Tick. Tock.

Between those two words, about 6,000 tweets were sent out to the world. That’s over a third of a million every minute. About five hundred million per day. By December 31st, 2017, at least 200 billion tweets will have gone out, enough for the entire world’s population to tweet about once every two weeks.

If your small business is going to be anything but a needle in a haystack, you’ll need to have something interesting to say.

The good news: that’s what this guide is all about. Here, you’ll find how to plan and write tweets that have an impact on your audience and help grow your following:

To Lead, Start Thinking Like a (Twitter) Follower

If you follow a business account on Twitter, chances are it’s not for the quality of the writing — with a few exceptions.

According to Buffer, most people follow business accounts online for the following reasons:

While the “fun and entertainment” factor measures high, it’s only one of the five most powerful reasons brands earn their followers.

The rest are all about what the customer gets from your tweets. They’re in search of a promo code, exclusive access, sneak peaks, even contests and giveaways.

That’s not to say that you need to start spending 100% of your Twitter time giving away free stuff. But if you’re going to catch flies, it doesn’t hurt to throw out a little honey every now and then.

Talking Like a Person, Not Like a Business

The most popular Twitter accounts tend to generate buzz online because they satisfy one of two requirements:

• They offer something to customers. Here are some examples of companies that handle customer support on Twitter. Even if they talk like a business, customers follow them because they know that the business cares about their issues.

• They relate to people on a personal level. Some of the best corporate Twitter feeds have the singular voice of the person running them. People don’t follow Twitter accounts for corporate speak. Watch Wendy’s having fun on Twitter and ask yourself how “corporate” that feels.

The best Twitter accounts send out tweets that accomplish one of those two goals. Wendy’s retweets and has fun with its customers online, all the while sending out the occasional promotional item like a $2 Frosty Key Tag.

The result: over a million followers on Twitter. Those are real people that the company can reach directly, whenever they want.

As you think about writing your own Twitter posts, try to remember this basic filter: your tweets should either satisfy customer needs or relate to them on a personal level. If it doesn’t, maybe it’s time to rethink the tweet.

Several Ways to Brainstorm for New Tweets

The best way to plan tweets is to sit down and brainstorm. If possible, look at some of your favorite accounts and notice what they’re posting to get the creative juices flowing.

Next, consider what your company has to say or offer. No inspiration yet? Here are a few tips to help you along the way:

• Look for humor whenever you can. Think about the slightly awkward situations people get into if they’re not using your product or service. Document something fun that happened around the office. Don’t be afraid to keep things light once in a while.

• Find inspiration in popular hashtags. It’s probably best to avoid controversial political hashtags. But there are plenty of other popular hashtags — when you notice one relevant to your business, the tweet should write itself.

• Contrast with your previous tweet. Did you fill up a tweet with 140 characters last time? What follow-up of a single word might call attention to itself?

• Add value to your tweets. Photos, videos, blog links — anything you can offer of value will tend to grab attention. Don’t just send out text again and again.

• Start recording your funny thoughts. Ever have a shower thought? A random insight or funny take on current events? Start writing these down to use at your brainstorm sessions.

• Browse your followers’ timelines to see what they enjoy. What are they retweeting? Liking? Engaging with? Don’t let any one user dictate your social media strategy, but don’t ignore any of the insights you can get from your followers, either.

Once you have a list of, say, 10-20 Tweets for the month, take a day to sleep on them and return to them fresh the next day. If you still find them entertaining and insightful, you’ve probably got some gems.

Best Practices for Writing and Sending Out Tweets

A well-written tweet will only get you so far – sometimes, you have to learn the ins and outs of Twitter so that what you write has the biggest impact.

• When you post a link, make sure it’s the only link in the tweet. Hashtags, @ mentions, and other links distract the user from your end-goal. Write your sales pitch or details about an exclusive offer and finish with the link — that’s it.

• Keep it simple. Unless you’re a writer for the Atlantic, chances are your audience is looking for something a little more concise.

• Get your timing right. Use a service like Buffer to write up a host of tweets at once. But don’t just spread things out. Try to target your tweets to their ideal times. For some help, check out Buffer’s findings on the best times to tweet.

Set Your Small Business A-Twitter

With a few best practices and some new insights for writing your next tweet, you’ll start to learn what your niche audience really cares about. Each month of tweeting should be a learning experience. What worked last month? Didn’t work? The more you tweet — and the more you observe — the better your social media presence will be.