Newsflash... I don't follow everyone that follows me on Twitter. I know, I know, where is my sense of community? Don't I want to be a contributing member of society? Believe me, I have no problem with engaging others but come on... some folks out there aren't even trying. There are plenty of posers and spam bots out there and even some real folks who only broadcast on auto-tweet and I'm not interested in that type of engagement. When someone follows me, I don't auto-follow back. I will take the time to check out your profile, tweets, maybe your url and if I see value, I'll follow back.
In case you would like to know what I'm specifically looking for, here are some reasons why I will follow you.
- I WILL FOLLOW YOU IF... you have a picture. I need to at least be able to visualize who I'm speaking with. I'm not down for communicating with the mystery "EGG" person.
- I WILL FOLLOW YOU IF... you have a profile/bio. Your recent tweets will give me a sense for who you are but what is your elevator pitch? That is your chance to sell me. Be professional, personal, and having a sense of humor also helps.
- I WILL FOLLOW YOU IF... not all your tweets are RTs or filled with self-promotional links. Don't get me wrong, retweeting is a very important piece of social media but if that is all you do, I might as well follow those you are retweeting and cut out the middle man. Also, I see the value of self-promotion but if that is all you do, you are missing the point.
- I WILL FOLLOW YOU IF... you follow most of the people who follow you. Don't follow back everyone and then after you build up your following, cut everybody off to look like a celebrity. As Primetime would say, #HOP, don't act like you don't know me!
- I WILL FOLLOW YOU IF... you are not an organization. Ok, I follow some businesses, but for the most part, I want to engage with a person rather than a company.
- I WILL FOLLOW YOU IF... your auto DM isn't spammy and impersonal. I don't use auto DMs but I have seen some good ones (e.g., "What took you so long?") but for the most part if there are links and suggestions to "make money", that isn't going to cut it.