Most publishers grasp the benefit of Twitter, but what if you could translate social networking to real life interactions with readers, or even close sales using Twitter?

This Summer Lori Todd, Visual Journalist at the Miami Herald, hosted two Tweetups for her newspaper that forced the company to take a serious look at social media while allowing more skeptical members of the newsroom to see the benefits of Twitter first-hand.

"We're not just throwing the newspaper on the doorstep anymore," said Todd.

The paper was even able to sign on two large clients for its sales department using the meetups.

Show Highlights:

0:30 - What is a Tweetup?
1:00 - How the Miami Herald built up a group of friends to attend the first Tweetup.
1:30 - The paper got 130 people, 30 employees, to attend the first Tweetup.
2:10 - Convincing the newsroom.
2:40 - The paper's tech reporter received lots of business cards from readers pitching her.
3:45 - How do you facilitate an interaction between the reporters and readers?
4:15 - Teaching the newsroom to use Twitter through the Tweetup.
5:00 - Todd introduced reporters to attendees.
5:40 - Tweetups led to the creation of a "social media committee" at the paper.
6:50 - What are the steps invovled when planning a Tweeup?
7:00 - Talk to your newsroom about why social media is important.
7:30 - Promote the event through Twitter and local social media events.
8:50 - Nametags are key.
9:00 - Get freebees and giveaways from your marketing department.
9:30 - Document it and present to your boss.
10:30 - The cost was just printing name tags.
11:35 - What's next?