5 Easy Ways to get me to follow you on Social Media (Twitter)

My followers on Twitter have been steadily increasing, mostly with spam bots and people I have no interest in following or don't know. That and my twitter time line (Twitstream) is pretty full especially when I get to it at lunch break. Usually I don't have time to read all the posts but I do click on a few of the people I follow to see what they posted. A few that I always read include Coalesce, FitMke, Tom Snyder (triveraguy), and Jim Raffel. The reason why I check these 4 before any others is they tweet great content and links about Marketing and Social Media and for Fit Milwaukee they offer great tips for running. They pertain to me and my interests and are not cluttered with a bunch of Foursquare check ins or blip songs. This list is also great suggestions for Follow Friday.

Now on to the ways for me to follow you and to get my attention

1. Follow me first- This is a basic start, but just because you are following me doesn't mean I will follow you back. I follow about 1/3 of the people who follow me mainly because I don't have time to read thousands of tweets. I also only check my followers once a week to see if I have any new followers.
2. Have a logical reason to be following me- If you are following me you should be doing so for a reason.
   A. Are in my geographic location (Milwaukee or Appleton, Wisconsin).
   B. Have a common interest whether it is video games, sports, G4, Olivia Munn (OMFG), or some other commonality.
   C. Like my awesome, witty, hilarious tweets. Which I am sorry have been lacking a lot as of late.
   D. Or most importantly are in the marketing or a similar industry.
   
3. Don't have half your tweets be from apps- I had a hard time wording this but in lament's terms don't have most of your feed be filled with foursquare check ins or similar programs (gowalla) and to a much lesser extent songs from Blip or what video you rated on youtube. Now don't get me wrong its fine to use these apps and post where you are or what you are listening to I just don't want that to be all you do or tweet about.
   
4. Have quality tweets in your timeline- This goes back to point 3 but if you are a new follow the last 20 or so of your tweets determines if I am going to follow you back. Comical tweets are great for a follow but tweets that have information and something I can learn from is best. Have a reason for me to follow you.
   
5. Have a conversation with me- Reply to one of my tweets let me know you are following me and reading what I tweet. Let me know that you exist, this is one of the main ways I follow you.

Do you have any other ways or rules for following someone? Do you agree with this list? Do you follow me on twitter? Do you have someone who I should be following?

5 Things I am doing to become healthier

Been a while since I posted something... I have 4 half written marketing blog posts that I want to finish. But here is a list of 5 things I am doing to become healthier and more fit.

Since I finished college in December my lifestyle has changed, I am off the ramen noodles and no longer walking and biking everywhere while carrying around a 20 pound backpack and my body started to notice (ie I was getting a beer belly)

For this to be successful it has to be for the right reasons. Similar to quitting smoking, diets, and many other lifestyle changes the reason why you do it determines the success. If you are doing this for someone else or half heartly you are likely to fail. YOU have to want to do this and it has to be for YOU, not someone else or another reason. I have done this and am doing this because it is something that I want to do, for me. It also helps that I can notice the improvements that I am making and reaching my personal goals that I have set.

1. I am drinking more water. Before I rarely drank water, mainly cause the tap at the house I was renting was horrible and rusted even with a filter. But I should be drinking around 80... yes 80 ounces of water a day (or fluids which was soda and juice) You can see how much water you should be drinking with this calculator
2. I am eating less. Before I would eat when I was hungry and could eat A LOT. Easily finished The Quad at AJ Bombers was still hungry after that I even finished the Squad Six (not in the 6 minutes though). Now I have portion control with what I eat, instead of a whole pizza or an entire box of macaroni and cheese I will just eat half. At first this was a challenge and always felt hungry but as of right now my body and stomach have adjusted and now I am satisfied quicker and don't have to eat as much or as often.
3. I am watching what I eat. Similar to the first two not just how much I eat but also what I eat. I am going healthier and less processed foods and more fruits and vegetables. Instead of getting french fries with a meal I now opt for a salad. I am also eating (for the most part) less "junk food". Before at night when I got the munchies or even throughout the day I would eat lots of snacks mostly unhealthy chips and other similar products. Now if I will eat something at night which is rare it will be carrots or maybe a salad. I have stopped purchasing the cookies and chips and other snack items I would munch on through out the day and without the temptations it is easier to control what I eat. I remove the unhealthy choices from the menu.
4. I am exercising regularly. Rather then going to a pricey gym which I can't currently afford I do what I can at home. When I wake up (given I did not hit the snooze or overslept) I do a set of push ups and sit ups. When I started doing this I struggled to complete 10 push ups, now I am doing sets of 40. With sit ups at first it was difficult because of the lack of weight holding my feet down (used the bottom of my bed) I can now do sit ups without the bed (still struggle but it is possible). I also purchased some 15 pound dumbbell weights that I use. The biggest thing I am doing now is running, well jogging then walking then jogging again. I am unsure of my pace since I don't have any apps or gadgets to use and my phone from the stone age is no help. But I jog as much as I can and each day try to go farther then I did the day before. The main inspiration for me getting up and running again is Anne and the rest of the members of Fit Milwaukee. One thing I am also trying to do is to find a jogging partner, know of anyone in the south side of Appleton?
   
5. Knowing when to stop. This has been key for me, self control and not pushing my body too far. My body is broken to say the least and I can't push it too far. When my knee starts to hurt when I am jogging I slow down and start to walk and if it is too bad or continues I end my jog. Similar if my wrist of elbow hurt I stop and rest and wait and try again later. I also got the right equipment (new running shoes) that help a lot with the soreness and knee pain. I have been thinking about getting some Dr. Scholls inserts for my running shoes but not sure how effective they would be.
   

What are you doing to improve your lifestyle and become healthier? Who inspired you to do so? What else could you be doing, or I be doing to improve upon this?