It just got a whole lot easier to increase your Twitter following. Today, Twitter announced it has introduced its new, official Follow Button.
The new button makes it easy for website visitors to start following the Twitter accounts that are most interesting to them. For marketers, it offers an easy way to generate new followers and, ultimately, increase social media reach.
So far today, Twitter has reported that more than 50 sites have added the new button. Want to increase your business' reach on Twitter? Start by adding the new button to your website and/or blog!
How to Add the Twitter Follow Button to Your Site
It's extremely easy to configure:
- Visit http://twitter.com/followbutton
- Complete the form with your Twitter username, background color preference, whether you want your follower count to show, and language choice.
- Copy the button's code and paste it into the HTML of your website or blog where you want it to appear.
- Watch the new followers start rolling in!
Voila! The new button, similar to how the Facebook "Like" button works on websites, enables users to start following your business' Twitter account with a single click. Visitors never even have to leave your web page, enhancing their user experience and allowing you to increase the number of new Twitter followers you generate from your website.
Why Increasing Reach Is Important for Marketers
People who follow your social media accounts are more likely to engage with your brand, retweet your content , and become fans and evangelists for your company. Don't miss out on easy steps like this that you can take to increase your business' reach in social media.
The better your reach, the more likely people will find you online and share your content with their followers. This gives you access not just to your network of followers, but also your followers' network of followers!
Will you add the new Twitter Follow Button to your website or blog? Why is increasing social media reach important to your business?
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Owen McGab Enaohwo 6:14 PM on May 31, 2011
What are the differences between this new button and just setting up a Twitter image/button that directly links people to one's Twitter Profile
Pamela Seiple 6:42 PM on May 31, 2011
Owen: The difference is that the site visitor can follow you with one click, without having to leave your site. Setting up a button the links to your account requires the visitor to click the link, go to Twitter and click "follow" there. This takes them away from your site and offers a less ideal user experience.
Jane 7:03 PM on May 31, 2011
It's an interesting thing. I like the idea of clicking to access their twitter profile and the twitter stream. I can then see if the tweets from the account are worthy of being followed. I'm unlikely to follow anyone with a single click.
Mary E. Ulrich 7:27 PM on May 31, 2011
Sorry to be so dense, but when you say to paste it in the HTML where exactly is that? Is this considered a "plug-in"? I have a Wordpress site.
Herman Hartman 7:30 PM on May 31, 2011
Hey, I'm glad you posted this with instructions. I totally screwed up my FB Like button because I din'thave thorough instructions.
Owen McGab Enaohwo 8:06 PM on May 31, 2011
Thanks Pam, I implemented it for my blog and it looks great!
jbledsoejr 10:44 PM on May 31, 2011
I like it! We are definitely going to use it for our site. I think if someone visits your site and likes the content on your site then a single click follow is definitely doable.
Pamela Seiple 9:27 AM on June 01, 2011
@Mary: You'd need to be able to edit your site's HTML. I'm not sure whether you can with Wordpress: http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/how-to-edit-html
Owen McGab Enaohwo 11:28 AM on June 01, 2011
I noticed how when the Twitter Follow button is clicked, it allows users who are already signed onto Twitter to become followers without leaving my page and I am curious if Facebook has a simple yet similar implementation or is there a Wordpress plugin that one can use to recreate this process for Facebook?
Chris 11:52 AM on June 01, 2011
@Mary
A lot of Wordpress templates that support sidebar widgets make this fairly easy.
Appearance > Widgets > Add a "Text Widget to Your Sidebar
You should be able to paste the HTML code into this widget if you would like it in your sidebar.
David Staub 5:39 PM on June 01, 2011
This is great news. I'll be adding the follow button to my website right away. I also expect that I will use it fairly often when I see it on others' websites too. Right now, it is often a pain to figure out how to follow someone I have found outside Twitter.
Jenny 10:07 AM on June 02, 2011
@Owen,
Yes, Facebook definitely has (and has had for a while) a Like button that allows you to Like a page without being redirected. I am not sure exactly how to implement it but I am positive that they have it. I see it everywhere.
John Clark 2:38 AM on June 03, 2011
Hopefully they will have fixed things so that their buttons work via SSL (unlike the current Tweet button, which throws up problems when placed on pages using SSL).