Last Friday, I flew from San Francisco to Seattle tocelebrate my mom???s 85th birthday with her.  She???sgot quite a sweet tooth and a distinct fondness for chocolate cake, but packinga cake into your carry-on isn???t exactly the easiest thing to do so Idecided instead to rely on her favorite restaurant to insert a candle in herdessert.

Upon landing in Seattle-Tacoma Airport, I pulled out myBlackBerry and mindlessly Tweeted about our arrival and the plan to celebratewith my mom.  I immediately got a Tweet back from @odettedaniello with alink to her bakery, Celebrity Cake Studio.

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I had not heard of Celebrity Cake Studio before andwasn???t planning on buying a birthday cake in Tacoma, but Odette???sTweet made me realize that Twitter can serendipitously answer your requests??? even when you weren???t really expecting an answer. 

I ended up tweeting with her and arrived at her studio thenext day to purchase my mom???s cake.  My mom was chuffed at thedelicious three-layer chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling and I wasthrilled to support a local Tacoma business.  With a simple Tweet, Odettealerted me to her business, lured me in with her concise and enthusiasticmessages, and got a new customer for life.  New business was as easy aswriting about a piece of cake! 

I use TweetDeckto monitor various key phrases and our client names so I always knowwhen they are subjects of discussion.  It keeps me posted onsentiments, news and rumors in real-time.  For anyone conductingbusiness on Twitter, I recommend you search for key phrases relevant toyour business and monitor these search queries for messages of praise,concern and/or need.  It provides a direct line to current and futurecustomers and provides a wonderful channel of dialogue.

And if you???re in Tacoma and need a great cake, please do visit Odette and say hi.

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