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Remember the early days of MySpace? There was hardly any spam or people trying to steal your account, it was simple, and networking early didn’t seem all that important. Twitter is just getting out of the early phase and networking is more important than ever. So how do you succeed on Twitter? Be like Darth Vader.

Darth Vader has a death grip on Twitter

You read that right. Be like old Mr. Angry Deathstar, himself. I don’t mean you should throw on a big black helmet and talk like James Earl Jones. Instead, just take a look at his account and what he’s doing right. How did Darth Vader land almost 20,000 followers? Let’s take a look.

Be a Celebrity (stand-in)
Sure… Easy, right? OK.. Maybe you can’t do everything just like Darth, but think about it. Is it REALLY Darth Vader slinging tweets? My money says it’s just someone who got the right idea at the right time and has executed the plan perfectly. Are there any celebrities? If you decide to become a celebrity stand-in, use it as your second account and keep a primary account for the real you. Then let the success of the celebrity account help your “you” account.

Entertain
If you’re a celebrity stand-in, don’t just repeat some lines from a movie like @napoleondynamite does. That clearly does not work at all. Be original while staying in character like D.V. does. Not all of his tweets a hilarious, but enough are that I don’t want to miss one, so I follow, just like the other 19,000+ followers.

Don’t Be Afraid to Follow
You can’t just sit back and expect the love to flow one way. You are nurturing relationships to an extent and just like the real thing, you need to give if you expect to receive. On Twitter, this means following people. Even if it’s just people who sent you a tweet or who you find interesting, don’t be afraid to follow a lot of people. Even an A-Lister like Darth Vader follows over 4,000 people.

Brand Yourself
What does your twitter page look like? Do you have a background? You at least have an icon, right? Take a look at Darth Vader’s Twitter page. His icon is easily recognizable and his background is subtle, but brands the page well. If your blog or site already has a brand that people will recognize, weave that into your Twitter page. Often just a simple background and the right icon will do the trick.

Darth lands himself about 50 new minions a day and can easily drop a link to a blog, website, or product landing page that will automatically be sent to an audience of almost 20,000 people. That’s true marketing power and if it is used correctly (linking only to related things like a Star Wars ring tone affiliate link, for example), the Dark Sith could be on the receiving end of some easy affiliate earnings.