As much as we love reading Tweets about Kim Kardashian’s martial status, Twitter is also home to remarkable stories that began with just 140 characters. Like Chris Strouth who found a kidney donor after he tweeted “Sh*t, I need a kidney.” Or the Japanese fishermen who sell their fresh catch on Twitter before they reach the shore. And NASA astronaut Mike Massimino who sent the first extraterrestrial Tweet.

For more inspiring examples, check out Twitter Stories. Have your own story? Share it by using the hashtag #twitterstories, and yours could be the next Tweet heard around the world.

Any term with the word party in it has to be good. And, indeed, Twitter parties are emerging as a tool for brands to engage their customers. Companies throwing Twitter parties include the high-altitude set, like the Harvard Business Review, IBM and Gevalia, and baser needs like Huggies Diapers, Crest toothpaste, barbeque sauce, and even some ad agency grumble fests.

So what exactly is a Twitter Party? It’s an online free-for-all that draws information hungry, brand evangelist types – like your customers. They share interests as diverse as camping, computing, barbeque or interior design. To join the discussion, Tweeters follow the event’s with hashtags, which you have heavily promoted. The leader or host of the party introduces subjects and guides the discussion.

The opportunity for a brand is to field experts, a guest host, or a celebrity. Just like guests at a real party expect their hosts to cough up some clean paper cups and peanuts, your Twitter guests will expect contests and brand swag. No, not iPads! Whip up giveaways that relate to your brand, even if it’s just a cool T-shirt.

A Twitter party is also an event you can weave through all of your other marketing: blog posts, Facebook, Print ads, and a landing page to capture social information and leads on your website.

The potential ROI from these online events is enormous. Companies report from 1,500 to more than 1,000,000 mentions. And remember, these count as interactions with potential customers, not just ad impressions. Compared to most other tactical options, a Twitter party is downright cheap.

Next steps? Follow some Twitter parties on your own to see how they work, and learn more about Ideopia’s ssocial media capabilities.

Stay on top of your Twitter game by tracking seven easily available numbers. Use them to monitor the progress and value of your account over time. You’ll find all of them within your Twitter account.

1. Following: Number of unique accounts you follow.
2. Followers: The number of unique Tweeters that follow your handle. Consistent growth shows effective content and interaction.
3. Mentions: The number of times your followers have mentioned you on their accounts. Indicates follower interaction and loyalty.
4. Retweets: By retweeting your content, your followers are extending your reach and confirming the interest of your posts.
5. No. of Tweets: Total number of tweets you’ve sent from your account.
6. Tweet to Follower Ratio: Divide number of followers by number of tweets to get the number of tweets per follower. The lower the number, the greater return on your Tweeting investment.
7. Traffic to Website: The big payoff! The number of visits your followers have made to your website or online store. Retrieve from Google Analytics under “Traffic Sources.”

Find obout about twitter training at Ideopia.

1.    Typing in all caps is rude and annoying. In the tech world, it’s considered shouting. SERIOUSLY, DO NOT EVER TYPE IN ALL CAPS.

2.    Begging for re-tweets is a slimy practice. If your tweet is unique, interesting and relevant, it will spread on its own.

3.    Spelling. Check it. Because you can tweet from anywhere and anytime, the temptation is to tweet as quickly as possible. But consistent typos hurt your Twitter cred.

4.    #Hashtag overload. We love hashtags, but please keep them simple and make sure they support the tweet’s message. If the tag isn’t related to the tweet, it’s spam.

5.    Cheesy slogans. Not that they’re ever effective, but they especially don’t work on Twitter. If you’re tweeting about rugs, tweet about your lifetime warranty or special Persian, stain-resistant matting. Don’t just say they’re high quality.

What Twitter offers is insight into how your followers might behave. For example, you might tweet a teaser about an event, “Want to see cows play hockey? Let us know.” Let’s assume that your Twitter following fairly accurately mirrors your target audience. So if you have 1000 followers and none of them reply to or re-tweet your post, you may have a dud on your hands.

Another strategy is to pit two ideas against each other to see which one catches. Twitter research allows you to take the temperature of your idea by crowd sourcing your followers. Give it a try!

In an age where companies and organizations face irrelevance for not using Twitter, companies like LG have found their social media niche developing unusual applications.

The informality of BizTweet has helped foster a positive culture within the company. Employees there tweet meeting updates and chat about customer support, as well as the occasional aside on traffic or sports.

In the healthcare industry, professionals may use Twitter internally to bid on work shifts, share patient trends and tweet live from medical conferences.

The possibilities are endless. Do you use Twitter outside the normal broadcast norms? Tweet us @Ideopia. Let’s get the discussion started.

Before you take an accounting of the true costs of social media, consider what expectations you have of a program. Is it just to get your feet wet? Are you counting on it for customer service? Do you expect to drive traffic to your website? Calibrate your budget accordingly.

Strategic Leadership (Monthly)
What are the goals of your program? What are the metrics? How will it be managed? Who is your target audience? How will you grow or engage your audience?

Tactical (Daily)
Who will create content? How often? What are the rules for acceptable posts and Tweets? How will you achieve economies of scale by deploying the same content across multiple platforms?

Monitoring (Daily)
How will you monitor and respond to interactions on social media? Friend requests?

Analytics (Daily – Monthly)
What are you measuring? How frequently? Will you analyze response to content, e.g. a LinkedIn Group? How will analytics affect decision-making and content?

The software for social media may be free, but the meatware is not. Effective social media programs require investment, brains and tenacity.

As you select your criteria, the program dynamically updates how many people you’re likely to reach with your ad. Facebook ads are so precise that one man was able to create an ad solely for his wife, and it worked.

Consumers are 10 times more like to buy products via social media, according to one study, so get on Facebook and get cracking on brand promotion!

Don’t spam your followers: If your message is clear and your product relevant to your followers, you won’t need to tweet every five minutes. Followers involved with your brand will likely re-tweet your content and spread the word. Don’t forget to reply and thank them!

Virtual trophy case: We’re truly happy that you won 15 Rainbow Excellence Awards last night, but consistently tooting your own horn is obnoxious. A little bragging here and there won’t hurt, but remember, if your feed is driven by unique and powerful content, your followers will be the ones bragging.

#Too #many #hashtags: Too often we see tweets with multiple hashtags. Keep the message and topic simple and let the content speak for itself.

Find out how influential your feed is at Klout.com. This free service analyzes your Twitter interactions and followers and assigns a score similar to Page Rank for websites.