There is no magic wand for social media marketing, but here are some timely tips to help you get more followers on Twitter:

1. Build a good foundation! Before you start trying to build a huge following on Twitter, take time to determine what message you want to send. Your Tweets need to be building your brand, and if you veer off course, or change your message significantly along the way, you will fail to build a good base of followers because you have sent conflicting messages about who and what you really are. 

2. Welcome new followers! Send an automatic Direct Message to your new followers on Twitter to say “Welcome” and “Thanks!” This is a great opportunity to include the URLs of your websites, blogs, whatever.

3. Give people something of value! This is one of the most important aspects of building a good, solid follower base on Twitter! Almost everybody loves humor, so send links to funny jokes, pictures, or cartoons, etc. People also love links to good resources or tools, things along that line. SHARE things of value, and share often!

4. In order to get followers, you will need to follow a lot of other people, yourself. Find other Twitter users with similar interests as your niche, and begin following them.

5. Get in on the conversation! Lots of conversations, actually. If you see a discussion going on that is relevant to something you’re interested in and/or knowledgeable about---jump in there! 

6. Fill out your Twitter bio! Tell something about yourself….your hobbies….causes….interests…..and so on. Be honest!

7. Be nice. This may seem like a no-brainer but there are some people who do more harm than good trying to use social media marketing simply because they don’t mind their manners. If you have the personality of a puff adder, you’d be well advised to either stay out of social media or hire someone else to take care of it for you. If you have the personality of a puff adder, you will shoot yourself in the foot with social media.

8. Ask for Retweets! This is tremendously effective BUT…..make sure you are asking others to rewteet something that is worth retweeting. 

9. Time your Tweets wisely! Generally speaking, your Tweets will be more likely to get Retweeted, or you’re more apt to accrue followers, during peak times such as business hours in the US, for instance. 

10. If you have a blog, which you certainly should if you are in ecommerce….post your Tweets to your blog. Put your Tweets in the sidebar, for instance. You should also link to your Twitter account.

Twitter can be a very powerful tool for social media marketing to help grow your ecommerce business!