How to tweet - better

"Twitter is an integral part of every brand's social marketing strategy, so we took a deep dive to see how they can increase engagement within their communities," said Tami Dalley, VP of Analytics and Insights at Buddy Media. "It's more important than ever to make sure your brandis taking advantage of best practices on Twitter. This report helps make that happen."

Tip One: Tweet shorter. Buddy Media's research, conducted between December 11, 2011 and February 23, 2012, found that tweets shorter than 100 characters had a 17% higher engagement rate than longer tweets.

Tip Two: Don't forget the links. Tweets including links - to a store page, blog post or other content - received 86% higher retweet rates than those without links.

Tip Three: Tweet at work. Researchers found that tweets sent between 8am and 7pm had engagement rates 30% higher than those sent after 8pm - so people are engaging with Twitter during working hours.

Tip Four: Hashtags are hot, when used in moderation. Buddy Media found hashtagged tweets were twice as engaging for users. However, tweets with an abundance of hashtags - three or more - were less engaging than those with only one or two hashtags. So, figure out which hashtags are right for your brand or product, by testing, and use them diligently.

Tags: Buddy Media, social marketing, social media, Twitter tips, twitter trends