How to get your first 1,000 followers on 𝕏
Building a large following on X in 2024 is still possible. Yes, it takes time and effort. But it's not true that all the large accounts have already been established and no more opportunities are left. I know because, after years of being satisfied with consuming content on 𝕏, I decided to grow my following and become an 𝕏 influencer. It took me six months to grow my following to over 1,000.
If you're up for the challenge and want to grow your account or a brand account for a startup or business, here is my guide to getting your first 1,000 followers on 𝕏.
Benefits of having a lot of 𝕏 followers
But first, what's the point? Why would one want a large following on 𝕏? As the barrier to entry for creating a product or company continues to go to nearly zero, marketing and selling a product or even yourself gets harder and harder. More and more noise is out there, and breaking through is increasingly challenging.
For an individual, if you invest in building an audience and following, it's something that you own as an individual and take with you where ever you go. For a company, a large following of loyal fans is a powerful asset for any brand that can make the investment required to build one.
A high number of followers on 𝕏 serves as social proof, indicating to others that your content is valuable and worth following. It builds trust and credibility, attracting more users to follow you even if you focus on a small niche.
With a large following of over 1,000+, you can impact the platform and have a voice. When your content is reposted or liked by your followers, it can also be seen by their followers, potentially increasing your exposure and expanding your audience.
The phases of early growth
There are four phases of early-stage 𝕏 growth.
0 to 250: It will feel like you're shouting into a void. Most don't move beyond this stage because it can take months, and you get little feedback for your hard work.
250 to 500: You have found a small group of loyal followers who show up consistently and engage. Typically, there are other small accounts you can work with and grow together.
500 to 750: Once you cross 500, you should have traction with a community of like-minded accounts. At this stage, it's essential to branch out and find other pockets of users to tap into to accelerate growth.
750+: Once you cross 750 followers, you're doing something right. At this stage, it's important to ramp up your efforts to keep the momentum going to push through to 1,000.
Step 1: Pick a niche
Identify your target audience and niche. The more precise this is, the better. While you can post about various subjects, your followers need a reason to follow you, and on 𝕏, most people orient their accounts around a specific topic.
Craft a compelling 𝕏 bio and upload a high-quality profile picture. A great bio clearly defines what topics you post about to help users decide if they want to follow you. You should also post a graphic, video, or long written piece that helps define your theme for the account and pin this post to your profile.
If you are running a brand or a company account, pinning a post with a video of your product demo is an excellent approach.
Establishing a style for the account will help brand it and make your content stand out. Remember that short, easy-to-read, bulleted content works well on 𝕏. Images and graphics are also popular.
Step 2: Share engaging content every day
You must post at least a few times daily to get traction. In addition to posting your content, you must engage with other accounts multiple times per day as well. Some people recommend doing this as much as 25 times a day. Your comments on other people's posts should be as in-depth and engaging as your content.
Commenting on other posts is essential to growth on 𝕏. It's how you find other like-minded accounts which you can grow with. If you find an account with content you like, you should follow them.
Two things that you want to avoid are:
Hashtags are no longer necessary. No one uses them except when posting about a stock.
Link off the platform sparingly. Instead, reformat your content and post it directly on 𝕏.
Step 3: Be social and network with other accounts
One of the most important things you can do to grow on any social platform is to respond promptly to comments, mentions, and direct messages from other users. As the volume escalates, it can be a challenge to keep up. I make an effort to reply to every post, even if it's with just one word or an emoji. I want my followers to know that I saw their posts.
To engage popular accounts, click the alert button on their profile to get notified when they post. You can then easily reply to them and engage in a discussion when they post. If you're among the first to respond to a large account with over 100,000+ followers, your reply will gain significant visibility on the platform. And if you do this consistently, the account owner will get to know you. Once you have established some rapport, contact the account owner of a large account via a direct message and invite them to a video chat. They may accept your invitation if you've posted interesting and thoughtful replies.
You should also participate in live 𝕏 Spaces and contribute to the discussion to meet other interesting people. I hold a space about once a month where I invite other accounts to come and speak. My followers can join in, ask questions, and share in the live discussion.
Collaborating with other users to cross-promote each other's content is another way to kick-start growth when you have under 500 followers. You can set up a group DM channel and use 𝕏 Lists to make it easy for all the participants to share, like, and comment on each other's content.
Be sure to celebrate your milestones and success on 𝕏. These types of posts can be surprisingly popular and help you get visibility. Each step up from 100 to 500 to 1,000 followers is an opportunity to share your success with others. Users love to see new accounts growing. It gives them hope and confidence that they will also see growth.
Step 4: Use a full-funnel content strategy
I recommend that everyone use different types of content to attract, engage, and convert users to followers. Many accounts only post content for one of these stages, which is why they fail to grow. It's critical to have a strategy that leads users down the path to becoming followers (and customers if that's what you're aiming for).
Top-of-funnel content: I use memes, jokes, funny videos, and other content that broadly appeals to the 𝕏 user base. Not posting this type of content is one of the biggest mistakes brands, businesses, and people make. You need at least some content that entertains to attract followers if you want to scale without using ads or buying users. If your account has to maintain a serious tone, try charts or interesting data with wide appeal instead.
Middle-of-funnel content: Asking questions and conducting polls to encourage engagement works well to drive interest. Use open-ended questions on topics that are directly or tangentially connected to your area of focus. You will also need to post regular bit-sized content related to your area of focus to sustain interest from your core followers.
Bottom-of-funnel: Use in-depth threads or long-form posts that 𝕏 Premium enables to provide valuable content that demonstrates subject matter expertise. Many brands and companies have a wealth of this content locked in blog posts and whitepapers, which can be repurposed. For an individual, this is a big hurdle. Start with 500- to 750-word length content twice and month. Write more than two or three in-depth posts a week to build up your content library.
Be consistent and patient
If this all sounds like a lot of work, it is. There is no shortcut to building an audience. What's most important is to consistently post quality content and engage with your audience daily. If you're pressed for time, make a commitment to spend one hour a day commenting and posting. You can take off a day or two and slow down on weekends. What will hurt growth the most is long spurts where you're inactive.
I also recommend avoiding spammy or aggressive tactics that can harm your reputation. They may help you grow fast, but those tactics, like giveaways for a repost, won't build a loyal following. Staying motivated and persistent even during slow growth periods is challenging as well. But if you stay the course, you can get there.
