Twitter is an indispensable tool for anyone looking to build a strong brand and get noticed, but it can be a little bit intimidating for those people just getting started. But that’s not the only problem. It seems that the ins and outs of Twitter just don’t come naturally. It’s a steep learning curve: you only need to look at all the people failing at it to see that. So what’s the best way to use Twitter to build a brand without annoying all of your followers? Read on to hear our best tips and tricks for making Twitter work for you.

Don’t Repeat Yourself… Too Much

Twitter moves fast by design. Despite having only 140 characters to work with, it seems like people still feel compelled to be verbose. With all these tweets coming and pushing your content endlessly down the page, you get the impression that maybe your followers are missing your posts. Well, you’re right: they are. Don’t panic! This is solvable with a little creativity. You might think the solution is to just copy and paste it again, repeating the tweet until you feel that it’s received enough exposure.

And sure, that can work, but you need to be careful about alienating and boring your followers. Too many repeats, and you might lose them! Or worse, they might report your account for spamming. What’s the solution? When you write one of these important tweets that you want to make sure everyone sees, write a couple different variations and save them. Then you can repeat them a bit more, and it shows a little more care than if you just copy and pasted your old posts. Just rotate through the list a few times and you should be able to be sure that all of your followers saw the post.

Get In On The Discussion

When working to build a brand on Twitter, it’s important to remember that Twitter is not a one way, TV or radio-style broadcasting system. So don’t treat it like that. Twitter is about having a conversation, and the brands that use this system most effectively are the ones who follow that philosophy.

So look for where people are discussing your brand already. Read it carefully, even obsessively: you never know what you might find out. Once you’ve got a good handle on the discussion, you should know who to talk to, and what to talk to them about. If the community can see your brand participating productively, they will be sure to engage with your tweets.

Go Easy On The Hashtags

Hashtags are trendy. It’s fun to use them, and they are useful for tying your brand into different conversations. But it’s a fine balance: use too many of them and your tweet will see cluttered, spammy, and robotic. It’s okay to use them, but remember! Less is more!

The Road To Being A Twitter Expert

The logic of Twitter doesn’t come easy, but it’s a very useful tool for building your brand in an affordable and sustainable way. Done right, a Twitter account can help bring you closer to your followers, helping your brand in the short and long terms alike.

Nick Rojas is a business consultant and writer who lives in Los Angeles and Chicago. He has consulted small and medium-sized enterprises for over twenty years. He has contributed articles to Visual.ly, Entrepreneur, and TechCrunch. You can follow him on Twitter @NickARojas, or you can reach him at NickAndrewRojas@gmail.com.