Attention #AcademicTwitter, #MedTwitter, and #SoMeDocs. I grew my Twitter following from 500 to over 4,000 in FIVE months. You can too. AN UPDATED, EPIC #TWEETORIAL thread 1/n

Get in the right mindset. Decide to use Twitter as a tool to build your professional network. The number of followers you have is a vanity metric. You don’t NEED followers. You need collaborators, teachers, mentors, and colleagues. You are building a professional tribe. 2/n

Think ENGAGEMENT. When you are building your professional tribe, do what you would do in real life to build collaborative, supportive relationships with other professionals. LISTEN to them. Comment on their content and offer advice, support, and alternative perspectives. 3/n

Choose a niche and narrow it (or niche down). Niche = brand. It’s what people know you for. Are you a doctor? Great – narrow that down. Like an #IDTwitter doc who loves to cook. That’s your professional brand. You can and should be multidimensional but be memorable first. 4/n

Brand yourself right from the start with a good username. (It’s whatever you have after the @ symbol.) Use your actual name for a consistent brand or choose something people can spell. If your name is a mouthful, consider a pseudonym. 5/n

Do not put numbers in your username! That’s a flag for a bot. A Twitter bot is software that controls a Twitter account via the Twitter API, and they often have a bunch of numbers at the end of their username. Try not to look like one or people won’t follow you. 6/n

Change your display name periodically. Twitter is a dynamic place. Your display name is a great way to tell people what you’re doing. @EpiEllie does this really well. When she was traveling, she changed her display name as a way of sharing her journey. 7/n

Select an appropriate profile pic. This means your profile pic is YOUR FACE, preferably smiling or looking professional. If you’re a doctor, that white coat goes a long way in establishing cred but it signals ‘this is a work account.’ Anonymity on Twitter is not real. 8/n

Develop a targeted profile that doesn’t sell people stuff. Include your professional credentials, 2-3 relevant hashtags that represent the topic areas you cover, and an interesting personal fact. Optionally include your pronouns. A blank profile is an unfollowed profile. 9/n

Create, don’t just share, interesting and relevant content. Building your professional tribe is about collaborating, learning, and supporting others. If you do not share content that is authentic and created to fulfill one of those 3 things, people are less likely to engage. 10/n

Participate or host a #FollowFriday. I host a #FollowFriday (almost) every week, and when I do, I ask people to intro themselves, follow everyone on the thread, RT the thread, and I ask people to comment on a theme. One week I did #mentalhealth and #selfcare. 11/n

THANK people for following you. DM the person you follow and say ‘Thanks NAME for following me. I look forward to reading your feed. Have a great week.” This goes a long way because you are authentically engaging a real person. 12/n

Follow 5-10 new people a day who are similar to you but have FEWER followers than you. People with fewer followers than you are more likely to follow back. And follow people back yourself. 13/n

Tweet between 5-6 times a day. The majority of that content needs to relate to your niche and NOT be retweets. At least one of your tweets must be personal and comment on an everyday situation/thing that the people who follow you can relate to. 14/n

Use up to THREE hashtags in your original content. My hashtags are typically #AcademicTwitter, #epitwitter, and #medtwitter. More than that says you do not know how to appropriately target your content. Remember, NICHE DOWN. 15/n

Retweet relevant and interesting content in your niche and cite the person’s username in the RT. Don’t just hit ‘Retweet’ or ‘Retweet with Comment’ unless you actually cite the source. This only applies to people and not organizations. 16/n

Don’t get political unless that’s your niche. This is equivalent to my other piece of advice which is Don’t be a jerk to people on Twitter. No one wants to follow a jerk/bully. If you can’t respect other people’s differences, then being out in public is not for you. 17/n

Get yourself a Twitter buddy. Mine is @amydjohn. We help each other with Twitter and offer support. Forming a Twitter squad can also help you build your tribe faster, especially by tagging each other in your tweets. 18/n

Use Twitter's desktop app to build your presence on the platform. Real engagement - commenting, hearting, etc. - is hard to always do on your phone or tablet. The desktop app offers a lot of functionality. Use it! 19/n

One final piece of advice: use your professional tribe’s collective knowledge. Ask people to collaborate with you or for their expertise. Once you build it, use it. You’ll be glad you did. GOOD LUCK! 20/n