For as much time as I spent on Twitter, admittedly, I have never done a very good job of managing followers or really gaining a following. I've had an account since Jan 1 of 2008, and initially skyrocketed in followers, but seemed to have reached a glass ceiling over the last couple of years that keeps me at about 800-900 followers.

I've never felt like I needed more followers for any other reason than to increase my engagement, and I do very little to seek out more. But lately I've been trying to do a better job of expanding my Twitterverse. In going through I've been adding more and more people I thought have experience relevant to my interest, but in the process noticed more about who I don't want to follow than who I do.

So here are my five simple rules for getting me to follow you on Twitter.

1. Change your avatar to something that is representative of you, like, your face. If you follow me and you just have the default egg, I don't care if you're the resurrected body of Steve Jobs and want to DM me a job offer, I won't follow you back.
2. Have something interesting to say in your biography, or at least have one. Likewise, if you mention the term SEO, or that you're an expert in social media in your bio, I will virtually kick you in the nuts.
3. Make sure that your last 5 tweets consist of something other than Foursquare checkins (which should only be tweeted when you're somewhere interesting, not just out to lunch) or Instagram pictures of your dog. Don't get me wrong, I post pictures of my dog too, it's just not necessary to do it all the time.
4. Post on a consistent basis. If the last time you contributed to Twitter was over a week ago, it better have been worth it.
5. Don't try and sell me a book you wrote or encourage me to follow you for life coaching. I'm not impressed.