How Tweet It Is. Hilton Anaheim Hotel is throwing a party, Aug. 31, for 200 of Orange County’s most influential tweeters. They’ll get the VIP treatment as they hobnob with each other, check out the hotel’s latest improvements and preview the hotel’s new mobile website.

“We want to make everyone feel excited and special. We want them to tweet things like ‘I just had the Motweeto and it was delicious,’” she says. “We hope to reach thousands. We already know the influencers have that kind of reach within their own Twittersphere.”

And, hopefully, tweet all about it.

(Tweets are instant messages sent using Twitter, a free online social networking/microblogging service. Users send and read posts or ‘tweets’ of 140 characters or less. Tweeters have subscribers or followers who receive their mini-messages.)

Basically, a tweetup is the digital-age equivalent of a media event.

For this event, tweeters and hotel leaders will gather in the hotel’s outdoor pool area where more than $1 million was recently spent on renovations, including the addition of a giant water bucket, a poolside lounge, grilling station and more. That’s in addition to a $60 million renovation completed just two years ago.

“This tweetup is a mixer,” says Jennifer Sacks, marketing manager for the hotel. ”We wanted to create an environment for tweeters who are influencers, people who tweet about health, living, food and more. We wanted to give them a chance to meet each other face to face, to leave the social media sphere and group as one. And, to learn about us and our offerings.”

Invitations for the event were extended to media, foodies, meeting planners, bloggers, local VIPs and those with large followings and clout in the arena of public opinion. And, of course, important folks who follow the Hilton Anaheim Hotel on Twitter.

Emarketing firm Hyperdisk Marketing of Irvine, CA helped build the company’s list of important tweeters. They have the relationships and live the social media lifestyle. Asked about how to build a “twitter” list, director of marketing Laurice Nahas explains,
“Essentially, to be an expert in any field, you have to be a part of your local community activities and events, it’s the same thing for social media. Our team here lives and breathes this stuff inside and outside the office. They attend panels, organization events, they’re constantly networking with people and they build a list from there.”

Tweetups are becoming more commonplace in areas with a technologically savvy demographic. “They’re designed to allow people who have these interactions and engagements in the digital realm, meet each other in the physical realm,” says Randy Stuck, manager of search and social marketing for Hyperdisk.

While tweetups are a relatively new phenomenon and, perhaps, a good way to build buzz, Sacks, ironically notes that face-to-face can still trump virtual relationships: “You can only get so far via the internet, and then it’s important to build an interpersonal relationship.”

Shaun Robinson, general manager of the hotel notes, “More and more, travelers are using the Internet and social media to learn about and to share information on vacation destinations, things to do, hotels, restaurants and more. Tweeters, bloggers and other social media users can be very influential and we want to be part of the online conversation.”

The Hilton tweetup, cleverly, carries a Twitter theme. Guests will enter the property via red carpet where the Twitter-azzi will snap their photos and make the digital images available for immediate posting to Facebook. Cocktails will include Margatweetas, Motweetos and Twequila Sunrises.

“We’ll be featuring our best assets,” says Sacks. “Food and beverage through food and cocktail demonstrations with a mixologist. Health club through free massages.”