More than at any other time, retailers are using social media this holiday season to connect with shoppers.  The customer-relations tactics retailers have developed probably can help almost any business, including yours.

A social network like Twitter can give you a great platform for connecting with customers, both happy and disgruntled. Retailers are using it to help customers learn how to use new gadgets, share news about special promotions and disseminate other news and information — in fact, retailers’ use of social media is up 47% this season, according to one study.

How can you get the most out of Twitter so that it promotes your brand and brings in new business, the way retailers do?

• Monitor your brand mentions. Hootsuite makes this fairly straightforward. And if you see negative publicity or comments gaining traction, of course you’ll want to respond quickly.
• Share useful information and even fun ideas and tips with your followers rather than only promoting your own brand , which can turn off followers
• Create special offers for your social network
• Promote your Twitter presence both online and off. Example: Make sure your Web site and your print promotional materials mention your Twitter stream.
• Create an online posting policy and share it with employees; you don’t want rogue Tweets causing problems for your company down the road.

Need a boost getting this effort off the ground? Best bet is to find one or two social media evangelists in your own company (they don’t need to be senior management) and recruit them to help others spread the reach of your social media efforts.