I see some companies who standout. They not only respond when directly contacted (@ed on Twitter). They monitor Twitter for mentions of their company, and they respond anytime someone mentions them by name. Beyond all of that, and read this carefully because this is the crucial element, they make things happen and address or fix the issue quickly.

One example was @shoebuy. I had a gift certificate to Shoebuy.com and it was about a week before a conference when I remembered that. I went there to get some shoes, and I saw no option to get them overnighted. I tweeted about it and didn’t even realize they were on Twitter, so I didn’t say with their @ in the tweet. Within seconds, yes seconds, two different Shoebuy employees on Twitter responded that they could overnight certain brands. It wasn’t easy to determine which brands, so they sent me a link to a full list.

Within an hour, I had ordered my shoes and they arrived the next day. Without that Twitter intervention, I would have been annoyed with Shoebuy and I would not have placed the order at all. I also would have likely told people about this bad experience. Now I can rave about the company. (Like now.)

Many times, however, I see companies doing it wrong. This not only means the resources they are putting into Twitter are wasted, but they are probably causing more damage than good.

Here are what I will describe as the five bad customer service types.

The Retro Customer Service Tweeter

I sent @wachovia a DM this morning asking about an issue with my account. Their response was to call their 800 number. Ummm, why are you on Twitter exactly? I get there are privacy issues, but there are ways to share information via DM that would not be a problem.

If we wanted to endure an 800 number, wait on hold, argue and cajole to get a straight answer, get accidentally knocked off the line, call back and start over… well, we aren’t idiots. Anyone who is on Twitter is surely capable of looking up your toll-free number. We are contacting you on Twitter specifically because we want to avoid all of that. Phone customer service sucks 99.99999 percent of the time (yeah, that’s a real statistic). We despise it.

You can get a monkey to DM people 800 numbers, but I would prefer you hire a savvy human who can contact the right people and fix the issue.

The Multiple Personality Customer Service Tweeter

It is perfectly fine (in fact, wonderful) to have several people within the company and/or on behalf of the company on Twitter. In fact, as my example above shows with @shoebuy, it wasn’t even the official account that contacted me. What is not OK is not clearly specifying which Twitter account is the official one, or the one designated to handle customer service complaints.

We get that you can’t have one human monitoring your account 24/7. But there are ways to handle that. Say in your bio or your background who the various people are. If you want to be personal, have them sign their tweets with -firstname or -initials. But just look at @umatter2charter! This is one. hot. mess!

Twice, I have contacted Charter. Twice I’ve gone at least a day or two because I didn’t properly decipher which of their five (yes FIVE) Twitter customer service accounts was on at that moment. Kudos to them for responding when they get it or make sense of it. But having one account with multiple users would be so much clearer.

As it is now, this is reducing their effectiveness and confusing/irritating their customers on Twitter. It’s also clearly slowing their response time. Beyond that, this will be hard for them to reverse if customers are following or accustomed to tweeting one of the five accounts.

The Oblivious Customer Service Tweeter

First, let me say not being on Twitter is a major fail these days. A year ago, it was no big deal. Today, especially for a major corporation, it is glaring. But it’s possible to be on Twitter and be just as distant to the community as one who is missing. Where is Apple? Seriously. And @itunesmusic is the epitome of the blind Twitter account.

Here are some warning signs of an oblivious tweeter:

• They don’t follow anyone. (Here’s a hint: when you do that, no one can DM you. So they can only complain @ you publicly. You know, where everyone sees it. Mmm-hmmm.)
• They don’t reply to anyone.
• They do nothing but self-promote and sell.

The Two-Faced Customer Service Tweeter

Twice, I complained about AT&T on Twitter. OK, way more than twice, but they acknowledged it twice. They replied publicly and in DM. They asked for my email address, and said the matter would be addressed and someone would be in touch. Twice, I never heard a word.

Whether intentional or just a case of it falling through the cracks, this is shady. Publicly, it saves face. The company looks responsive. But believe me, I have since tweeted that this happened. And now I am blogging about it.

If you say you will help, do it. At least try. Believe me, we don’t forget.

The Good News Customer Service Tweeter

This is a variation of the Oblivious Tweeter above, but an equally annoying one. They are more than happy to chit chat, and to retweet when someone raves about their company. They think contests asking people to follow them to enter is engagement. They think churning out coupons is enough.

But if someone complains on Twitter, they disappear. Or DM and want it taken offline. If you are a company on Twitter, you have to take the good and the bad. You have to address the good and the bad. There are positives to even the most negative tweets. Twitter is a great big free focus group. You should listen. The feedback could be valuable.

Plus, back to @shoebuy, they quickly turned a negative into a positive. That is what people tend to remember. If you respond, that is.

What do you think? Do you have an experience with a company on Twitter that did it just right… or just wrong? I’d love to hear about it.

_{Customer service illustration based on photo © Ray Smithers.}

Here are some details about the conference:

Type-A Mom Conference is a unique mom blogging conference designed to help you take it to the next level. The conference will feature some of the most influential, admired and insightful mom bloggers talking about topics like power social networking, branding, blogging, finding your voice, and turning your passion for blogging into a real paycheck.

When? Sept. 24-27

Where? Asheville, NC

Find out more at the official Type-A Mom Conference site.

And be sure to register before 11:55 p.m. July 1st. The current Super Early Bird rate of $100 is half the full price, and it ends (and bumps up $50) in mere hours.

_{Photo © National Rural account on Flickr, used via Creative Commons license.}

1. They reply to people without actually using the proper format. (Hint: you want to use the person who you are replying to’s name, for example @username at beginning of tweet).
2. They complain about people who tweet too much. (Hint: when you’re new and only follow a few people, the really active and influential tweeters will dominate your stream. Instead of complaining and alienating people who can help you the most, get to know Twitter better and follow more people who are a good match for you topic or interest-wise.)
3. They automate their Twitter stream with their RSS feed, look at their stats, see no clicks to their blog, and determine Twitter isn’t useful. (Hint: an RSS feed isn’t a conversation.)
4. They interrupt Twitter news, parties or events to ask, “What is #inserttaghere about? (Hint: hashtags, or words/terms with the number symbol at the beginning, are conversations on one topic. You can often find out what they are about with a Google search of the tag. You can also search the tag to see the whole conversation.)
5. They don’t have a bio or avatar, or even a personalized background for that matter. (Hint: you should use a clear headshot, use your real name in the name entry and not a company name even if your handle is your company name, and you should include a bio with keywords to help like-minded people find you.)
6. They autoDM people who follow them. Yes, even with a thank you. Yes, it’s still annoying. Worse yet? AutoDMing with an offer to the follower to “feel free” to visit your blog or get your free email newsletter. Worst of all? AutoDM someone with tips on how to use Twitter, such as saying “to join the conversation @me or d me.” You just might send it to followers who know far better than you how to use Twitter. (Hint: you don’t need to automatically thank everyone. When someone interesting follows you, jump in the conversation and @them in reply to something they tweeted. Better yet, retweet them by quoting their quote with RT @theirname at the beginning.)
7. They use Twitter only to self-promote. All of their posts are about their business of blog. (Hint: Twitter is like a big networking event. You wouldn’t go around shoving your business card in people’s faces at a dinner party, would you? Then don’t do that online either. Mingle, get to know people, have some conversations.)
8. They tweet in all capital letters. (Hint: that is shouting, and very annoying. Tone it down!)
9. They get on Twitter to self-promote, and then protect their updates. And then follow people. (Hint: unless you have a major reason to protect your updates, keep it open. It’s a really odd experience to be followed by someone, only to ask permission to follow the person back. This is a social network, not an anti-social network.)
10. Tweeting non-stop minutia. It’s OK to tweet something silly or an odd observation, but people don’t need to know about every small detail of your life. (Hint: ask yourself if this might actually interest your followers. If you aren’t sure, some little details of life do really engage followers. See which ones get lots of replies, and that will help you determine which minutia is quirky and engaging, and which is just minute.)

The great thing about Twitter? It helped me write this article! Special thanks to @prCarrS, iFroggy, DougPiranha, goodlifediva, notdiyHeather, MomsWhoSave, and many others who provided feedback for this article. That is yet another hint for those new to Twitter. If you aren’t sure, ask. There are many on Twitter who are savvy at using it and happy to offer help and advice.

_{Photo of keyboard, © Nintaro at sxc.hu}

The chat will be tonight from 8 to 9 p.m. EST.

Any time there is a Twitter event of function, it can be very challenging joining the discussion through standard Twitter.com. The easiest way by far is to simply click here!

You can also install Tweet Deck beforehand, or visit Tweet Chat or Tweet Grid. When you do, use the search, tag or enter room function to look for the hashtag #smallbizchat and then jump into the discussion. To keep up, it’s also very important to follow the hostess, Melinda Emerson, aka @smallbizlady.

Attending events, parties and functions on Twitter like this can be a great way to network. If you’d like to automatically follow fellow participants in the chat, you might consider visiting Twollo beforehand and adding the term #smallbizchat. You can always remove it again the next day so you don’t follow future people who participate in these chats.

The most common questions I get about social networking, the most frequent dilemmas I hear about, and the most prominent social media mistakes I see are all tied to someone (or a company) with a resistance to these worlds colliding.

People get on Facebook, and they get confused about whether they should friend old high school buddies or business associates. They sign up for Twitter to promote a business, then use their company logo as their avatar and wonder why they get no followers.

Here’s the thing. Even if you want the worlds separate, there is no 100 percent guarantee. You should proceed with the assumption that everyone can see and read everything you do on social networks. Period. Use appropriate caution in what you say and post.

So, once you move past that, just think about it all in real world terms. You don’t go to business meetings and refuse to mention you have a wife or kids. Most of us don’t visit family and zip your lips about what you do for a living. Social networking isn’t much different than real-life networking. It’s no secret, either. Entrepreneurs back in the 1950s knew customers like the personal touch.

Think of some of today’s biggest movers and shakers in the social web, such as Guy Kawasaki, Liz Strauss and Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. There is one common characteristic. They engage people on a personal level, and they are people first and foremost.

So here is a checklist of five key points to be sure you have made your peace with those business and personal worlds colliding:

1. Have a face – If you are socializing, you do that as a person. You can represent a company, but you are a person first. No one wants to talk to a logo.
2. Talk about your personal life – No, you don’t need to tweet every moment of angst and embarassment, but small hints that you are human are a nice touch.
3. Mingle first – If you join a social network, take some time to feel it out. Don’t just jump in and start bugging people to Digg your site.
4. Ge a giver – Don’t just be there to self-promote or, frankly, it will backfire. Whatever social network you use, be sure you enter it first contributing to the community, not taking. Ask how you can help your followers or friends.
5. Enjoy the colliding worlds – You will probably discover you have business associates who share much in common with you personally, and old high school buddies who would make wonderful customers or clients. Because, you know, people do work and customers are people. Plus, like-minded people tend to have similar interests.

Social networking illustration © Rodolfo Clix.