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.

The site also gives prospective clients a peek at Ideopia’s broad tactical capabilities, which include web site design, public relations, social media, advertising and web marketing.

Ideopia’s b2b accomplishments include 19 years of successive growth for a medical equipment manufacturer; a 40-fold increase in sales for a national computer hardware distributor; and sales and market share growth for clients through two recessions.

More information about Ideopia/B2B is available from new business director, Mike Bober, at 513-947-1444.

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.

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.

Note that 8 out of top 10 results are from social media – LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook. And these results are being incorporated fast, e.g. the Twitter post on phobias was posted just 28 minutes ago. Food for thought!

Check out the screen capture of this search. Need some help incorporating social media into your marketing? Let’s talk about it.

Each year, RMHC provides food, accommodations, and sanity for 100s of families whose critically ill children are cared for at Children’s Hospital Medical Center. That’s where their budget goes. Not marketing. So help us out by clicking the follow button @RMHCincinnati. The good Twitter karma will come back to you soon.

The screen capture shows Google results for the term “Ideopia.” Note that 8 out of 10 results are from social media – Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook. And these results are being incorporated fast, e.g. the Twitter post on phobias was posted just 28 minutes ago. Food for thought!