When Twitter was first rising in popularity, the majority of the people on the microblogging service represented themselves as individuals. Such is the case with Michael and Matt, for instance. More recently, there is a huge surge of Twitter accounts that are business entities. The BlueFur account falls somewhere in between.

Creating a Twitter account for your company or business can be a great way to reach a new audience (Obama did it) and a great way to interact with your customers and associates. Whether you sell physical products or you just want to send traffic toward your blog, Twitter can be an effective tool for your business.

The key, of course, is to get people to follow your Twitter account in the first place. I find far too many corporate Twitter accounts are little more than news feeds. They pump out links to the latest press releases or product announcements and that’s it. There is no interaction and no following back. This is not how you attract interest.

If you are going to start a Twitter account for your business (or if you have already), there are a few basic things that you’ll want to keep in mind. First, follow other users when they follow you. This helps grow the sense of community. Second, actually reply and speak directly to other Twitter users when they comment or ask you questions. This shows that there is a real person behind the Twitter account. Third, ensure that not every tweet is simply a link to another press release. Short, casual updates are appropriate and useful as well.

Do you have any advice for corporate Twitter users? What would you do to get more followers?