Last week, I got a huge amount of Twitter action about my blog—many people enjoyed it and even reTweeted it, while others were shocked that people didn’t already know these things. A colleague, Pete Housley, reminded me about another huge Twitter violation—buying followers. And, he’s right—this has become a giant problem in our industry with top name porn stars and brand spanking new starlets. This is a violation that will not just ruin your rep, it will also get you thrown off of Twitter forever—no joke.
To Buy or Not to Buy Imaginary Friends
If you do a Google search for buying followers, you will see many companies specialize in this. You can buy 1,000 followers for just $12. There have been studies that talk about how there is no value in buying Twitter followers. Unless you have real followers, what is the point of having a Twitter account? Real social media experts know this is a very bad idea. You want your Tweets to not only be effective, but to reach actual followers and an actual audience—the total number of followers has little value to you as a performer, studio or adult-oriented company. It’s bad business, bad PR when people find out and really bad for the industry as whole. Pete Housley, Naughty Tweet Network’s CEO, says it best:
“Twitter has been a great resource to the adult industry while other networks have censored and blocked adult; Twitter has rules that are simple and straightforward. It is our responsibility as an industry to not sabotage ourselves and adhere to the spirit and purpose of social media.”
How You Know Someone Is Buying Followers
It you know the clues, it’s really obvious who is buying followers. It won’t make you more influential or even appear to be. Here are a few tell tale signs:
- They follow you, and then unfollow when you don’t follow back.
- They pick up 1,000 new followers in a day.
- They have 20,000+ followers and haven’t Tweeted for over 6 months.
- They’re brand new to the biz and already have 24,000+ followers.
- You review their followers and they all appear to be bots or egg icons.
- If the person is a performer, they’re not working more (or at all) because “real fans” aren’t requesting them for scenes or buying their movies.
- They have 38 million followers and not even close to 30 million people bought your last album—ask Lady Gaga about this one.
The Right Way to Get Followers
There are many ways to pick up followers that won’t cost you anything but a little time. Here are just a few:
- Engage with others—many times you can pick up followers by someone else seeing something you Tweeted or something reTweeted.
- Make sure your Tweets are informative and interesting, not mundane things like you’re going to the bathroom or buying socks. My account is usually used to promote my clients, but every now and again, I Tweet something I know will get comments from others.
- Start following more people. Twitter has a section on who they suggest to follow. Sometimes, it’s Justin Beiber or Carrot Top (and I’m not making this up), but other times it will be a new porn performer or an online magazine I’ve never heard of, and both these things are useful.
- Put up a great photo of yourself and write an interesting bio that will pique people’s interest. Also, make sure you pick a great Twitter name that’s really reflective of you.
- Really understand how Twitter works and get a tutorial about it, if needed. Spending time and playing around on it works, too.
- Realize Twitter is great self-promotion/free advertising, but don’t abuse it by spamming people or Tweeting the same thing over and over (or using an app to do that). Be consistent and Tweet daily and multiple times.
- Be consistent and Tweet daily and multiple times.
- Retweet (RT) Tweets and do Follow Friday (#FF), but in moderation.
- Reply to big adult stars. One day, Tera Patrick reTweeted me, I responded and she Tweeted back—I picked up almost 50 followers that day.
- Use hashtags (#hashtags) when applicable. People can find you through those, as well. If you look at trending topics on your page, you will find many are actual hashtags.
- Mention your Twitter account everywhere—business cards, on your Facebook, website, etc.
- If you’re a studio or an adult-oriented company, mention your location and you will find others will find you that way.
- Spend the money on a publicist or social media expert to help you organically grow your followers and raise your popularity.
Just remember, it’s not worth it to buy Twitter followers. Earn them and be proud…and you’ll also keep your rep and Twitter account intact.