I typically visit the farmer’s market weekly. Last summer, or maybe the summer before I discovered Blue Chair Fruit, a local jam/spread/marmalade maker. They make the best jam I’ve ever tasted, I am sure I am know to the Blue Chair team as the girl who stops by every week to try all of the samples. 
(I like the stone fruit and berries the best so far.)
I’ve chatted with the owner/creator, Rachel, regularly about her upcoming book, all of the flavors and the typical banter. It’s great to be able to meet the purveyors, and that is one of the main reasons I go to the market (and of course the fact that is fresher and tastier).
A couple of weeks ago, I noticed Blue Chair was on twitter and facebook. I “liked-ed” them on Facebook and the next week when I was at the farmer’s market, Rachael commented “Hey, you are our newest facebook fan!”
Facebook moved from online to reality!
A few weeks later, I gave Blue Chair a shout on twitter.
And sure enough, at the market I met Jamie, and she was holding 2 jars for me. 
We all know twitter is a great way to connect with people online, but it great to take that connection offline too. If you have a business where you meet your customers in person, encourage them to follow you online and off. And reward them for participating in the conversation. Your customers (and your revenues) will thank you.
That’s so cool, Jame. @bluechairfruit has done a great job connecting with its customers! This is a perfect example of social media at work for small business.