7 Tools To Boost Your Twitter Following
Hey… I’ve been pondering whether to publish this post for a few days, because the tools I’m about to share with you could easily be abused by the mindless “quick-buck” idiots who fail to grasp the true power of social networking, but at the same time I’ve received so many questions lately about how to build a targeted following on Twitter that I feel it’s only fair to spill the beans.
What you’ll find in this article are seven of the very best and most effective tools for building your own targeted, responsive, Twitter following. These are the same tools that the professionals are using to create accounts with thousands, or even tens of thousands, of targeted followers and if you’d like to emulate their success – with ease – everything you need to do it is here.
During the time I’ve been testing these auto-follow tools (only a matter of weeks), a group of us have grown one network in a highly competitive niche from practically zero to over 80,000 followers using just one of the tools in this article and the results we’ve experienced from that single project have been nothing short of spectacular, but even if your interest in Twitter is much more specific, you can still use these tools to enhance what you do currently.
Here are a few examples to explain how it works…
1. One of the areas I’ve had a lot of success with is finding people, parents mainly, who have children with similar development problems to my own little girl. My situation is slightly different, but let’s say you have an autistic child you can set up searches to find other parents who are talking about “autism” or “autistic” and automatically connect.
2. Or if you have a particular hobby, you can set it up to find people who share the same interests as you. Interested in flower arranging? Set up an auto-search to connect with people who are talking about “flower arranging”, or “floral”, or “flowers” and let the software do the rest. When they find a match then send your new friend a message to say Hi!
3. From a business perspective, you can find people who are talking about a specific product, about your company, or about a competitor. You can cover “wide” searches, or be extremely specific, so you’re in the position – as it happens – to connect directly with your customers. The opportunity to do this has NEVER been available to anyone before!
So, without further ado, let’s get started…
TwitterHit is a cool tool that enables you to enter keywords that relate to the people you’d like to hook up with and then bulk follow them from the results. There’s a free basic version that’s designed to show you how the service works, but for just $2 you can register for 24 hours access to the full version and follow up to 1000 targeted people a day.
Twollow is a simple, but effective, keyword based auto-follow tool that monitors the public stream on Twitter and automatically follows people whenever their conversations contain the keywords you specify. The free version tracks 5 keyword phrases for you, but the premium version supports 20 keywords, additional features and faster service.
Mashable called EasyTweets “an almost perfect web based Twitter management tool” and after testing out the wide range of features for the last couple of weeks, I have to agree. You can operate up to 100 accounts at a time, with zero footprint, and it has a very slick auto-follow feature that will enable you to grow your follower base with ease.
TweetDock is a service with a difference, because while it offers similar auto-follow features to the others, it also provides you with the ability to send @replies to people who match your keywords automatically. For example, if you run a web design business you could send a personal message whenever the term “web design” is mentioned.
Hummingbird is widely known as being the leading software of its kind and when I tell you that myself and three others have ran a test over the course of the last month and generated no less than 80,000 followers across multiple accounts (growing at the rate of 3000 a DAY!), you’ll appreciate why. It’s safe to say, I highly recommend this one! ;-)
Twollo is very similar to the similarly sounding Twollow. You enter your keywords for the conversations you wish to track and Twollo will auto-follow all of the people who are talking about the subjects you are interested in. There’s a free basic version you can subscribe to, but for £4.50 per month you can upgrade to a faster, superior service.
TweetSpinner is another super-cool auto-following tool. As well as a sophisticated auto-follow engine, it includes excellent features like “mimic following” that will synchronize your accounts with the people you choose, the ability to set up recurring dynamic tweets, design and profile rotation and more. It’s one of the best I’ve seen, for sure.
An Important Note:
Finally, before I close, I need to stress to you that building a huge following on Twitter is NOT your roadmap to wealth and riches. Sure, these tools will enable you to take a brand new account from zero to 4000 or 5000 followers, maybe more, in a matter of weeks (and much higher than that as time goes on), but unless you’re actively communicating with your followers, as a real person having real conversations, then you would be aswell staying at home.
Ignore that simple piece of advice and your followers will simply ignore you too. However, if you’re prepared to do everything the right way and be an asset to the community you’re building around yourself, then the tools you’ll find in this article will probably prove priceless to you.
If you have any questions about this topic, feel free to post them below. And if you know of any other similar, or better, auto-follow Twitter tools, please post those too as I’d be keen to test them out.
Esaul ND. on 
David Pickup on 
Misato Katsuragi on
Here’s another to add to the collection.
It’s slightly different again, a bit like TweetDock, but worthy of a mention I think…
http://www.twitterhawk.com
I’d be interested to hear about your experiences with any of these tools.
Awesome list! simply awesome.
Thanks Tammy – the tools that are available are pretty amazing these days!
~ Paul
Hey Chris,
This is interesting! I hope you didn’t auto-follow me:) But if so, it worked so all kudos to you. I have to say I’m just twitting (as GoodMumBadMum) for fun and my blog is wide – for travelers/writers/fun-lovers/thinkers/people interested in Australia – and it’s not designed to make money. But now I know what to do if I did have something to sell.
Good luck with it all!
Hi Annabel,
Chris must have been one of the people who re-tweeted this post.
You should read this…
http://www.affiliatetraining.com/go/blogmastermind.php
No need to buy anything. The free guide alone is excellent – full of good info on profiting from blogging. I’m sure Yaro is in Australia too.
~ Paul
I thought I’d post a quick update about this as I’ve had a few questions about it today.
We’re all aware of the “get 19,000 visitors in 30 days” and “get rich quick” brigade that plague Twitter, but that’s not really what you should be using these tools for. One of the areas I’ve had a lot of success with is finding people, parents mainly, who have children with similar development problems to my own little girl.
To give you an example…. let’s say you have an autistic child you can use the tools above to find other parents who are talking about autism. Then you can connect with them with ease.
Or if you have a particular hobby, you can set it up to find people who share the same hobby as you.
From a business perspective, you can find people who are talking about a particular product, about your company, or about a competitor. The list is endless.
So don’t think there’s anything underhand about using tools like this. Like I said in the article, you simply need to use them responsibly. It’s just like using Twitter’s own search feature, only easier and faster ;-)
~ Paul
I’ve just updated the article to reflect this…
Has anyone here been using TweetAdder? I’ve been looking at it tonight and I’ve got to say that it’s pretty damn impressive. Take a look and see what you think…
~ Paul
I’m seriously thinking of using TweetAdder myself. Oh, btw, I just followed GoAskPaul and was hoping you would return the favor by following me (Affilianet). Thanks in advance.
Job done Chris, and I do like TweetAdder, a lot. I’ve got different apps doing different things at the moment, which is a pain, but TweetAdder comes pretty close to the perfect all-in-one solution.
Hei from Norway Paul,
Some powerful masterminding and implementing you’re doing…thanks for sharing it in our Linkedin group!
Tweet with you soon!
PS. Here are a few more Twitter helps that may possibly extend your fantastic 7 list…I’m still testing these out myself, do you have any feedback having used these yourself yet?
http://whoshouldifollow.com/
http://twitseeker.com/
http://www.crazybob.org/twubble/
Hi Tim,
I hadn’t used the other two, but I did try TwitSeeker before and I thought it was a bit “clunky”. It seemed to take ages to load and then hardly returned any matches. Of all of the free ones, the auto-follow ones I mean, I think Twollow is the one I’ve liked the most, but I have to say that the results you can expect from that are minimal compared to commercial apps like Hummingbird, EasyTweets or TweetSpinner. There’s no comparison in fact.
The one I just posted – TweetAdder – has potential too. I haven’t purchased the full version, but the range of features looks pretty good to me. I’m kind of reluctant to fork out for another at the moment though as I’ve already purchased four of them in the last few weeks :-)
~ Paul
Thanks for this. I keep getting overwhelmed by all the different Twitter accounts. This was a nice refresher.
Tweet you later!
Angela DeYoung
follow me on twitter at designbydeyoung for interior design advise and fun!
You’re welcome Angela. Thanks for posting!
~ Paul
Its now important to understand that there is a health warning with these tools and that is the very real risk of account suspension by Twitter. I have under UKLAUK been running similar tests for a few weeks since 24th April setting up a largely automated site, based on gardening, fishing and photography. last Sunday without warning my account was suspended for quote strange activity. I have now to suffer the “disgrace” of having a suspended account.
On investigating I came upon this section relating to what Twitter now considers spam:
*Spam: You may not use the Twitter service for the purpose of spamming anyone. What constitutes “spamming” will evolve as we respond to new tricks and tactics by spammers. Some of the factors that we take into account when determining what conduct is considered to be spamming are:
If you have followed a large amount of users in a short amount of time;
If you have followed and unfollowed people in a short time period, particularly by automated means (aggressive follower churn);
If you repeatedly follow and unfollow people, whether to build followers or to garner more attention for your profile;
If you have a small number of followers compared to the amount of people you are following;
If your updates consist mainly of links, and not personal updates
These rules seam to be aimed squarely at automated tools although its not made public and its clearly open to interpretation by twitter so by all means use these tools but understand the risk.
I’m still trying to clear my name UKLAUK, but I can be contacted at my primary site /laurenceexigent
cheers
laurence
Hi Laurence,
Yes, you’re absolutely right. The very first account I had was suspended, for stupidity mainly, but an email to them fixed it and I haven’t had any problems since.
What you really want to be doing is following gradually and growing your followers in the same way. If you go straight out and follow hundreds of people, or hit the initial 2000 limit, then chances are you will get suspended. However, that said, I think one of the most important points in their terms and conditions is this…
“If your updates consist mainly of links, and not personal updates”
If you’re posting relevant information for your target audience and actually networking with them, as a real person, then I don’t think you should have too many problems.
These tools aren’t designed to cheat the system… it’s more about making use of it in the most effective way possible.
Hope you manage to get everything sorted out!
~ Paul
I’ve got another to add to the collection… Tweet Adder!
Been testing it for a couple of days and I love it ;-)
There’s a discussion on the forum about it too…
http://www.affiliatetraining.com/community/social-networking/tweetadder-another-v-cool-new-twitter-tool
I’m really impressed with Tweet Adder. If you use it already please leave your comments.
~ Paul
Well, I consider these tools as brute force techniques, you will spend much time and effort there and finally you will be disappointed of the quality of relationships you formed, while you can spend this time and efforts elsewhere and will be satisfed with the results, even if there is a difference between them, at least they are quality relationships!
However, you well explained the ‘how it works’ and wish you a good luck :)
- Oussama
I think “brute force techniques” is a bit strong.
There are two things you can do on Twitter…
1. Wait for people to find you.
2. Get out there and find people who you’re interested in and who might be interested in you.
That’s why it’s called social networking. The point is to “network”. And if you sit there and wait for people to find you then you aren’t actively networking. :-)
~ Paul
That’s correct! People won’t find you if you sit there and wait them to come from the sky :)
You know I came accross something interesting which is the more remarkable your background, the more people will follow you. That’s why the best way to increase your followers count is to do remarkable things and get to know people outside Twitter.
- Oussama
I’m in total agreement.
I speak to people all the time on Twitter. I work from home and all day long I sit here with HootSuite and Seesmic running. I check every few minutes – I know, I know, that’s BAD – but it’s pretty much true.
So I fully appreciate what you’re saying, but please don’t underestimate the difference these tools can make. Honestly, I’ve been blown away. You can do some very clever stuff now… ;-)
~ Paul
Hi Paul, thanks a ton for the invitation to this site and for the invaluable advice – I’ll go through it in more detail later.
All the best,
Naomi
You’re welcome Naomi. If you have any questions about any of these apps just ask as I’ve been testing out practically everything I can get my hands on lately :-)
Sweet article, even though I don’t actively search out new people to follow I am bookmarking this article into my Twitter bookmark file so that I can have it handy!
Thanks so much for sharing this with me!
Michelle Mangen
Michelle, one of the things that really appeals to me with this is what it could do for local businesses, clubs, associations and that kind of thing. You can literally target (perhaps “connect” would be a better word to use there :-)) people in specific locations who are interested in, or talking about, the things you’re interested in and then you can make almost instant connections with them. That’s quite powerful!
~ Paul
Very true, thanks for the additional insight. I will share the links with the newbies in my area!
Hi Paul, thanks a lot for this post and also it was interesting to read others coment ad your reponds. I want to check some of the programs and probably I’ll use them. You’re very helpful.
I’m on holiday this week Amy and can only do so much with my mobile and a dodgy Internet connection, but when I get back next week I’m going to do another article or two about this as there are a few other things I can share with you.
I’ve been using TweetDeck and Hummingbird software. Nice article, btw. Thanks for the advice.
Oh, I also use HootSuite but haven’t heard of Seesmic until coming to your site.
Seesmic is similar to TweetDeck Chris. It’s still in beta mode and I’ve found that if I leave it running for too long I need to reboot it quite regularly, but there are a couple of features I do like. Hootsuite is pretty cool too though and as it’s web based you don’t have the “slow down” problems that you sometimes do with the downloadable apps.
http://twitteronlinesystem.com/mikecabalida try this great site.. thanks for the useful tools
Thank you,
Paul Graham!
Thanks for creating a handy list of reliable Twitter Tools. Sorting through all of the software available was becoming a nuisance.
There’s one I’ve only mentioned here and there since I first compiled this list. I’ve got stories to share about a few of them actually, but two really good stories to tell about TweetSpinner and TweetAdder especially (the one that isn’t on the list, yet). I’m going to jot it all down and post it on the site this week.
Stay tuned… this has a LOT of potential I think.
~ Paul
Here’s a free Father’s Day discount code that you can use for TweetAdder today….
Use Coupon Code “DAD”
http://www.affiliatetraining.com/go/tweetadder.php
It’s valid on Sunday 21st June only.
~ Paul
Hi,
Thank you for these tools. I picked them up via http://www.Twitter.com and made sure I Re-Tweeted your post. It certainly is a good list of tools. Have you come across http://www.tweetlater.com? This is a very good tool as well as it let’s you tweet whenever you need tool particularly good if you want to ensure that people across the globe receive your Tweets when they’re awake : ) . It’s got a free and premium version though I found that the free version is enough.
Johannes
New Twitter Marketing Softare: Tweep Net:
What Does This Software Do?
Well first things first, Our clients have gotten back to us over the last 3 weeks and told us that the software ranks a site high on Google because Google and other Search Engines Such As AOL, Yahoo, index Twitter, hence thousands of links overnight, a near immediate increase in a Google rank, our clients are telling us they have first page listing in less then a week, some in 1 day, currently we do not know of any way in the world to do this and the software is gaining extreme popularity for this fact alone, Even our site which has only been live for 1 month now ranks first page on Google for Twitter Marketing Software and out of 43,700,000 pages ! Proof !,, now on to the good stuff.Visit my Website for more Infos.
I’m still not convinced about the value of Twitter unless someone is able to put me right. I cant see the value in advertising when there are so many trees in the forest. With all the spam type messages most others probably dont bother reading them…… I find that if you get into it you could waste a couple of hours per day just navigating Twitter – definately a C task!
I went through a stage of spending way too much time on it too Peter, but I’ve grown out of it now. I do like it for getting tips on stuff I’m interested in though.
Thanks a lot for the list bro. I dono none of them until I read ur blog.
am new to twittering, when I start tweet with #, suddenly I got minimum 5-10 followers per day.
so now I never forgot to put # codes in my tweets :)
I think they comes from tweet searches like wefollow.com
however, ur list is really amazing. gonna try them.
thx
and http://www.twollo.com/ is not work :(
I’m not sure what the problem was before, but it seems fine now. You won’t get thousands of followers quickly from that like you will with something like Tweet Spinner, but it is quite targetted and it’s free too of course.
Here is yet another great tweeting tool: http://ihid.us/?i=ev1 ( TweetPosts.com ). It’s helped me grow my networking connections organically and it’s perfect for those new to Tweeting, or confused about how to go about Tweeting because it’s easy to set up, automated and helps build that all important networking list.
I’m a pretty busy online and offline business owner so I’m always looking for simple but direct information and tools that are automated and actually HELP me build my business instead of distract and chip away at my time. If it wasn’t for TweetPosts I’d probably not be tweeting today :-)
Tweet on Tweeple!
Hi Paul, very cool article and redo of your site. Glad to see you’re back in action.:)
Thank you Tammy! Glad to hear everything went well with Mr F. Jr. today too and hopefully you’ll be back on your feet again soon…. well, I’ll look forward to hearing from you again in 5 years or so when he finally reaches school age ;-)
~ Paul
Very Funny Mr. Graham.
Hey when will http://www.marketmetweet.com get an honorable mention on your list?