How To Gain Followers on X – The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter

Gaining social media followers on any platform requires hard work, dedication, and a comprehensive strategy. 

X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, underwent numerous changes after its change in ownership in late 2022, making it harder than ever for small accounts to gain traction without paying. 

Despite the challenges, there’s still room for growth on X. 

New accounts can gain Twitter followers (X Followers) quickly and legitimately with a little strategy and a lot of tweeting (reposting).

Follow these steps to gain 500 new followers in less than one month, and keep it up to become an X Influencer. 

Is X Still Worth My Time?

X is quickly morphing into a pay-to-play platform. The algorithm rewards accounts that pay for the blue checkmark, allowing them to reach bigger audiences with every post. 

Unfortunately, that means the easiest way to gain 500 followers past is to bite the bullet and pay for verification. 

However, many of us resist the paid model, partly because we despise what the new platform has become and partly because we refuse to give the person who ruined one of the best social media platforms in the world a dime of our hard-earned money. 

Some abandoned the platform for good, but building a following on X remains worthwhile for brands. Despite the challenges and ethical concerns, it’s still the top platform for building brand awareness, cultivating an audience, and networking with others in their industries. 

How to Gain X Followers Quickly

Growing your following on X is more challenging unless you’re willing to pay. 

However, it’s still achievable with time and effort. 

The basics of growing a following remain the same. You’ll need to focus on the following:

• Profile
• Following the Right Accounts
• Engagement 
• Content 
• Correct Use of Hashtags
• Support Groups

Focusing on the fundamentals will provide a fantastic foundation for long-term growth on the platform. 

Profile

The first step to gaining followers on any social media platform, X included, is crafting an attractive profile. When creating your profile, you’ll want to focus on your photos and bio. 

Photos

Choosing photos that match your brand is crucial to a killer profile. Streamers and entertainers can get away with goofy profile pictures, but journalists and consultants should opt for a sleeker, professional-looking photo. 

Accounts with photos of actual people or brand logos get automatic trust points from users checking out their profile pages. 

You should also add a banner photo that speaks to your brand. If you used a personal image for the profile pick, you could use a logo as a banner. The banner should showcase your personality or your niche. 

Bio

An epic bio helps your profile stand out. Tell the platform something about yourself or your company. Explain why they should follow you. 

The bio should also show that you’re a real person (or company) rather than a spam account. For example, I’ve noticed that profiles filled with emojis rather than words tend to produce a lot of spam, so I avoid following them. 

Finally, you must add a link to your website and pin one of your most interesting Tweets. 

Your first Tweet impression is more important than you think.

2. Following Others

Social media is all about community. You can’t expect to grow without following others. The days of getting lucky and creating a viral Tweet that explodes your follower list are gone (unless you pay for a verified account). 

Avoid Following the Big Brands

Many articles on “how to gain Twitter followers” tell new users they must follow the big shots in their fields to grow, but I disagree. 

The big shots in your niche will not help you grow. They don’t care about one new follower and are unlikely to follow back or share your content. 

By all means, follow the big players in your niche if you enjoy their content, but don’t follow them because you think it will help you grow. 

Follow Similar Accounts

To grow, you need to follow similar accounts in your niche. That means following brands and professionals in the same boat as you: they’re new to the platform and trying to grow their accounts. 

Small-time accounts are more likely to follow back. They’re more likely to engage because they want to grow, too. These folks will become your community. 

Finding Accounts To Follow

The new X makes discovery harder than ever. Previously, you could easily find similar accounts to follow through hashtags, discover, and trending topics. Now, those features overflow with giant accounts paying for the privilege of top ranking. 

To find accounts, you’ll need to do some sleuthing. Find the bigger accounts in your niche who’ve paid for access and review their followers list. Follow the ones in your niche who have smaller accounts. 

It’s a lot more work, but it’s worth the effort. 

3. Engagement

Engaging with others remains the top path to growth on X, but likes and retweets (reposts) won’t cut it. 

Why Quotes and Comments Are Superior

Consider this: Who will you remember, the person who opens a door for you or the person who gives you a genuine compliment? The person who held the door did a nice thing, but they didn’t engage with you, right? You probably don’t even know what they looked like. 

But the genuine compliment will stick with you. You had a real engagement with that person and likely said something in return, at least a “thank you.” You’ll remember that. 

Comments vs. likes and reposts are the same concept. Sure, likes and reposts are lovely, but there’s nothing to engage back with. 

You must comment on their posts if you want others to engage with you. 

Another reason comments and quoted reposts reign supreme is that they showcase your content to the original user’s audience. Now, you’re getting seen by more people, and some of them may check you out and follow you. 

What Should I Say?

Many new users get caught up in the anxiety of not knowing what to say. 

Let that go. 

You can say whatever comes to mind. Tell them why you agree. Share a similar story. Write a funny anecdote that relates to your brand or your life. 

Disagreement also drives excellent engagement, but try to avoid the social media trap of trolling rage bait, especially if you’re trying to build a legitimate brand. If you disagree with something, do so in a respectful way. 

Engaging in a dismissive, rude, or disrespectful manner may hinder your growth. 

Social media overflows with negativity, but you don’t have to join in for success. 

4. Content is King

Great content is crucial for growth. 

Post interesting, engaging content your followers and potential followers will appreciate and want to engage with. 

What Do I Post About?

New accounts often get trapped in a never-ending loop of anxiety when thinking about what to post. 

What should I say? Will people like that? Will I get hate for this Tweet? Has this been said before? Will people engage with this? 

I’ve asked myself all these questions and more before posting, but I realized I was overthinking it. 

I developed a content strategy that includes six different types of content for the platform:

• Questions
• Media
• Promotional
• Humor
• Passion Topics
• Quoted Posts 

Questions

Questions offer fantastic opportunities for engagement. 

Ask questions related to your niche. Not only will this help grow your engagement, but you’ll also discover your potential customers’ most significant pain points.

Mix it up by asking engaging questions as a post and running polls.  

Media

Although X is one of the few social media platforms where the written word still matters, media posts tend to outperform written posts. 

Everyone enjoys pretty pictures, and videos keep their eyes on your content longer. 

Share photos and videos related to your niche. If you have an Instagram account, post the same images you shared on Instagram to your Twitter account. Create memes or put inspirational quotes on pretty backgrounds. Share funny comics. Upload the same videos you make for reels and tiktok. 

The more diverse content you can create with media, the easier it will be to grow your following. 

Promotional

Most brands use X for self-promotion, so posts about you, your brand, and what you offer work well on the platform. 

Share your latest article or YouTube video. Explain how your company can help solve your identified pain points by asking questions. Post links to your other social media accounts. Showcase customer testimonials. 

While engaging in promotion, remember that balance is crucial. Far too many new accounts think X works like Field of Dreams: “If I post it, they will come.” It does not work that way. Most users don’t want to follow overly promotional accounts. 

Ensure your account has far more than links to your website, YouTube, Livestream, or other platform. 

Humor

Humor is a gateway to growth. Many new users catapult to stardom with a well-time post poking fun at a situation.

If you can get folks to laugh, you can get them to follow. 

Use observational humor about current events, poke fun at yourself or your brand, and make lighthearted comments about the world around you. One viral funny post can give you a massive follower boost.  

Passion Topics

X allows brands and users to connect with people worldwide who share their passions – so let those passions shine through in your posts. 

Don’t be afraid to post about controversial topics vital to your brand. 

For example, Partners in Fire’s mission statement promotes wellness. Our About Us page explains, “Promoting wellness also involves examining the social, political, and cultural constructs that inhibit the pursuit of happiness.”

Therefore, it’s appropriate for us to post about political and cultural topics that prohibit people’s pursuit of happiness. Things like sexism, racism, income inequality, corporate welfare, and other controversial issues all fall under that umbrella. 

Identifying your brand’s voice and stance on controversial topics is crucial. It doesn’t have to be political – most niches have some type of controversy, whether it be the rent vs. own debate in personal finance or the console vs. PC debate in streaming. 

Find your niche’s controversy and take a stand to create posts people can’t help but engage with. 

Quoted Posts

Don’t just hit that repost button – add value!

General reposts work occasionally, but nobody wants to follow an account bursting with reposts. People want to follow accounts that add value. 

Instead, quote the original post, adding your own spin. Your content doesn’t have to be profound; you can simply state why you agree or disagree. 

An advantage to reposting is that the original authors often engage with reposts, driving engagement on your account. 

Should I Comment or Repost?

Some accounts repost every time they want to add to a conversation, making it difficult to keep track of the dialogue. 

Use quoted reposts sparingly. You don’t need to quote a post and add every little thought. The little thoughts and questions should be comments. 

You should only repost with a quote when you think the original post would add value to your audience. 

Developing Your Content Strategy

A content strategy is vital to success on the platform. Your posts must add value to your niche and your community. 

To develop a content strategy, identify your core customer base and consider their pain points. Craft a vision statement and a mission. 

Next, decide why you want to use the platform. Are you trying to build brand awareness? Find new customers? Grow your following for potential sponsorships. Drive traffic to your product? The answers to these vital questions will help you decide what content types to focus on. 

Finally, craft your content, keeping your vision, mission, and goals in mind. Every tweet should add value to your company and your potential user base. 

5. Correct Use of Hashtags

Discoverability on X is more problematic than it ever was on Twitter. Hashtags can still help you get your content in front of new eyeballs, though it’s not as easy as it once was. 

Previously, you could write a Tweet and include five relevant hashtags, all of which would showcase your content to those searching. The search function on X isn’t as good, and people rely on trending topics more than niche hashtags. 

However, hashtags can still help you grow on today’s platform. Finding trending topics in your niche and making posts related to those topics are essential to growth using hashtags. 

Finding Trending Topics

In the past, you could grow using niche hashtags like #financialindependence. With the changes to the search functionality, that’s a lot harder. 

Instead, users need to focus on trending topics relevant to their niche. Go to your home screen’s “Explore” tab to see which topics are rising. Tweet about any issues pertinent to your niche to join the conversation. 

You can also explore the comments, which helps you find followers to find and posts to engage with. 

Using Relevant Hashtags

Your content must be related to the hashtag you’ve used. Some users think they can add trending topics to any post to get engagement, but it doesn’t work that way. 

Don’t write a post about Financial Freedom using the hashtag #ladygaga because she’s trending. It’s irrelevant to your content, and you’ll turn potential followers off. 

With advances in search technology, you don’t even need to use hashtags all the time. If you search “Lady Gaga” without any hashtags, you’ll see a wide variety of posts about the celebrity that don’t have any hashtags. 

As the platform adapts, hashtags will become less and less relevant. 

How Can I Increase My Followers on Twitter Quickly

The first five steps to increasing your X followers follow the slow and steady approach. Though you may get lucky with a viral post that increases your followership, the more likely outcome is that you’ll gain a handful of followers per week with regular posting. 

You’ll want to join support groups and engage in Twitter chats to grow your list fast. 

6. Support Groups

Support groups can catapult your growth but can also leave you with a homepage filled with spam. 

Twitter support groups abound on the platform, and while some will legitimately help you grow, others aren’t worth the effort. 

The Good Support Groups

Good support groups are typically niche-specific and typically revolve around one account dedicated to networking within the niche. 

You’ll find streamer support accounts, blogger growth accounts, YouTube networking accounts, and others related to niche topics as you search the platform. These accounts often have follow and share threads, allowing you to meet and engage with other creators trying to grow in your niche.

Use them to build your community. 

The Spammy Support Groups

Most of the support groups you’ll encounter on X are spam-filled bots trying to increase their followers by any means possible. They promise to help boost your account, but you’ll end up with a homepage filled with spammy follow-for-follow posts. 

Your biggest clue that the “support group” is a spam farm is that they won’t care about the audience or niche. Growing on Twitter for growth’s sake isn’t ideal; you want to curate the right audience to engage with your content. The follow farms only care about the number, not engagement. 

The next clue is that all the content on all the accounts involved will relate to building a following. The profiles consist solely of retweets about following each other, follow-for-follow requests, and other spam. None of the accounts will have actual content related to the niche. 

Avoid these fake support groups at all costs. It’s better to have ten real followers engaged with your content than 1000 fake followers filling your timeline with spam. 

Twitter Chats

Twitter chats offered brands in specific niches the opportunity to reach new audiences via scheduled sessions. 

Although you may still find a few chats on the platform, they’re not nearly as relevant as they once were. 

How Much Do I Need To Post To Grow?

Platforms like X reward content. The more you post, the more the algorithm will reward you. 

You won’t see much growth if you only post a few times weekly. You should post at least three times a day or more for the best results. 

Growing on X Still Achievable 

Despite the challenges, growing on X is still achievable. The same concepts used to grow your Twitter account still apply: follow similar accounts, engage with others, regularly post great content, and join support groups.

If you do this, you’ll gain a steady stream of dedicated followers that will become some of your brand’s biggest supporters.