Learn/How-To-Get-Unfollowed-and-Lose-Followers-on-Twitter

This article is a work in progress. It will be complementary to the How To Get More Twitter Followers article that was published on March 15th.

It's pretty easy to unfollow someone on Twitter.

Here are some tips for keeping your Twitter followers happy so they don't want to unfollow you.

Don't have apps tweet for you, unless you think they'll be interesting for your followers.

For example, many people tweet automatically every time they check in on Foursquare. Tweets like that get boring or annoying really fast, and some people (like me) are bound to unfollow you. EXAMPLE NEEDED HERE

Make sure your Twitter bio and tweets are on the same page.

If your bio only talks about how you're an expert in underwater basket weaving, many people are going to follow you expecting tweets about what's in your bio. But if your tweets don't deliver what they were hoping for, you are bound to lose followers. (This is very similar to email marketing - If people sign up for emails about X, but you send them emails about Y, many people are going to unsubscribe or mark your emails as spam.)

Be consistent with your language.

I commonly see bilingual people on Twitter, whose tweets will switch between English and another language. This can be hard on followers who only speak one of the languages you tweet in. You may want to use two separate Twitter accounts - one for each language - so that you can build a strong following for each. It could also be helpful to give people a heads up in your bio that you tweet in this and that language.

Have some variety and good stuff in your last 3 tweets... always.

If I'm following you because you share good tips about online marketing, and I see 10 in a row about ____, I may forget why I followed you in the first place and unfollow you on the spot. Or if I remembered why I followed you, I may still may decide that your signal to noise ratio is too low, and unfollow you.

Also, when I see a lame tweet and I'm trying to decide if I should really unfollow them, I click on them and look at their last 3 tweets. From there, I can easily click to unfollow them, or I can go back and continue following them. NEED SNAPSHOT HERE

Automatically DM (direct message) people when they follow you.

When I asked my own followers on Twitter (many of whom are online marketing and social media experts) what things would make them unfollow someone, this was the answer I heard most. For some people, nothing annoys them more than an auto DM that seems canned. Social media should be social and human after all, right?

Don't just talk about yourself.

Few people want to follow someone who only talks about themselves - their blog posts, their company, their product, their day, etc.

It's not very social to just toot your own horn, and it's not as effective as someone else tooting your horn in social media anyway. You should engage with other people on Twitter and link to content other people wrote so that you will be seen as a valuable source of information, and as a real, likeable person.

Don't tweet too often. Unless you're following thousands of people, it can be annoying to have your Twitter stream dominated by someone who isn't one of your closest friends. When one person's tweets are crowding out everyone else's in my stream, I will usually unfollow them unless their tweets are pure gold.

Tweet regularly. If you don't tweet for a while, some people will forget about you and why they followed you in the first place. Then, when you start tweeting again they will be less likely to engage with your tweets, and they may unfollow you if they don't recognize you.

Also, there are various tools that give people suggestions on people they may want to unfollow. One of the sections are usually people you're following who haven't tweeted in some amount of time. TwitCleaner.com is one tool that does this.

Be wary of politics and religion. This shouldn't be a surprise, but if you tell people in your bio or recent tweets that you're a strict Verdukianist who feels very strongly about the Third amendment, you're bound to lose some followers who don't share your beliefs, or who don't want to hear about your beliefs.

Be mindful of your potty mouth. If your tweets regularly contain swear words, adult humor, or links that are not safe for work (NSFW), you may lose some followers who have strict bosses or morals.

Don't ignore @s (mentions).

When I reply to someone's tweet or mention them with an @ on Twitter, I usually remember and anxiously await a response. If I haven't heard back in a few days, I will sometimes feel bitter enough to unfollow them. Maybe they're snubbing me, or their tweets are just automated and they don't pay attention to replies - either way, I probably won't miss following them.

Don't just auto-post from Facebook or another social network.

Chopped of tweets with links to Facebook don't look good, and they don't encourage engagement. I won't expect someone whose tweets automatically come from Facebook to notice or care when someone replies to or retweets one of their tweets. Why waste my time? Also, people usually want to stay on whatever social network they're on.