Twitter can be a great tool to promote your business. However, it also takes time and diligent tweeting to create a loyal and growing following. The trickiest part about this whole process for many businesses is what to tweet. With only 140 characters, it’s important to be direct, relevant, and interesting. To that end, here are the top five things your business should be tweeting.

1.)    Interesting business happenings. Often the most interesting businesses on Twitter show their human side. They have triumphs, disappointments, and goals. They allow followers see what really happens in their business. Okay, at least a peek of what goes on. Therefore, consider sharing a story about a new product, vision, or even a company celebration on your Twitter feed. Further, pictures are a terrific way to meet this objective.

2.)    Engaging industry or company related articles. You and your staff read industry and business related articles on a daily basis. Make it a practice to share the most interesting ones you find. Through this process, followers will learn to watch your feed for great and informative content. It’s also an opportunity to showcase your organization’s own content, but remember not to get caught up in only sharing your organization in house content.

3.)    Special deals or offerings. Give your Twitter followers something special. From time to time offer a special deal to just your Twitter followers. This approach can be a great way to attract new followers and ensure your current ones are regularly watching your tweets. Remember, what you offer doesn’t necessarily need to be a budget breaker; just ensure you offer something your followers’ value.

4.)    Customer service feedback. From time to time, or perhaps more frequently, your organization will receive customer service feedback on Twitter. This feedback, whether positive or negative, is a great opportunity for your organization to show it cares about its followers and customers. Therefore, respond in a timely, and when appropriate public, fashion. Finally, if you need feedback on a particular product or service, Twitter can be a great place to ask for it.

5.)    Just plain fun content. Twitter isn’t always serious and neither should your organization be. Therefore, look for great entertaining content to re-share or perhaps find something comical at your office to add some humor to your followers’ day.

Local internet marketing success is created when an organization engages its audience and creates an ongoing conversation. Twitter can facilitate this conversation in a fast paced and interactive real time environment. Ultimately, the content your organization shares should be varied and posted with some regularity. As always, it’s great to monitor what content seems to drive the most engagement from existing followers and generates new ones. Over time, your organization can discover what its formula is for customer engagement.

Chris Marentis, CEO of Surefire Social, leverages the internet to generate leads and boost local businesses across North America.