It is well established that social media is a valuable tool.

How could it not be when people all over the planet use it to stay connected. Entrepreneurs, small business owners and big brands alike have begun to harness the power of social media to stay connected to clients and to turn potential customers into leads and sales.

Twitter, the social media service that allows you to post messages of up to 140 characters, is a perfect method for sending out short bursts about your business. You may be wondering, what is the best method for using this micro-blogging platform successfully and to generate sales.

Here are a few tips for Twitter success:

Personal Voice
Keep all of your Twitter messages in a personal voice. You don’t want to sound flat or like a machine. People want to communicate with an individual, not a business entity. By staying personal people are going to respond to you as a person because they know they are communicating with a person.

Be personable, not robotic, when tweeting for your brand.

Keywords
Keywords are important in your website and general accounts, but this is one of the best Twitter marketing tips for making sure people take notice of your service. Keywords are important in pushing attention to your website, which is why you need to keep these keywords in your messages.

Refer to your SEO list for keywords to use in your tweets.

Share Links
People want to follow Twitter accounts that provide useful information. By providing engaging links in your Tweets, individuals will want to come back and check out what other useful information you can provide them.

Use the 80/10/10 rule when tweeting: 80% of content from others, 10% to your blog posts, 10% promos.

Tweet Your Demographic
One of the biggest problems with business and company based Twitter accounts is the companies attempt to reach everyone with their messages. However, in only 140 character, this is impossible. You know what your key demographic is and who you are going after, you need to create and design your Tweet specifically for them. This is one of the most important Twitter marketing tips to follow, because if individuals are not engaged and interested in your messages, they are not going to follow you.

Know your buyer persona and tweet in a language they will relate to.

Connect Individually
One of the best features of Twitter is the ability to Tweet directly to someone and to receive a message back. This reduces the common barrier between individuals and businesses and anyone else. If someone sends you a Tweet or tags you in a post, try your best to comment back when possible. This is going to help build a direct relationship with the individual.

Social media is just that “social,” respond to your followers and engage your audience.

Engage
The problem with many business Twitter accounts is they simply put it out on autopilot and send promotional content all the time. But as a user, you don’t want to see the continual barrage of promotional material. You want a personal connection. This is why you need to engage your audience by sharing articles of interest and talking about issues that are important to you and your customers.

All prescheduled tweets, all the time, is not the way to engage your followers. Login and participate!

Stay Transparent
People want to know what a business’s motives are. By staying transparent and letting your customers know what you are doing, they are going to look favorably on you and it adds to your credibility.

Be real people.

Hashtags
Hashtags turn words into hyper-links that connect with all the other folks using that same term on Twitter. They are a fantastic way to engage with a broader audience of people talking about the same topics. Remember to hashtag with keywords around your business name and industry. This helps draw attention to it, and is more likely to connect you with your target audience. Do not over-hashtag, though! You still want the tweets to be legible.

Hashtag keywords associated with your industry to grow your reach.

Website Links
Share links back to your website. Use the keywords of a blog post as hashtags to grow your reach. Take the opportunity of a click by adding a call-to-action at the end of the post.

Along with tweeting blog posts and landing pages, link to staff bios too!

Lists
Use the List feature to filter those who follow you. You may have a list of customers, vendors, PR and brand ambassadors. Having lists allows you to cut through the clutter and not miss a tweet from the most important connections.

Lists help keep you organized so you can use your Twitter time more efficiently.