The Harvard Business Review recently reported that Tweets sharing valuable information or promoting a company are those most likely garner a response from consumers.

A study by the Harvard Business Review found that Twitter users are most likely to pay attention to Tweets that promote a product or service from a business or share information related to the industry. Social media marketers should note that roughly one in three users identify “promotional Tweets” with links to content from a user or company as worthwhile, and the same amount find value in reading information updates – especially in the form of news.

Those corporate Tweets that pose questions and the occasional “random thought” will likely warrant a complete read as well, according to the report. Conversely, overly personal messages from business accounts are likely to drive potential prospects away.

While sharing information should be encouraged, those managing social media marketing campaigns need to be sure to strike a balance between engaging followers and updating with useless Tweets.

Just 24 percent of respondents said that strictly conversational Tweets were worth reading, while 34 percent said they were not worth the time. Moreover, nearly half of users find Tweets aimed solely at “presence maintenance” meaningless. The study’s authors say to marketers, “Next time you wake up with the urge to Tweet, ‘Good morning world,’ take our advice: Don’t.”

Instead, businesses are encouraged to offer fresh perspective on news and add context to shared links as the research indicates the majority of users want new information from accounts they follow.

These findings support the longstanding idea that links to further information as part of a news content marketing campaign can be valuable to companies. Brafton recently reported that Twitter accounts that offer relevant, timely news are among those most popular with consumers.

Joe Meloni is Brafton's former Executive News and Content Writer. He studied journalism at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has written for a number of print and web-based publications.