With Twitter growing in popularity, businesses are looking to engage consumers and grow their brand online in a new way.  A lot of business jump onto Twitter, start tweeting all of their company news, and don’t seem to care what consumers are saying about them (positive or negative).

Above all, businesses need to keep in mind that Twitter is a conversation.  Imagine talking to a friend and all they do is randomly yell every couple of minutes about what’s going on in their life, and then look away when you try to tell them what’s been happening in yours.  That’s what most business Twitter accounts are like: a bad friend.

With that in mind, here are a few tips to develop a successful business Twitter account:

• Give followers access to exclusive offers
• Re-tweet positive mentions of your brand on Twitter
• Reply as soon as possible to negative tweets and provide a resolution to the issue
• Have followers re-tweet your posts to enter them into contests

So which businesses are doing a good job at this right now?  Check out @southwestair, @threadless, @comcastcares, all of them have active Twitter communities, reply promptly to customer requests, and provide special deals to their followers.

Twitter can be a powerful ally as you build your brand online, but it takes dedication and time to develop a strong following.  Remember: your customers need to know that you care about their feedback, regardless if it’s positive or negative.