As you know, Twitter is an online social networking community that makes it easy to promote your website, products, blogs, or services in 140 characters (or less). With that in mind, we’ve come up with our list of the best ways to use Twitter to grow your sales and revenue.

1. Follow people. One of the advantages of using Twitter for marketing purposes is being able to generate traffic to your website(s) as well as build a solid community of followers. You’re going to want to start by following as many people as you can with the hopes that they’ll follow you in return.

There’s software available that automatically finds and follows users based on certain keywords/phrases of your choosing, however we recommend staying away from these auto-responder software programs. Typically, the only thing they generate are “dead souls” who aren’t really interested in what you have to say.

2. Un-follow people. A percentage of the users you choose to follow will follow you in return, and they’ll become the audience you’ll be connecting with. It’s okay to un-follow people if they aren’t following you back. The reason for this is because if you follow too many people who haven’t followed you back, people will assume you don’t have anything interesting to say.

A general rule of thumb is to keep the number of people who you follow about equal to the number who follow you back. That 1:1 ratio lets people know that you’re someone worth following. (Side note: It’s fine to have more people following you than you follow, just not the other way around. In other words, it’s okay to have a 1:2 ratio – two people following you for every one person you’re following, but it’s not okay to have a 2:1 ratio.)

3. Stay personal. Your followers will be more amused by a person, not a corporation; so keep this in mind when using your Twitter account. We recommend creating one profile for both business and personal needs. Think carefully about how you want to be portrayed when creating a bio as many people use this as a deciding factor when choosing to follow you on Twitter. Lastly, always make your default photo a picture of yourself. The best way to promote your logo on Twitter is by placing the image as the background of your profile, which can be done through “Account Settings: Design” on your home page.

4. Tweet. Make sure your tweets are not protected. This privacy feature can be found in “Account Settings:  Account” on your Twitter home page. Public accounts allow your tweets will be visible to users who do not follow you. With marketing being your objective, you will want your tweets to be seen by as many users as possible.

5. Choose your hash tags wisely. The idea of a hash tag (#) is to group like-topics together based on a key word, thus putting all tweets with the same hash tag into a shared, searchable category. With your main goal being effective marketing, you will want to create one primary hash tag and re-use it, this usually being the name of the brand or event you are trying to advertise.

We recommend only using 2-3 hash tags per tweet to ensure users stay focused on the over-all topic you intended. If enough people use your hash tag in their personal tweets, you can become a trending topic, which is basically a list of “what’s popular now” on Twitter. Current trending topics are listed on the right side of your screen on the Twitter website.

To maximize your hash tag’s effectiveness, you’ll want to link your brand with a topic that is already trending. For example, “#fall” became a trending topic recently due to the cold weather. Clothing stores could use this trending topic to their advantage by tweeting something along the lines of “Stay warm this season with our cute #fall arrivals at #Kohls” (or whichever brand name you want to advertise).

By using these two hash tags strategically with each other, this tweet will be posted on the topic board “fall” as well as the topic board “Kohls.” All users who visit either of these boards will have the ability to see your tweet. By expanding the audience of your tweets, you are more likely to increase your number of followers. Remember, the broader the trending topic is, the easier it is to associate with your brand.

Other industries could take advantage of this trending topic too, here are more examples to give you ideas for your own tweets…

• “Warm up this #fall with the new pumpkin latte at #Starbucks!”
• “Who says swimsuit season ends with #fall? I love the exercise classes available at #GoldsGym!”
• “Nothing screams #fall like dead leaves covering your yard! #KevinsLawnService will keep your yard looking beautiful all year round.”

6. Promote. Another easy way to increase your exposure on Twitter is offering a user incentive. Let your followers help market your brand while giving them a big “THANK YOU!” for their loyalty at the same time. Send out small promotional offers daily, weekly, or monthly, by promising coupons/free gifts if they retweet (RT) you or use your hash tags in their own tweets. This will give your followers a sense of appreciation as well as increase your brand recognition. This is a win/win opportunity for both sides … besides, who doesn’t like free stuff?

7. Respond to your followers. As with any great product, there will be complaints. And what easier way to voice that complaint than on Twitter? Where their voice is sure to be heard … or seen, in this instance. If your followers come to you with problems about your company/products, respond to them with empathy. First, apologize for the inconveniences associated with their problem. Next, give them an alternative way to resolve the issue. In most cases, this would be the telephone number to customer service, a store telephone number, or a website. Assure them that (where ever they were directed) will be able to assist them from here. You might also offer some sort of discount depending on severity of the issue.

Don’t forget to send out “Thank you’s” when a follower RT’s you or compliments you in a tweet. You probably won’t be able to respond to them all, but any positive interaction between you and your followers will give you, and your brand, a better image.

8. Automated posting. Tweetdeck and Hootsuite give you the ability to automatically make postings at designated times. This is a great alternative when you want to stay actively involved on Twitter but don’t have time to consistently update it throughout the day. Simply create tweets in advance, set the time you want them to be posted, and let the software work its magic.

9. Create a “Re-Tweet” button. Are you interested in providing a way for people to Re-Tweet your blog post or web page directly from your website? Then you’ll want to create a “Re-Tweet” button. There are plenty of WordPress and Droopal plug-ins for this feature. Alternatively, if you want to add a Re-Tweet button to a page on your website, just go to your main Twitter account page and you’ll see a link for “Twitter Tweet Button” on the bottom right hand side. Click that lin for easy instructions.

To recap, here is your personal Twitter to-do list:

1. Follow other users.
2. Unfollow users who do not follow you in return.
3. Don’t be too “corporate!” People want to follow other PEOPLE.
4. Make your account public, not private.
5. Create a hash tag relative to your brand and use it in your tweets. Try incorporating a trending topic into your own tweets.
6. Offer promotions and daily deals.
7. Converse with your followers.
8. Set automatic posts to keep your Twitter account looking active.
9. Post a “Re-Tweet” button to your website that promotes your blog post or web page.

Have any tips of your own? Share your Twitter experiences with our readers! We’d love to hear your feedback.

Stacey Murphy is a marketing analyst and a contributing writer for the 60 Second Marketer.