9 Brands Doing It Right on Twitter

When it comes to brands on Twitter, we believe that like all good media, it’s about the right mix of content, conversation, and authenticity. In a time when social media is inundated with companies who want to be heard through the noise, it can be difficult to engage with customers without overwhelming them.

A lot of brands are still struggling to figure out how to make Twitter work effectively for them, but a few have really impressed us. Whether they’re shaping conversation, providing excellent customer services, or just putting a smile on our face, here are just a few of our favorite brands on Twitter.

1. Whole Foods - 2.8 Million Followers

The primary Whole Foods Market Twitter feed is fun, friendly, and full of useful information and interesting links, but that’s not why we love them. Rather, it’s their constant customer engagement (which makes up about 90% of the tweets), including thank yous, answers to questions, compliments, and more.

Even cowboys love their coffee in the morning. What's getting you moving today? #coffee #morning instagr.am/p/Ngh41vwr3K/

— Whole Foods Market (@WholeFoods) July 25, 2012

2. Dunkin Donuts - 159K Followers

Dunkin Donuts engages followers with lots of contests (we love trivia!) and promotions, as well as asking fun questions. They also recognize people with RTs, respond to complaints quickly, and take the time to tell their followers happy birthday. All in all a positive Twitter feed for a brand to which people are incredibly loyal.

Hot or Iced? twitpic.com/aaidez

— Dunkin' Donuts (@DunkinDonuts) July 22, 2012

3. Southwest Airlines - 1.3 Million Followers

We love that Southwest always lets you know who is "piloting" their Twitter feed "since planes can’t talk" as well as their prompt customer feedback, including helping people rebook flights, locate lost bags, and all the rest of the chaos that can occur while flying. But mostly we love that they make us smile.

We're celebrating #NationalDanceDay & @dizzyfeet Foundation w/ these awesome dance moves: cot.ag/OuoQCP What's your "go to" move?

— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) July 28, 2012

4. Sesame Street - 687K Followers

The folks tweeting from Hooper’s Store never fail to delight. Tweets from Cookie Monster, Elmo, Count Von Count, Ernie and more warm the hearts of kids of all ages.

Cookie Monster: Me just met you. Dis is crazy. But me love cookies! Gimme, maybe?

— Sesame Street (@sesamestreet) June 18, 2012

5. Starbucks Coffee  - 2.7 Million Followers

Ultimately, for most brands, it comes down to customer service. While Starbucks doesn’t tweet en masse too often, once or twice a day at most, the fact that they respond to almost every customer complaint or compliment is incredibly impressive. (And it doesn’t hurt that they’ve mastered the art of flattery.)

@emilyncouch anytime ;-) btw love the nail polish!

— Starbucks Coffee (@Starbucks) August 2, 2012

6. Chipotle Mexican Grill - 99K Followers

We truly appreciate Chipotle’s message of "food with integrity" and the fact that their Twitter feed shares more information about what that means. While they could do a better job with their daily tweets, their customer service and response time keeps patrons happy and coming back.

Cool story about a farm that provides us with some of our local produce in MN. - Joe chip.tl/OKEEgJ

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 20, 2012

7. Jet Blue Airways  - 1.6 Million Followers

Discounts, weather updates, flight cancellations and more… If you travel Jet Blue, following their Twitter feed is a must. In addition, travelers rave about the prompt responses and excellent customer service. They even tweet about the traffic around the airports!

Customers traveling to JFK or LGA this afternoon: Reports of traffic & closures on Van Wyck and GCP. Give yourself extra time! #StaySafe

— JetBlue Airways (@JetBlue) August 1, 2012

8. Comcast  - 58K  Followers

Has anyone ever uttered the words “Wow, I really love my cable company. They’re affordable, reliable, and don’t give me four hour windows when I make an appointment!” Probably not. But Bill Gerth (and his team) of @comcastcares does his very best to respond to and help disgruntled customers. It’s got to be a hard job because there aren’t often a lot of compliments, but the account does an excellent job of providing a personal response when people are frustrated.

@beverlymacy Currently we have 10 agents that we spread over 7 days from 8am-1am for full social platform coverage. #smmucla

— Bill Gerth (@comcastcares) July 23, 2012

9. Taco Bell  - 229K Followers

We love a brand that doesn’t take themselves too seriously, a feat that Taco Bell has mastered on Twitter. The tone perfectly mirrors the brand and the clientele and they do a great job of using trending hash tags.

#4WordsAfterABreakUp Time for Taco Bell.

— TACO BELL (@TacoBell) July 23, 2012

Did we leave out your favorite brand? Let us know who you think we should follow in the comments - or tweet it to us @saymedia.