I think Twitter is the most discerning of social networks and it drives me nuts to see people abusing it, broadcasting, spamming, boasting about numbers of followers, etc. They seem to have forgotten the quintessential point of social networking: users curate their own feeds.
Twitter had this sussed from the start – if somebody you followed started to bore you or posted too many updates throughout the day, you can simply unfollow them! So why some accounts think they can bombard people with links, dull content and no personal updates, is beyond me. You won’t see your followers grow that way.
I’m a firm believer in keeping social media use honest and organic. Don’t focus on achieving high numbers of followers – focus on the quality and relevance of those followers. Social networks allow businesses to focus their attention on those who are actually interested in their product or service if, and it’s a big IF, they engage people with an interesting Twitter feed; varied content, not too much advertising, and a lot of personality!
Better to have 100 followers who are interested in what you’ve got to say and are all potential customers, than 1000 customers who wouldn’t know what your company did if you covered it in spam and posted it to them.
Be interesting, be creative and watch your audience grow naturally.
Don’t know if you can tell but I am pretty passionate about how businesses use social media – if you ever want me to present a talk to people in your business, just give me a shout!