Here at Twitter, we think a lot about best practices. Here's the lowdown on how to make your Tweets and Twitter account the best they can be to achieve the results you want.

Create Tweets that resonate.

Combine exciting, useful content with an engaging, unique tone to emotionally connect with your audience. Include links, pictures and videos. And remember to keep your Tweets prompt and timely-a crucial element for Twitter success.

Keep Tweets short and sweet.

Creativity loves constraints and simplicity is at our core. Tweets are limited to 140 characters so they can be consumed easily anywhere, even via mobile text messages. There's no magical length for a Tweet, but a recent report by Buddy Media revealed that Tweets shorter than 100 characters get a 17% higher engagement rate.

Make it real-time.

Timing matters, especially for breaking news or live Tweets. But how about for everything else? The short answer: it depends on the content of the Tweet, your objectives, your audience, their geography and more. The best way to optimize the timing of your Tweets is to test and learn. We have some certified partners that can help you with this.

Tweet often.

Like timing, Tweet frequency depends on a number of variables such as your audience, purpose and business objectives. That said, a good basic rule is between three to five Tweets per day. You may want to try tweeting a couple times a day to see how your audience reacts, then adjust as needed.

Follow your interests.

Following is a fantastic way to discover compelling content and inspire ideas for your own Tweets. Follow accounts that are interesting to you or your business.

Simply @reply.

Engage other Twitter users in conversation using @replies and mentions. The @reply feature is intended to make communication between users easy and seamless.

Stay trendy.

Participating in Twitter trends, whether organically or through Promoted Trends, is how the cool kids join global conversations.

Win at contests.

Hosting a creative contest or sweepstake is a great way to improve engagement on Twitter. Make sure you read the rules and best practices below to pull it off like a winner.