A Google search for “Quickly Growing Twitter Followers” is filled with pages of paid/unpaid strategies designed to increase your numbers. Some of these strategies rely on using computer software and programs (keyword based) to automate your account to follow users who automatically reciprocate. If these users do not reciprocate after a specificied period of time, they are unfollowed. With over 75 million users, whom may or may not be active, it is not hard to see how your company can quickly grow an automated following (High Quantity, Low Quality). It’s even easier if these paid services ping their existing customer database to build your following. If having a massive number of untargeted followers does not tie directly to your recruiting objectives, then what’s the point of using these strategies?

Instead of gathering a large number of followers who have no interest in your tweets, a focus on growing your followers organically will be far more beneficial to achieving your long-term strategic recruiting objectives. This means, that your company will not be able to join Twitter one day and by the next week show your Director of Human Resources that social media works because you have several thousand followers. Let’s hope that you were given more time than this to prove the value of social media tools to your recruiting efforts. It also means that your company will have to take its time in figuring out the combination of content (articles, links, job postings, questions, and answers) that is most relevant to your target audience. Finally, it means that your company will have to actively contribute to the social web.

Once your company’s efforts are focused on adding value, users from your target audience will notice. These users will begin to follow your account, interact with your tweets, and share your account with their network. This genuine social interaction combined with word-of-mouth sharing through personal and professional networks will ultimately help your company gain a targeted, sustainable following. Isn’t that the goal ?

–Omowale Casselle (Follow me on Twitter: @mysensay)