How I went from 0 to 1300 followers on X

I grew to 1300+ followers on X.

Here I will detail exactly how.

There are 3 pillars of growth:

• DMs;

• content;

• engagement;

I will explain you my biggest hacks for each of them.

DMs.

Most people get these wrong. They either don’t use them at all or they just try to sell from the beginning.

DMs should be a conversation.

And there are 2 ways to start a conversation:

• you start;

• the other person starts;

Now, when you start the conversation, there are also 2 ways to do it:

• cold DM (a standard template);

• warm DM (personalized stuff);

Cold DM

One of the worst mistakes people make is to try to make Cold DMs seem warm.

This usually backfires.

For cold DMs you should have a template. Most people add the other person’s name here and sometimes they write the wrong name.

The other person will know that you are faking the “warm” DM.

So stop doing that!

Don’t even bother to write the other person’s name.

Send a generic DM template.

“But nobody will open that message”

Yes, unless you provide real value for FREE. That’s why I recommend promoting a FREE product of yours there.

Here you can learn more about building a product.

Just add the link to your product and write in a few lines why they should try it.

You can ask for feedback and say that it really helps you get better. (people usually want to help other people)

Warm DM

You can start a personalized conversation with people with whom you have already interacted in comments and about who you really have something to say.

Write a compliment and be genuine. If you have nothing to say about this person, just use the cold DM approach.

NEVER use template DMs for warm approach. Write something new every time!

Continue the conversation:

NEVER use templates here. And don’t be a ROBOT.

Talk about what you do here and either send them some free content/product or get them on a call.

Don’t hesitate to send them some of your posts to interact. Most of the people that I sent my post two actually liked it, some ignored it and just a couple unfollowed and blocked me (so far). So overall this strategy helps.

Here it is important to not send paid products directly. Just send them your Gumroad account (learn more here ) and they can look at all your products. If they liked the free ones, and you know how to explain how your products will help them, they will buy.

Here is a summary of what I talked about so far:

Content

“You should write 3 tweets/ day, 2 threads/week, 1 newsletter/week”

This may feel overwhelming in the beginning.

Here it is the full strategy of how I’ve done it:

You start with long content.

“But I cannot write good short content, how can I write long content?”

The difference is your target audience. The target audience for short content are people who are scrolling on social media. The target audience for newsletters already wants to read your stuff.

So for the newsletters, just write stuff that will interest them and that you could help them with.

Then imagine the content on your short posts as hooks for the long form. Redirect people from short form to long form.

Write and repurpose content:

• get views;

• get followers (how your account looks);

• provide value and maintain followers;

• giveaways and promoting products;

Get views.

It all starts by getting eyes on your posts. This can be done via:

• good hooks/easy to read posts;

• engagement on other accounts;

With your hooks, you have to create strong emotions in your reader:

• surprise;

• fear;

• amusement;

They all lead to curiosity, and people might read and interact with your post.

Study posts from small accounts that do well.

Now you have to convert some of these views into followers.

For this you need to make your profile look good.

You have to be very clear on what problems you solve and how you can help people.

Never neglect your bio!

Find a problem that people may have and your own mechanism of solving it.

Example bio: “I help <target audience> with <problem> using <unique mechanism>”

Study popular profiles and use them as examples.

Now you have to write posts (that your followers will like) and to convince them to join your newsletter.

Here is where long forms and threads come into play. Think about this as giving your readers a glimpse of your newsletter. Always attach your newsletter in the comments of this type of post.

To learn more about this, you may want to read this article.

It also helps to organize your content more efficiently. Learn how to do that here.

Engagement

Comment and quote posts, but actually talking to people may help more,

You have to network. I suggest that you actually make friends through DMs. Then you create Whatsapp/Telegram/Discord engagement groups and you engage with each other’s content.

Be aware that many people won’t engage that much with your content anyway. Ignore them and find others!

Eventually you will create your “Tribe” and you will grow together.

Use X Lists:

Create a list for people you want to engage with.

Sometimes the X algorithm does not show you the posts of the people you follow, so you will need to make lists to see their content constantly. Trust me, it really helps.

Communities:

In communities, you can create more niched content and people will actually read it. Don’t hesitate to use communities to make friends with the same passions as you.

Conclusion.

These are my main lessons on the 0-1k followers.

Apply them and see your account grow!

I will update you on the 1-10k journey.

Thanks for the read.

Take care,

Andrei