How to Twitter and get Followers

I understand this topic has been discussed over and over again. There is probably very little you can’t find on other blogs. I also don’t claim to be a “social media expert” as so many do. I just want to help new people understand how twitter works and how you can make the most out of your twitter experience. I want to show you the tools I use, as well as how I build friendships on twitter.
Twitter Tools
TweetDeck - Probably the best twitter client for your desktop. It allows you to take control of your twitter feed by having different groups. The groups are helpful when you start to follow more and more people. Another key feature is the search filter. With it you can follow topics that interest you, and find new users to follow.
TweetBurner - If you post a lot of links into twitter. You want to be able to follow how many people click on it, and when. This is the ultimate tool to do this with. At the writing of this article however, they are having some problems with users signing up, but they still show you how many clicks your links are getting.
Twitter Grader - A interesting tool that calculates a score for you based on number of followers, numbers you follow, and number of tweets. Then you can compare yourself to other twitter users in your area. I find this tool to be a nice way to find other twitter users around your area.
Quitter - This tool follows your followers. Lets you know when someone stops following you, and what your last tweet was before they stopped. Can be helpful to see if your doing/saying something a lot of people don’t agree with.
Friend or Follow - Here you can type in your twitter name. In return they will tell you who are your friends, who are just following you, or who you are just following. Can be used to weed out people that you don’t need to have on your friend list.
For a list of almost every twitter app there is on the market. Go to: Mashable.com
Social Twitter
# - This tool is underused on twitter in my humble opinion. When you are writing a twitter with a link to a video, do #video, or a link to something funny do #funny. The # is what twitter uses to group similar tweets together. I use this as much as possible, because I know there are people out there listening to #video with twitter search. Since they are watching it, they will see my post and possibly find it interesting, in return following me.
RT - You have probably seen people write this, or Re-Tweet. This is a very popular thing to do on twitter. It helps people with links or message get seen by a bigger group of people. So if you RT @USERNAME, there is a bigger chance that this user will do the same back to you if you post something if value. This propels your name to a new group of users, that in return might follow you because of the link.
#FollowFriday - A fun community tool that people use to let their followers know about people they find funny, cool, whatever. If you work hard and are continually submitting valuable information, its likely that people will include you on their #FollowFriday. So in return, if you find someone interesting, do a #FollowFriday for them as well.
Ask Questions - Ask your followers questions. Get them to think about topic. Basically get a back and forth exchange going.
Share - Share information with your followers. Try to give them valuable resources, or tricks of the trade.
Reply - Try to do a @ reply as much as possible. If someone is asking for information and you know the anwser, reply and help them out. This is the best way to get others to notice you.
Source: GinSims Be Sure to Leave Your Comments!