Retailers wanting to incorporate mobile social media applications such as foursquare and Twitter into their online and mobile marketing efforts might look to Tasti D-lite LLC for a little inspiration.

With more than 6,000 Twitter followers and thousands of check-ins by consumers using the foursquare location-based service, the soft-serve dessert company has found ways to turn consumers using social media into buyers of Tasti D-lite treats.

For example, B.J. Emerson, Tasti D-lite vice president of technology, routinely monitors the company’s Twitter and foursquare feeds for consumer comments, he told attendees at the Ramp Retail Advanced Commerce and Mobile Retail Services Summit in Chicago this week.

When appropriate, he responds, as he did when a woman tweeted from her mobile phone that she was about to choose between Tasti D-lite and a competitor for a snack. Emerson happened to find the tweet shortly after it posted and, via a message to the woman, offered her a coupon. Not long afterwards, she tweeted her satisfaction with her Tasti D-lite treat and the coupon.

And on foursquare, Tasti D-lite offers a $2 coupon for a beverage or shake each time someone checks in at the Broadway and 60th location in New York. Tasti D-lite offers similar deals at some other locations.

Mobile social media boosts Tasti D-lite’s ability to interact with consumers, Emerson says. “Those connections are going to lead to conversations. Conversations lead to relationships and relationships lead to transactions,” he says.