Many companies have started to recognize that Twitter can be a valuable (and free) marketing tool, but many of these companies are going about it the wrong way. Twitter is a place for conversation and interaction; if you are only using it to distribute press releases, you are missing out.

There are at least two critical tools that you can use to make better use of your Twitter marketing efforts:

First, use a proper desktop client for Twitter rather than the website itself. With TweetDeck, you can create as many columns as you’d like. This can be useful for managing lists and groups, but you can also have columns set up with search terms. This way, you can monitor mentions of your company name, product, and so on.

Second, consider using a tool like SocialOomph. By registering for a free account, you can monitor keywords in much the same way as TweetDeck, but you receive a “digest email” with these mentions on a regular basis.

Monitoring isn’t enough, of course. When you see a positive mention of your brand, reach out and thank that person. When you see a negative mention of your company, reach out and do damage control before it gets out of hand.