Like with any social network, posting doesn't equate to readers, click-throughs or subscriptions. Posts have to engage and grab the reader.
Twitter is slightly different, however, with it's limitation to 140 characters. This restriction becomes a guideline for successful posts if viewed correctly and analysed properly.
- Engage, don't post. It doesn't take much thought to schedule a tweet 3 times per day announcing your latest post. Not that this is wrong or bad, but it should be the minority of your tweets, not all of them.
- Conversations go both ways. "Listening" to your social network is the not-so-secret key to optimal engagement. The only effective and efficient way to do this is with good software for social media management. Otherwise you either don't have the time to do it properly or you don't have any traffic to measure.
- Your site and your brand are not the same. Make sure that you are promoting your brand more than your site. Your brand will follow you everywhere, not just on your domain.
- Be focused. Your posts should be varied and interesting, but make sure that your central message stays focused on drawing followers to your brand.
- Know what your brand is. Building on the back of the last tip, before you can focus your posts, you have to make sure that your brand is focused. You can't be a jack-of-all-trades and be authoritative.
- Give them something. When you are an authority, people want to know what you know. Tips and resources in your field will help to build your clout.
- Respond. Leaving remarks or questions unrequited or unanswered sends the message that you don't care. Say thank you, answer the question, give them info, and do it promptly.
- Leave room. If you want your tweets read and retweeted, keep them under 120 characters. This leaves room for a comment at the beginning or the automatic "RT @********" . Research shows that tweets from 90-118 characters are the most likely to be retweeted.
- Sprinkles get attention, storms make folks run inside. Sending 85 tweets per day all but ensures that they won't be read. For most, 5-10 per day is perfect, spread out and varied. If you are engaging enough, you might push 20 per day successfully.
- Be consistent. Twitter is a process, not a check mark on a list. You need to engage people daily, regularly. If you want to go buy a TV, you know that Best Buy will be there when you get there. People want the same consistency and trust from any brand.