Early last summer I paid someone I met on Twitter to find me more targeted followers. She was a mutual friend of a colleague so it’s not like she was just some random total stranger. I actually called her prior to paying my money to assure myself that I was not getting scammed. She emphatically stated that I could easily buy Twitter followers and she could attract literally thousands of like-minded, business people to my Twitter account. Why not? I paid and sat back and waited.

Sure enough, the followers starting coming  in droves. More than 100 in an hour. Cool!  Wait, not so much.  I looked at the profiles and the majority did not have profile pictures, had no bio and few followers. Hmmm…  I emailed the lady and inquired. She said to be patient, that “always happens” in the first few hours.  I waited. Things got worse. My next 250 followers were nubile teenagers in compromising poses. This was not good. I called and told her I wanted my money back and I wanted all of these new “targeted” followers gone. Her response was one of surprise, stating, “this kind of thing has never happened.”  Well, it was happening now and she did refund my money, but I had to unfollow all of these less than desireable creatures. Lesson learned, never buy followers, ever.

Twitter is a great way to make connections, but it does take effort and patience. This week on The Social Networking NewsHour my guest was Michelle McCullough, of The Start Up Princess. Michelle enjoys a Twitter following of over 200,000 people. She has been onTwitter since 2008, so this number did not happen overnight, and, she worked hard at growing her following. On the show she shared her four-point strategy.

1) Follow at least ten to fifteen new people a day. People who are movers and shakers who have more followers than you.

2) Reach out and start conversations with industry leaders and people who are experts in their field.

3) Ask questions. And answer them when people respond. Keep the engagement high.

4) Research hashtags and use them correctly. See what hashtags are trending and, if appropriate, use them in  your Tweets for more eyes on your message.

All of these tips are excellent. Twitter is like a cocktail party, a fast-moving conversation.  Michelle implements her strategy and it works for her. She also sets aside a couple of hours a week to plan her social media marketing activities.

I am a true believer in quality over quantity. If I wasn’t, I would probably still have hundreds of half-naked women following me and never contributing anything worthwhile on my Twitter stream.

Listen to our entire podcast and hear more about Michelle and how Twitter has brought her press coverage, speaking engagements and more.  And whatever you do, stay away from people who want to take your money to get you a big number. So not worth it.

Laurie Hurley is a social media consultant, mentor, and coach. She is a sought-after speaker and enjoys helping entrepreneurs build their following in legitimate ways!