Thomas Nelson is the largest Christian publisher and the seventh-largest trade-book publisher in the country. Michael Hyatt, the company’s CEO, is the top-rated Twitter user in Tennessee, with about 32,000 people following him.

He uses Twitter to put a face on his company and make a deeper connection with customers and prospects.

In an interview with The Tennessean newspaper, Mr. Hyatt said that Twitter “facilitates a conversation and puts at your fingertips resources that you had never dreamed possible.”

As an example of how he has used Twitter to improve business, he cited following: “A book we have on The New York Times bestseller list is Andy Andrews’ new book, The Noticer. I started Twittering as soon as I read the manuscript. People asked me where they could get that, and I said it’s not out yet.

“By the week we published it, just by using social media, we were able to get it in the top 200 on Amazon (to No. 28 of all book sales).”

Mr. Andrews, by the way, has no traditional media platform. He’s not on TV or the radio, making the first-week publishing stats all the more impressive.

Don Beehler provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.