Want to get more followers on Twitter for your brand or business? Boy, is today your lucky day, for I am the bearer of some truly excellent news: this article contains all of the secrets you need to help you boost the size of your Twitter network.

You only need to make one decision: how much effort are you prepared to make?

There are two paths available. One is super-easy, returns almost instant results and will give you the appearance of a Twitter BSD in no time at all.

The other? Well, it’s kinda hard. It takes both time and effort. Lots of people simply won’t have the patience (or the cajones), and will either double-back to take the easier path, or give up completely.

The decision is yours, and yours alone. Which path will you choose?

The Easy Path

Prefer the easy path? Just follow these four basic steps.

-Follow somebody at random – literally anyone will do
-Wait 24-48 hours to see if they follow you back
-If they don’t, unfollow them
-Repeat
This is known as churning. And while it’s supposed to be a breach of Twitter’s TOS, they rarely do anything about it. It’s a simple and highly-effective way to build a lot of followers in a short period of time. In a few months (sometimes less) you can easily pick up ten thousand people. And if you’re really into it, a lot more.

There’s just one (relatively minor) drawback to finding followers using this system: almost none of these profiles (1-2 per cent maximum) will pay you any attention whatsoever. This is because most of the people who automatically follow you back are employing the exact same system as you. With very, very few exceptions, the actual value of a network built this way is at or close to zero. Want proof? Just check out the bit.ly data of anyone who built a Twitter network using these practices.

Take a look around Twitter and you’ll see lots of folks, many of whom come bearing titles such as guru, maven and internet marketer – and so many of them are enthusiasts, too, which is always nice to see – who have built huge followings using this very system. They’re easy to spot, as they’re nearly always following a few hundred more people than the tens (and sometimes hundreds) of thousands of people who are following them. Although a few are sneaky, and later mass-unfollow almost everyone to make it look like they recruited their audience simply by being awesome. Trust me: they didn’t.

And they’re not.

The Hard Path

Unfortunately, the hard path is literally that: hard. It takes time, it takes effort, and it requires all of the following to work:

Learn the Twitter basics (and continue to educate yourself)
Write perfect tweets
Be yourself
Put in the hours
Be useful, helpful or interesting
Be nice (until it’s time to not be nice)
Have a proper avatar
Pay attention
Don’t be a jerk
It’s okay to link to your own content, and to use Twitter to sell your stuff, but if that’s all you do then virtually everybody will ignore you (learn about tweet ratios)
Understand the difference between an authority and a middleman – strive to become the former within your niche
Actively monitor your mentions folder
Have a respectable username
Master Twitter search
Be a pro
Know your limits
Be your own boss
Don’t automate anything
All Twitter “systems” are scams, cons or both
Keep your own follow number low (and let your people go)
Don’t expect that shiny new piece of technology to do the work for you
Retweet sparingly (it’s your seal of approval, after all)
Don’t overdo it (but be sure to make your mark)
Be mindful of security (and get rid of those who aren’t)
Don’t believe the hype
Read the full content – not just the headlines – before you comment
Leave plenty of space for retweets
Ignore naysayers
Don’t be a metweeter
Perhaps most importantly: always remember that you cannot and never will be able to please everybody
Yes, it’s hard. It’s a lot harder, in fact. But if you want an engaged, active and interested network of followers, it’s absolutely worth the effort. It will take time, and you won’t accumulate as many followers so quickly, but do it right and your network will be engaged and attentive.

Bottom line (and something you should never forget): it’s much better to have 100 people who know and care about you than 100,000 strangers who don’t.

Celebrities have it different, as they come with a certain amount of influence and renown. They don’t have to do anything. For everybody else – brands, businesses, entrepreneurs and wannabe influencers – you only have one realistic choice: put in the work.

Or don’t. I don’t care. And if you decide to take the easy path, then neither will your followers.