We at A Brand New Way have been using Twitter for quite some time as individuals and recently began working it into our own corporate culture. With millions of people using this social tool, and the increase in noise seeming exponential we thought we’d share five of the things that can help you and your companies should you decide to do the same. So let’s get started!

TIP 1: Follow, Follow, Follow!

Twitter really is a community. It may at first seem like it’s just a large ticker of random thoughts, but it really is a pool of thousands of conversations happening daily. You can’t just create an account, and start posting away in the hopes that you’ll magically receive a whole slew of followers. You have to let people know that you’re there, and you’re not just there to talk but also to listen.

Don’t just start traversing through the Twittersphere mashing your mouse button on every follow button that you see. There is something to be said about being deliberate with your follows. Make sure they share similar interests, or they look like somebody that you can benefit from and vise versa.

When you follow others you are showing them that you find them relevant. It’s a big compliment, and may in turn yield a returned follow.

TIP 2: Thank Your Followers

When you begin practicing the first tip, you’ll begin to see your following numbers rise. Some will have something set to automatically follow anyone that follows them, but others will actually check out your twitter page and make the decision to follow you directly. As mentioned above, following somebody is a compliment so take the time to thank them.

There are bots out there that can do the direct message reply to new followers for you, but we prefer not to take that route. Instead we’ve set up a rule in our email service that will flag any emails coming in and alerts us of the new follower. Then in the morning, we’ll take about 15 minutes of the day to go through those emails, and send a direct message to each of them thanking them for the follow.

Doing this helps make those followers stick, instead of dropping us a day or two later. Valuing your followers shows them that they aren’t just following a media engine, but connecting with somebody behind the wheel on the other end – that’s important.

TIP 3: Be Active, Reward with Value

So now you have followers, and you’ve let them know that you are there. So be there. Make sure that you stay active and post often, but remember to give your followers something that they want to follow. If you are an expert at something share some advice.

Point to a relevant article that you read; link to a tutorial post that you or somebody else created; share an interesting thought, or an an eye-opening quote; link to something inspiring; or simply give them an entertaining break with a link to a feel good picture or video.

The point is be the industry expert, or the source of a great deal or event; also make sure you add variety to your posts without losing the common thread that makes the posts pieces of your identity.

TIP 4: Engage the Community and Contribute to the Conversation

Make sure that you’re not just doing all the talking with one way statements. Engage your followers and other Twitter users as well. “Retweet” a post that another user makes if you find it interesting. Retweeting a post is a way of crediting the post to the original poster. This is usually done by starting your post with “RT @usersname” where the username is the Twitter handle of the user that you’re reposting.

Also make sure to incorporate other mentions and replies. Both are done using the “@” and the username. This creates a link to the user on Twitter, and also lets them know you’re mentioning them or talking to them.

Another method is to attach your posts to topic threads. You can do this by prefixing the hash mark (#) to keywords in your post. It doesn’t look like it at first glance, but there are a slew of topics out there that are being discussed at large by the Twitter community. Threading your post into the larger conversation is a great way to get involved in the dialog.

TIP 5: Be Authentic

This last one isn’t about any specific action that you can take, but is more about your underlying approach to being on Twitter: join in the conversation and value the other side. The companies that I see missing this point are the ones that are still stuck in the old age of traditional advertising. Every piece of communication is one-way and has to be about them – about something that they said, about a blog post they made, or about something they did. It never goes further than that. It doesn’t go into the external forces that influence them, or about what makes their business tick.

You don’t have to be the center of every post that you make, nor should you be. Your goal should be to become part of the larger discussion, and engage others to respond. Otherwise you’re just another annoying advertising billboard that will get lost in the noise.