If you are an active twitter user, you will be aware of #followfriday, a hashtag that is used to recommend people you like, so that your followers also follow them. As this trend was followed on Fridays, that is why it was named as FollowFriday.
The problem with the #Followfriday used nowadays is that people don't care whom to give recommendation or not. They list a bunch of people and they add a #FF hashtag, so that people could follow them. As these #ff tags are usually devoid of any information and careful reasoning, the total value of a followfriday recommendation gets nullified.
Recommend Selectively
Your recommendations should be selected by careful thought and reasoning. These recommendations should include people you actually like and the ones that deserve your recommendation
If you recommend people just for the sake of it or if you have an ulterior motive of making a bond with that person, then you would not be doing the right thing. If the person you recommend is not good, then the people who follow him/her will also have to suffer, which in turn will decrease your reputation in twitterville.
Also, try to use one tweet for one person. As there are only 140 characters in each tweet, there is huge scarcity of space for recommendations. And if you add more and more people to the recommendation, then there will be very little space left for your reasoning.
If you want to give followfriday recommendations to many people, then you can use your website as a medium to do that. Below is an example of one such recommendation:
Be Precise and Effective
Your followfriday recommendation should be constructed in such a way that you are able to convince your readers to follow them. The words used should be similar to that in a text ad.
In text ads published in newspapers and magazines, you are literally paying per character. Each character occupies a definite amount of space and if the number of characters is more, then the space required for it will be more and therefore, the cost of ad will increase proportionally.
Professionals who create these ads, use methods to convey their point in minimum words. Your recommendation should be made on the same lines. In 140 character space, you should be able to give a compelling reason to your followers, so that they are convinced to follow the people you are recommending.
The best method to do that is by listing the qualities of the person and also the type of tweets. For eg. if somebody recommends me as a good blogger on twitter. Then, some bloggers might get interested in following me for networking and knowledge sharing purposes.
Some Good Examples of FollowFriday Recommendations:
- #FF @2morrowknight: An Opinionated Blogger, A social media champ. A very kind hearted person and a very engaging tweeter
- #FF @TweetSmarter: Originally @Twitter_Tips. The ultimate destination to find the best tweets related to twitter and other social media
- #FF @2cre8 Kathy's stream is full of informative tweets. She is a technology enthusiast and a great blogger.
- #FF @anddjournal Aditya is one of the young gunes. Full of enthusiasm, his tweets speak of his youth and love for technology
- #FF @arkarthick: Karthick's tweets are the like the summary of best tweets. They are loaded with info and mixed with a little bit of humor
- #FF @AskAaronLee: If you are not following Lee, you are missing out on something. Lee is an influential blogger and a truly interesting tweeter.
- #FF @v_shakthi: Shakthi is a awesome blogger and a great writer. A positive personality with an infectious charm
- #FF @HowellMarketing: Amy is a loving person. She spreads happiness around her. Also she is one of the social media-holics
- #FF @douglasi: Douglas is a thought provoking blogger. His articles and tweets have a twist to the conventional social media
- #FF @xanpearson: She promotes happiness and Joy. Her optimism makes you want to engage in more and more conversations with her.
Now you might have got an idea of how to use #FollowFriday recomendations effectively. So, go ahead and try it and share your experiences and opinions on it. (P.S. All these 10 twitter users are a must follow)
The Art of using #FollowFriday Effectively is a post from: Blog Godown