogs, other social media sites and forums, this is a pretty decent percentage.

However, the key here at the end of the day is not how many followers you have or how many visits to your site, but does that translate to acquiring leads and in turn converting those leads into clients.

Which method do you prefer?  What has worked for you?

About the Author:

Michele Welch is an online business owner and consultant who shares online business tips with those looking to start their own online ventures. To get FREE access to her 7-Day Action Plan on Starting an Online Business and weekly business tips, please sign up for her newsletter at http://www.newbizblogger.com.