You probably read a lot of different articles that talk about the importance of content in gaining followers but nobody really talks about the importance of character and personality. I find the people I remember and engage with the most over social networks are those with amiable personalities. The tweets that were retweeted the most on my own feed are strangely also my own random thoughts or life happenings. Sure content is important, but knowing your online character goes a long way. It all really comes down to one question: What do you want to be known for?
Having a topic you focus on is important in portraying your online image but having personality adds life into your Twitter or subscribable Facebook posts. It also let’s people know how approachable you are and encourages or discourages them from interacting with you both online and offline.
Tweeting life events has to be done with care. You don’t want to be known as the person who hates their life (although there are a few that do this hilariously), or the person who tweets every little boring detail of their lives. The objective is to get people to interact by having a laugh, sympathizing or being able to relate to you. An interesting way to analyze how you are currently doing is to ask someone who doesn’t know you that well to describe what kind of person they think you are by having read only your tweets or facebook posts. You might even learn something you didn’t know about yourself. Perhaps complaining too much about/during your job? That’s a no-no in the professional world and you never know who really is following you directly or indirectly. I find these are the people I tend to unfollow too because they aren’t adding anything interesting into the conversation pot.
I told someone who I met recently to analyze my feed. They told me I’m a girl who loves music and food, has a puppy and is pretty random and easily amused. I was told I’m sociable, funny and sarcastic at times. The interesting thing is, it is pretty much what I’m like in real life. It’s also the same character I am publically on all social networks and blogs.
What are you like online and what do you want to portray? You might be posting the right content, but character goes a long way. It could be why you aren’t gaining the followers you think you should. At the end of the day, millions of people post the same content, but it’s the personalities behind the content that set them apart.
Tiana Feng 
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