Many people ask me for tips on how to promote their business on twitter and specifically on how to increase their twitter followers. Amongst others, I find the #followfriday hash tag as one of the best ways of linking up with interesting people on twitter.
What is #followfriday?
To put it simple words, #followfriday is a networking meme that encourages users to refer their followers to interesting ‘Tweeters’. It works using a hash tag that people add to tweets on Friday to suggest to their followers people that are worthy of being followed by virtue of the fact that they add value to the community.
Twitter is all about relationships and #followfriday has been successful because people enjoy relationships with people they can be proud of, and in return, want other people to be proud of them.
A Historical Perspective
#followfriday started with a simple tweet from Michah Baldwin which read:
“I am starting Follow Fridays. Every Friday, suggest a person to follow, and everyone follow him/her. Today its @fancyjeffrey and @w1redone.”
Another twitter user Mykl Roventine advised that the hashtag #followfriday be used for such tweets and the rest, as they say is history. The first followfriday witnessed nearly two #followfriday tweets/ second and since then the volume has increased exponentially every Friday.
When it started, #followfriday was limited to tweets in English but it has since then spread to several other foreign languages.
How #followfriday works?
It’s simple to be a part of the #followfriday bandwagon on twitter. All you need to do is
1) Enter the name of follower that you recommend @recommended
2) Tell people what prompted you to recommend @recommended
3) Add #followfriday or #ff at the end of your tweet
4) Tweet, Retweet and spread the word
Why #followfriday works?
The popularity of #followfriday has surpassed everybody’s expectations and many people are amazed at what makes #followfriday tweets so successful. IMO, there are three simple reasons why #followfriday approach clicks with most twitter users.
1) It’s easy and fun.
2) You get introduced to interesting people from all over the world
3) Public praise leads to the ‘Feel Good’ factor for participants
How #followfriday can help your business?
To promote a business on twitter or any other social networking portal for that matter, you need to address 2 key requirements
1) Spread the word to mass audiences
2) Add more people to your network
#followfriday addresses both these concerns and helps share the ‘wealth of followers’ with other twitter users. I’m proud to say that I’ve got some great new business relationships going on twitter courtesy the #followfriday tweets.
It’s a remarkable service and given its instrumental success, I wonder why it doesn’t happen daily. Anyway, Thank God It’s Friday for #followfriday.
That won't actually work if you start with the persons name, as it turns it into an @ reply… I would start with #FF or #Followfriday 🙂
Even better, always prefix your #followfriday recommendation with the reason(s) you're recommending an individual or a group of 'Tweeters'. That way your recommendation never turns into an @ reply or look spammy.
Thanks for the feedback Stuart.
It is fascinating to see the wide variety of hashtags that are blossoming all over Twitterland, and to think it all started with the #FF…
Why did they not start with acronym #AA and then BB, and work down to FF?
Ooops, now I will be lumped in with all of the AA members… 🙂
Anyway, feel free to follow me and I will follow you.. @ericstraatsma
I’m seeing #ff become yet another backscratching exercise, with people recommending vast numbers of others, rarely because of the quality of output but more (i guess) as a way of getting attention or returning a previous #ff. Consequently most people seem to be ignoring the recommendations!
It’d be great to see more people following your suggestion and *only* highlighting Tweeps with great content, and as you say ideally articulating why they recommend that person, rather than just blasting off a massive great #ff list…
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