Follow Friday is a twitter trend where users send custom tweets to recommend people to follow on Twitter. Follow Friday tweets are marked with #FF or #FollowFriday hashtags and are sent every Friday. This Twitter trend was started by Micah Baldwin when he sent the first Follow Friday tweet on 16 January 2009:
As you can see the first Follow Friday tweet wasn’t having a hashtag #FF or #FollowFriday. Later, Mykl Roventine suggested Micah to include the hashtags.
Since then, it has been a common trend in Twitter to send Follow Friday tweets every Friday. Follow Friday is a great way to mention your followers and it is also helpful in increasing engagement. You can mention any follower in Follow Friday tweets. However, it is a good idea to mention the people who are most active in your community i.e. the people who often retweet your tweets and mention you in their tweets. People who don’t follow you or the people who are new in your community may not like Follow Friday tweets that much.
There are two ways by which you can easily create Follow Friday tweets:
1) Send Follow Friday tweets manually: You can use any Twitter tool to find the most engaged followers in your community. For Example, you can use commun.it to find your most engaged members. From the community tab, you can find members Who Retweeted Me, Engaged members, High value members, Influencers and supporters. You can copy the Twitter handle for most engaged users and can manually send the Follow Friday tweets. Make sure you include the tags #FF or #FollowFriday in your Follow Friday tweets.
2) Send Follow Friday tweets using TwitNerd: If you want to save time in sending Follow Friday tweets, then you can easily send it using TwitNerd. Login to TwitNerd using your twitter account and then click on Follow Friday menu at the top. Here, you can find the Twitter users who often retweet you under “Those that retweet you” and who often mention you under “Those that mention you”. You also have the option to customize the Follow Friday tweets and include exclude users as per your requirements. Then, click on “Tweet” to send the Follow Friday tweet.
Follow the below given points for creating a Follow Friday tweet:
1) Add a personal touch: Instead of sending Follow Friday tweet to many people at once you may want to send one Follow Friday tweet per person. When you mention one user per tweet it adds a personal touch. Also, Twitter has a limit of 140 characters. It is difficult to add many Twitter handles in one tweet.
2) Create a unique Follow Friday tweet: You must create a unique Follow Friday tweet which specifically represents your brand. This will make sure that your tweet is relevant and easily recognizable. Also, you can send a personalized message in your Follow Friday tweet.
3) Add the Follow Friday hashtags: You have to make sure that you add the Follow Friday hashtags in your Follow Friday tweets: #FF or #FollowFriday.
4) Include images: If you want to create a perfect Follow Friday tweet you might want to include a relevant image. Tweets with images results in more retweets.
5) Use maximum of three hashtags: I have been using Keith’s formula of three hashtags for my tweets and it certainly works. More than three hashtags is overkill and it doesn’t look good in a tweet. One hashtag is already your #FF or #FollowFriday tweet. So, you can add two more hashtags.
6) Iterate your Follow Friday tweets: You can iterate your Follow Friday tweets by making slight changes every week to see how it works. After three or four times you will be able to figure out the best Follow Friday tweet for your brand. Also, you can generate reports to compare the number of retweets and reach level every week.
Here are the advantages of Follow Friday tweets:
1) Generate more retweets: When you send Follow Friday tweets, most of the people you have mentioned will retweet the Follow Friday tweets. Thus, you can increase the number of your retweets per week.
2) Increase the outreach of your tweets: After you start sending Follow Friday tweets, you can generate an engagement report and measure the outreach level by using a Twitter tool like commun.it. In the report you will observe that the tweet outreach level has been increased.
3) Build your brand name: Social media is all about communication and interaction. Follow Friday is an excellent way to engage with your top community members once in a week.
4) Increase in the number of relevant twitter followers: Follow Friday tweets also helps in increasing the number of relevant twitter followers. When your top community members retweet your tweets, its reach is increased and thus many people will follow you.
5) Increase your Kred score and Klout score: Follow Friday tweets also helps in increasing the Kred Score and increasing the Klout score. Kred and Klout are important tools for measuring your social media community scores.