To illustrate the right way—and wrong way—to interact with potential customers who mention your brand on Twitter, Joe Rawlinson recounts what happened when he tweeted from a conference. "During the course of the day, I mentioned several products that the speakers were discussing," he writes. "I had no experience with these products nor did I necessarily need their services at the time."

Salespeople from one of the companies he mentioned chose to respond—but not through Twitter. Instead, they foraged for Rawlinson's other contact information, emailed him at personal and business addresses, and followed up with a phone call to his office. This aggressive follow-up would have overwhelmed Rawlinson even if he'd announced he wanted to buy the product—but as someone who had merely mentioned it in a reportorial capacity, he was "completely turned off."

Another company about which he tweeted—ClueApp.com—responded with a friendly tweet: "hey! Thanks for sharing for sharing Clue with your followers. Have you had a chance to create your own Memory test?" Rawlinson appreciated the engagement, and a brief discussion ensued:

• @joerawlinson: not yet, but since I keep hearing about your service it is on my list to try.
• @ClueApp: sweet! Tweet it here when you do, and we'll take the test too. :)

It was a far more pleasant experience for Rawlinson. "No intrusive prying into all my Internet footprints to track me down and thrust a sales person upon me," he notes.

The Po!nt: You will probably unnerve potential customers if you reply to their tweet anywhere but Twitter.

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