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Twitter isn’t exactly new to the social media scene, but many businesses still don’t know how to properly engage with their consumers via the platform. If you fall in this camp, don’t despair! As you rethink different aspects of your social media usage for the new year, analyze what you’re currently doing on Twitter and set some new goals. Here are some important things to keep in mind:

Keep it short and sweet.
The whole point of Twitter is to convey thoughts and information in an extremely concise way. You don’t always have to use every single one of the 140 characters allotted. In fact, reports show that tweets shorter than 100 characters get a much higher engagement rate. If you have something to say that requires elaboration, create that content elsewhere and link to it in your tweet.

Don’t rely solely on automated tweets.
The ability to schedule tweets certainly makes using Twitter easier, meaning you’re more likely to do it frequently. However, it’s also easy to fall into the trap of only scheduling tweets and ignoring all of the possibilities that real-time tweeting holds. Make sure that you also tweet about things that are currently happening in your company, your industry, and the world. Paying attention to important events is also critical if you want to avoid appearing ignorant or insensitive. For example, many organizations prudently shut off all of their scheduled tweets as the Boston bombing tragedy unfolded.

Jump into conversations and piggyback on trends.
There’s no reason to reinvent the wheel. While it’s a great goal to be an influencer who can start conversations, don’t be afraid to contribute to ones that are already happening. You’ll make your business relevant by consistently making yourself a part of the bigger, trendier picture.

Make it a conversation.
This one is fairly obvious, but if you’re looking to engage with your consumers, you have to be willing to actually respond. Don’t just ask a question and then ignore the people who took the time to interact with you. Figure out ways to give your followers a genuine voice, whether it’s through elaborate contests or by simply asking for their opinions. If someone has something negative to say about your business or one of your posts, be prepared to handle the situation quickly and intelligently.

Don’t feel obligated to follow everyone who follows you.
When you knock it out of the park with your tweets and start getting a lot of followers, you might feel like you have to follow all of them back out of courtesy. While this is a nice thought, it really won’t do any good. In fact, it only adds clutter to the important information you should be getting from Twitter. Try to follow people who will add value to your feed, such as industry influencers, experts and people with exceptional social media skills.