How I’ve hit 199 Smart Followers (even as an airdrop account)
It’s so easy to gain smart followers once we understand the psychology behind a follow.
Smart followers are now a precious commodity with the latest changes to Kaito’s leaderboard ranking criteria.
But even if you’re a small account that’s struggling to grow:
It’s possible to get smart followers by using this same method that helped me more than double my smart follower count in less than a year.
All it takes is reverse engineering this concept and applying it at scale to larger accounts:
Earning a smart follow is all about credibility
Look at who you’re currently following and ask yourself:
Why did you choose to follow that account?
It’s likely because they gave some value to you:
They solved a paint point you were facing
Their post resonated with you
You agree with their point of view
Their post was entertaining (if they’re a sh*tposter)
These can be reverse-engineered to get others to follow you back:
Provide value by solving a pain point the reader has
Resonate with others by posting what the reader was thinking
Sharing takes that the reader agrees with
Entertain your audience
I choose to optimise for the first 3 because I’m leaning more towards education rather than entertainment.
Because we have to keep outdoing ourselves to stay relevant as an entertainer.
Ultimately, the smart account must first trust you based on your credibility before they follow you.
Their reputation is at stake if they are seen to follow an account that ultimately turns out to be a grifter or a scammer.
So they’ll be more careful about who they endorse, which is why we need strong credibility first.
But credibility goes beyond just an Ethos score (though that could help), and here’s what we need to do:
Give value first before getting it in return (with a smart follower)
The best way to receive value is to first give it freely.
I see 2 main ways of getting a follow from a smart account:
Writing your own posts (harder)
Being a reply guy on their posts (easier)
I find it easier to convert a smart account into a follower if you’re constantly replying to their posts.
As compared to getting them to see my posts organically.
All we need is to contribute meaningfully to the discussion, and I do this by sharing my:
Opinions
Experiences
There’s no value in writing ‘good post’ without elaborating why it’s good.
The account will likely ignore you if you’re just spamming these comments all the time.
And there’s no need to use AI to write our replies either:
We stand out by being human and sharing authentic ideas that build on the post.
In this age of AI slop, it’s extremely easy to stand out by just being human.
Share real takes, and you’ll get a follow once the account resonates with you.
And I’d absolutely avoid doing this (which chases them away):
Begging gets you nowhere
I won’t beg for a follow because it shows how desperate I am.
It’s very likely that the smart account receives tons of these requests, so there’s really no point in asking them for a follow.
I ignore all of these requests too.
Instead of begging them to follow:
Make your content so good that the smart account can’t help but follow you back.
This all happens naturally when you’re adding meaningful takes to the conversation, instead of just saying generic things.
But it can be tough when you’re just starting out and are not sure what to say:
Don’t worry about saying the wrong thing
You might be concerned about how you’d look in front of the smart account and would want to make things perfect.
Especially if you’re just starting out with being a reply guy, there will be this fear of judgment where you don’t want to sound stupid.
But I’d completely ignore those who mock or criticise you baselessly (there’s a mute button).
I would want to be as accurate as possible when saying something, but it’s perfectly fine to say a ‘wrong’ take.
Others will have different opinions from you, and more importantly, we need to be authentic about our thoughts (they can tell when we’re faking it).
I would start by replying to other accounts with a similar account size as us first to get into the groove of replying.
Then we’d be able to instinctively say what we think when we’re replying to a smart account.
But there’s no guarantee that they’ll follow us back either:
It’s a long ride to get a smart follower
I don’t think it’s possible to get a smart follow instantly with just 1 reply.
The higher the ‘credibility gap’ between you and their account:
The more we need to warm up the conversation with them.
But keep sharing your thoughts on their posts until they can’t ignore you any longer (because what you say is always full of value).
Again, they have to be authentic to stand out, as you’re likely fighting with hundreds of other comments on the same post.
So just be yourself and you can get anyone to follow you if they resonate with your opinions or experiences.
Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:
Audience to Airdrop: My flagship course that teaches you my exact framework to earn InfoFi airdrops without killing your reputation. Learn how to grow on Twitter (even starting from zero) with value-first content that helped me earn 19k+ followers to date.
Personalised Twitter Audit: Turn your profile into a trust magnet with guidance on why people are not engaging with you, and how to fix it. If you’re not getting the reach that you deserve, this audit identifies the gaps to help you build trust and unlock more opportunities.
Secure Airdrop Hunter: My Web3 security course that teaches the essentials to protect your assets and onchain footprint while stopping hackers from draining your funds.