There are three types of Twitter marketing, which I’d like to call three schools of Twitter marketing.
You might already know about the first two. But I request you to read to the end of the post to learn about the third school of Twitter marketing.
What matters the most on Twitter when it comes to followers? Quality or Quantity?
This question has been around for quite a long time.
If you are a normal blogger like me who follows the School of Quality, where bloggers like Gary Vaynerchuk, Chris Brogan, etc. preach that the quality of followers matters the most, you won’t give a second thought to quantity.
I also did not until I read this thought-provoking blog post by Justin Kownacki, in which he says, “Sorry guys when it comes to your audience, size DOES matter.”
After reading that post and doing some research, I found that there are actually two types of successful Twitter marketing methods people follow (I’ll explain the third type after explaining these two).
Well, I knew it even before, but I never knew there were as many people following the second method of Twitter marketing (a.k.a. Mass following) and doing it “successfully” too. This is what I call the School of Quantity.
Side note: I don’t recommend the second method to anyone. It might get your Twitter account suspended.
How Do the Two “Schools of Twitter Marketing” Work?
1. School of Quality or School A:
This is the school you are probably following now.
As I said above, Gary Vaynerchuk and Chris Brogan are the best examples of people who preach this method. They say quality is more important than quantity.
Here are some qualities of the students/people who belong to this school:
- They follow only those people who they already know or who interest them
- They don’t use Twitter auto-follow tools (although some people auto-follow)
- RT their very close friends and popular marketers
- Occasionally send out links to their blogs
- Don’t post affiliate links
- Interact with a selective bunch of people
- These are some of the qualities that I’m sure you can relate to. I used to attend this school.
2. School of Quantity or School B
Many people follow this method, and some are very successful. As I said, I don’t recommend this method, but this method does exist.
I know a lot of internet marketers who use this method.
I don’t want to name names here. You might already know some of them.
I’m sure at some point, people belonging to this school followed you and, a few days later, unfollowed you because you did not follow them back.
Here are the qualities of people belonging to the school of quantity:
- They follow anyone and everyone they find
- Follow people based on keywords
- Use Twitter auto-follow tools
- Don’t RT that much
- They (most of them) automate the process
- Post lots of affiliate links
- Some people post only links
- Don’t interact much
You can say a few more qualities, but these are the main ones.
Do you belong to this school? If yes, I hope you will read the Twitter terms and stay within limits.
Both these methods, as I said before, work while the first method is the better one to choose. BUT…
I would like to explain a third method of Twitter marketing, which I would like to call the “School of BOTH Quality and Quantity”.
Why Do We Need a Third Twitter Marketing Method?
When fewer people notice your message, your success will be limited.
By following school A, you focus only on quality, and by following school B, you focus only on quantity.
But the third school requires you to concentrate on both. It would be best if you gave equal importance to both quality and quantity.
According to Dan Zarrella’s hierarchy of contagiousness, you need these three important things to succeed with your message:
1. Exposure
2. Awareness
3. Motivation
Now, the above three help us prove the flaw in both School A and School B.
1. Defect in Concentrating on Quality Alone (School A)
When you concentrate on quality alone, the number of followers you have is much less. The exposure your message gets is limited.
Now check the hierarchy of contagiousness. The first requirement is exposure.
When fewer people follow you, you don’t get exposed to your message.
As a result, your message has very little chance of being successful.
2. Defect in Concentrating on Quantity Alone:
By concentrating on quantity alone, you are not getting any quality. How does this affect your success?
What is the second requirement in Zarrella’s hierarchy? Awareness
Your followers will pay attention to your tweets only if they know you (or if they are bored).
Well, let’s stick to the ‘knowing’ part. Most people are not bored when they tweet.
So, how do you make them know you? Answer: By doing what the third type of people on Twitter do, we are brought to the third school of Twitter marketing.
3. Qualities of People Belonging to “School of BOTH Quality and Quantity”:
- They follow people who interact with their followers (unlike school A people who follow only those they know)
- Most of them don’t auto-follow people
- Track keywords and answer questions people ask based on those keywords
- RT people who post interesting tweets (not just a close group of people)
- Tweet links to their followers’ interesting blog posts
- Interact with all their followers whenever possible
- Post interesting tips to show their expertise in the niche
This type of Twitter marketing helps you get more quality followers who will actually listen to what you say and act on it.
Now, let’s revisit Zarrella’s contagiousness hierarchy and see how our third school of Twitter marketing performs.
1. Exposure? Check
2. Awareness? Check
3. Motivation (call-to-actions)?
Check. Every successful marketer will know this irrespective of which group they belong to.
If not, check out posts on call-to-actions and also read Copyblogger’s post on writing magnetic headlines.
Which school of Twitter marketing do you belong to? In my opinion, it is no longer a question.
If you want to succeed big time, you should try to be in the third school of marketing.
Gary Vaynerchuk, Chris Brogan and the likes have both quality and quantity even though they preach school. A type of Twitter marketing.
So, it is not quantity or quality. It is BOTH. Please share your views in the comments.
Also, I used to belong to the school of quality. But now, I’m working on joining the third school of Twitter marketing (a.k.a. the school of both quality and quantity).
Quick Links:
Conclusion on Three Schools of Twitter Marketing in 2024
In conclusion, there are three important schools of Twitter marketing to be aware of.
The methods used in each school vary greatly, so marketers need to think about which school will best suit their needs before getting started.
Each school—tactical, Strategic, and Transactional—can provide a unique benefit to the marketer depending on the campaign’s goal.
So, while these schools might seem varying and different at first, they ultimately work together to help make effective and successful Twitter marketing strategies.
Additionally, by taking the time to understand what types of campaigns each method works well with, marketers can use them in any combination or separately to maximize their effectiveness in achieving their desired results.
That said, if you want your business’s Twitter campaigns to shine eventually, you must move beyond simply understanding the three schools of thought—strategic, tactical, and transactional—and explore which methods within those schools would prove most beneficial for you.
