I Wrote 90 "Perfect" Tweets and Got 11 Followers
Last month, I did something that made me want to delete my account.
I opened my analytics and added up a full 30 days of "playing the game." I'd polished my bio. I wrote thoughtful threads. I even posted a picture of my dog.
90 tweets. 30 hours of my life.
For 11 new followers and enough impressions to fill a small high school classroom.
I'm not alone in this brand of insanity. I see it every day. Smart founders and builders whispering their brilliant ideas into the void, convinced they just need to "be more consistent" or "provide more value."
We're all doing this wrong.
The Dirty Secret About Your Follower Count
Here's what the social media gurus don't want to admit: your follower count is a ghost. A vanity metric. A number that has almost zero bearing on whether your next post gets seen by ten people or ten million.
Those guides that tell you to wait until you have 3,000 followers before you can make an impact? Complete theater. They're selling you a ticket to a game that ended two years ago.
The real kicker? I spent more time agonizing over the "perfect" post than I did actually talking to people.
That's not a strategy. That's shouting into a hurricane.
What Actually Works (Based on Accounts That Exploded, Not Gurus That Preach)
I decided to throw out the entire playbook. No more obsessing over follower counts. No more writing for an audience I didn't have.
Here's what I learned.
1. Your "Home Base" Should Be Someone Else's Mentions
Pick one core activity that you will do every single day. Not posting—replying. If you have 30 minutes to spend on the platform, spend all 30 minutes writing replies. It's the most lopsidedly powerful growth lever there is.
Why? It’s attention arbitrage. When you post, you're hoping the algorithm notices you. When you reply to a popular account, you're hijacking their audience. It's like getting a free opening slot for a sold-out stadium tour.
But "Great post!" or "💯" is digital garbage. Your replies need to add something. They need to be mini-essays that make people stop and say, "Huh, that's smart."
The test? If your reply doesn't make the original poster look smarter or challenge their idea in a meaningful way, delete it.
2. Build Your "Content Squad"
Instead of one-size-fits-all content, build a small team of post types that do specific jobs.
The Builder Post - This is your bread and butter. Stop trying to be a thought leader and start being a documentarian. Post a screenshot of your ugly MVP. A photo of your whiteboard strategy. A Loom video of a new feature. People love watching the sausage get made.
The Contrarian Post - This is your grenade. It’s the high-risk, high-reward opinion that sparks debate. A developer I know did this with 25 followers, tweeting: "Hot take: if you're coding 100% on a laptop you're probably new to coding." He got 700,000 views and a firestorm of engagement. A strong opinion from a nobody will always beat a boring statement from a somebody.
The Human Post - This is the post that reminds people you’re not a robot. Talk about the investor who said no. The feature that flopped. The day you felt like giving up. A post that starts with "I messed up today..." is a million times more powerful than "I'm thrilled to announce..."
3. The "Blue Check" Reality Check
Can we talk about the elephant in the room? The subscription.
People love to complain about having to pay for a social media account. Get over it. It's the cost of doing business. It's no longer optional.
Paying gives your replies a massive visibility boost in the algorithmic war for attention. It puts your comment at the top, not the bottom. I saw an account's reply impressions jump 5x the day they signed up.
The lesson? If a platform gives you a legal, ethical way to pay for more attention, you take it. Complaining about it is a waste of energy you should be spending on writing great replies.
A Real-World Example (And What It Actually Took)
For a brand-new founder I coached—starting from absolute zero—here's the playbook we ran for 30 days:
10-15 high-value replies per day. (This was 70% of the effort).
3 "Build in Public" or "Human" posts per day. (Sharing the journey, raw and unfiltered).
1 "Contrarian" post per week. (A well-reasoned, spicy take on the industry).
X Premium. (Subscribed on day one).
Total monthly impressions: 1.5 million.
Result: A waitlist of 500+ people for a product that didn't exist yet, and a network of peers and investors who knew who they were. All for less than the cost of a nice dinner.
The 1-Week Test That Will Change Your Mind
Here's your homework:
Pay for the subscription. Stop debating it. Just do it.
Create a private list of 50 influential people in your industry. This is now your main feed.
Your ONLY goal for 7 days is to write 10 high-value replies per day to the people on that list. Add value. Reframe. Disagree respectfully.
Post just ONE original tweet per day documenting what you're building or learning.
Look at your analytics (especially impressions and profile visits) after 7 days.
Cancel your obsession with the follower count forever.
The Truth About Building an Audience That Actually Matters
The best X strategy isn't the one that impresses other marketers with a fancy follower count. It's the one that gets your ideas in front of the right people, right now, without asking for permission.
Your profile should feel like a natural extension of your work and your thinking, not a curated museum of perfect takes.
The real question isn't "How do I get more followers?"
It's "How do I get into more of the right conversations?"
Start there. Your sanity will thank you.