When was the last time you cancelled your Super Bowl party because your favorite team wasn’t playing in the game? That was the question posed by Michael DiLorenzo, the National Hockey League’s social media and digital communications manager, at the Business Development Institute‘s Social Integration breakfast Wednesday.

DiLorenzo explained that one the challenges faced by the NHL is convincing fans to “activate nationally” during the Stanley Cup playoffs — that is, getting people to care and watch playoff games even if their local or favorite team isn’t playing. So when a couple innovative fans came up with the idea to have a “Tweet Up” for the 2009 playoffs, the NHL ran with the idea. Since then, #NHLtweetup has become a great example of how marketers can use Twitter not only as an engagement tool, but as a loyalty and community building tool as well.

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The recent news that Dell has generated a total of $6.5 million in revenue from their Twitter presence isn’t a huge shock to those who have been following (pardon the pun) Dell’s efforts on social media. The @DellOutlet Twitter account has nearly 1.5 million followers, and the company is among Twitter’s most active corporate users. Still, the announcement represents something that has been elusive for many brands using social media: Hard ROI. For Dell, it’s the second recent proclamation of social success. The company announced in June 2009 that it had earned $3 million in revenue since it started using Twitter in 2007. Now, it’s $6.5 million. Impressive stuff. From Bloomberg:

The number of users signing up to get Dell’s tweets has risen 23 percent in the past three months and now numbers 1.5 million, said Manish Mehta, vice president of Dell’s online unit. More than 100 employees send out the tweets — Twitter’s 140-character messages — over 35 different channels.

Dell, based in Round Rock, Texas, reaches 3.5 million people across the Web through social networks and its own community sites, including Direct2Dell.com and IdeaStorm, Mehta said.

Still, with lingering doubts among many marketers about whether brands can leverage Twitter’s growing popularity to show real ROI, it’s worth taking a closer look at Dell’s success.

Dell has used several different tactics on Twitter — typically a well-balanced mix of promotion and customer service through listening, among others:

Lionel Menchaca, Dell’s Chief Blogger, wrote in a Wednesday blog post that the company will continue to “Streamline our presence in social media networks, create meaningful content for customers and continue to increase our connections with them in those places” and “Continue our focus on scaling support of social media initiatives into the Dell business units.”

While the classic mantra on social media may be all about “conversation” and no upsell, the reality is that a mix of promotion and interaction can yield results, as companies like Dell, JetBlue, and Starbucks show.

More to the point: Consumers — even those on social networks — really aren’t that offended if you give them a good deal. As we wrote in a recent newsletter article, “those polled for the ’2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study’ were interested in brands that would keep them informed, provide product information and give incentives—and generally use new media to help solve consumers’ problems.” Similarly, “an impressive 64% of ‘connected consumers’ told Razorfish they made their first purchase from a brand because of a digital experience on a Website, microsite, mobile coupon or e-mail.”

What other factors contributed to Dell’s success on Twitter? What are some other best practices for brands using social media as a marketing tactic? The comments are yours …