Don’t talk too much… or too little… or only about yourself. No one likes “that guy” at the party who only talks about himself – He comes off as arrogant and self important. On the other hand, that quiet guy at the party who just sits in the corner isn’t making any new friends either. Translate this party social dynamic to the Twitterverse, and the concept still stands.

When tweeting for your small business, you should only post four or five tweets per day, MAX. Contrarily, you also don’t want to post too infrequently. Try to post at least once a day. If you are using Twitter for your small business and/or adding links to your products or service, you need to find your “sweet spot” for keeping your followers engaged and assuring that they don’t forget about you.

Tweet Frequency Sweet Spot

This “sweet spot” should be a nice ratio of tweets that promote you, and tweets that share interesting content to keep users engaged. Start with one daily tweet about your business and four not directly about you, but still in the realm of your industry. For example, if you run an accounting firm, try tweeting links to helpful personal finance articles, or a good-humored blog describing the spending habits of men vs. women.

With this established 1:5 sweet spot (1 tweet about you, 5 about related topics), watch how your followers respond and engage with you. Are they retweeting any of your posts? Are you starting to organically collect more followers?

Get Users Engaged

If you aren’t seeing any results, check that your content is presented in an engaging way. Engaging tweets are posts that provide useful information or that converse with your followers. You want your followers to respond to you, or feel engaged enough to share your content (by retweeting to their personal followers).

Asking your followers questions, getting their opinion, sharing funny pictures, or interesting links keeps your followers engaged, retaining them as potential customers or clients. Finding that sweet spot tweet ratio will be different for everyone; it will take a little trial and error before it falls into place.

Final Tip for New Tweeters

As you search for the ideal ratio, remember to keep your tweets in YOUR voice. Don’t be a robot or too stiff. Keep your voice friendly, and most of all human!