“Don’t fall into the trap of something I call a ‘courtesy’ follow — that is, following someone that has followed you out of a desire to appear grateful,†advises Sheena Medina, community manager at Fast Company.
On the other hand, some say that businesses should follow back, so that their followers may DM them privately.
Both Fitton and Medina encourage businesses to refrain from using an automated “thanks for following†mention. If you do decide to follow everyone, authenticity is key. Your followers will be able to tell whether they’re talking to a robot or a person — and a real person is always more valuable on Twitter.
If you do decide not to follow everyone on Twitter, Medina advises to be strategic about curating your stream on Twitter — knowing your audience helps, but you must also think about what sort of content is going to be useful and entertaining to you.
Photo by Andreas Eldh