(Guest post by Dorine Sinigaglia)

Brands are using effective social media tools like Twitter more and more these days in creative ways to promote their brand name as a way to reach out to their consumers and attract new ones. Some brands really know how to promote their brand well – and this has been their saving force during the economic downfall over the last year. While thousands of businesses worldwide have closed down or filed bankruptcy as they watched their sales numbers plummet, many businesses actually saw an increase in sales this past year and they can thank their use of their social media network for that. If your company or brand still does not yet hold an active Twitter account – it’s time to wake up, smell the coffee and re-evaluate your strategy on ways to reach out to your consumers.

Take a close look at Starbucks‘ brand presence on Twitter (@Starbucks). The guy behind the Starbucks Twitter account runs the show like I’ve never seen it done before. According to Jennifer Van Grove from Mashable, Brad Nelson – a former Starbucks barista – is now the face behind the Starbucks Twitter account, replying to messages, promoting seasonal drinks found in local stores and helping coffee-addict-customers in every way find resolutions to their problems, questions & inquiries. Grove says it well: Brad is continuously “putting out fires left and right” – in her post 40 of the Best Twitter Brands and the People Behind Them. It’s really impressive to see! He turns frowns upside down as he offers solutions to customers’ complaints when seasonal drinks change over the course of time. Take a look at the below response to a customer’s disappointment when a seasonal drink she enjoyed stopped selling at her local Starbucks store (note: Brad’s response came 3 minutes after she wrote him!).

Brands on Twitter must not only engage with their consumers through conversations, but also bring them news and info not only about their brand or company but about related topics as well to hold their attention. When Brad writes customers back and replies to general inquiries about flavored frappucinos and holiday music playing in local stores, he is representing more than Starbucks’ product and service; he is representing the whole coffee industry and related information that is attached to this industry. With an average of 10 Tweets per day, Brad does more than simply promote Starbucks’ coffee brand; he engages with consumers and holds their interest to ensure they keep coming back to hear what interesting comments and updates he has to say about Starbucks.

Despite their announcement last January that they were shutting down 300 stores (and closed down another 600 in July), Starbucks remains an attractive workplace and is still ranked highly in Fortune Magazine‘s Top 100 Best Companies to Work for in 2009 – ranking in at #24 (was ranked #7 in 2008). Just last month, Adam Ostrow from Mashable wrote a post that mentioned The 50 Hottest Brands on Twitter Right Now – and Starbucks’ brand was definitely in that list of 50. Having joined Twitter at the end of November, 2006 — almost 3 years ago to date — Starbucks’ Twitter now has more than 515,000 followers. Starbucks’ Facebook presence is also amazing – with over 5 million fans to date, but since Facebook launched two years prior to Twitter in Feb. 2004 (Twitter launched in March 2006), Starbucks’ online presence got a jump start on Facebook. With an average of over 3,000 new followers daily, Starbucks’ Twitter account could reach to 1 million followers within 6 months.

In addition to their general Twitter account, Starbucks continues to find new & inventive ways of reaching out to its consumers – like using crowd sourcing, where companies let users speak their mind on their brand. Starbucks started a website called My Starbucks Idea – a website that engages with their consumers and encourages them to share their inventive ideas they have for the company and initiate discussions with other Starbucks consumers. They opened a Twitter account (@mystarbucksidea) 4 months ago and already have over 9,000 followers.

Finding new ways of earning customer’s loyalty and increasing consumer numbers is a challenging task to accomplish for any industry. Consumers don’t want to feel like services are after them solely for their money – even when they do enjoy the product. Starbucks’ Twitter presence has come up with an effective formula to do both – gain customer satisfaction and increase sales. Its online presence adds valued content for its veiwers while making sure the customer is always feeling satisfied with a solution to an inquiry. By taking a brief look at Starbucks’ Twitter presence, it is simple to see why people keep coming back for more lattes. Yes, their fond love for peppermint flavored coffee is a big factor; but overall, it’s the complete customer experience they receive – in the store and online.

Dorine Sinigaglia is the Account & Content Manager at Blonde 2.0

Dorine is a dedicated individual with experience in account management, sales and business development for large corporations. She gets to know all the ins and outs of each account she handles and gets up close and personal with everyone she works with.