Dipping a Big Toe into Social Media

Last week, I finally took the plunge into what I had been putting off for awhile: getting Dolce + Decadence on Facebook and Twitter. Clearly a social media marketing plan is critical these days, especially after seeing how many Chicago food businesses use these platforms to constantly bombard potential customers and dedicated clients. Food trucks use them to post menus and tell location. Storefronts use them to advertise specials and sweepstakes. Yup, it was time...

However, I was a little scared to get started. I have had a Facebook account since college, but posting pictures was about as fancy as I got with the available functionality - none of these status updates, checking in, applications, and so forth that all the Millenials and Baby Boomers are doing. That's right - I can't even say that I am like an old person that doesn't understand the newest technology, because people older than me (Mom, that is relative - you are not OLD) are embracing it better than I am. (Once, when my mom posted my blog link on her profile, she received 25 likes and 19 comments, all from Facebook-dominating Baby Boomers.)

But, I knew I had to embrace my fear, which I knew was, at its root, of doing something I did not know much about and was therefore not good at. You know how you don't like to talk about something you know nothing about for fear of sounding stupid? Same thing. Hash tags? What are those??? How do/why would I re-tweet? Link my Facebook page to my Twitter account? Whooooaaaa slow down, there.... I can't even figure out how to make a Facebook page to begin with...

After some fumbling around, my accounts were created. Ted also gave me a Twitter tutorial, which was much needed: I can fumble my way around Facebook pretty easily, but I did NOT understand how Twitter worked and what all you could do with it. So, we came up with some marketing strategies:

• Facebook: Post photos of baked goods, tagged to buyer and linked to blog posting about that item
• Twitter:
• Tag followers in posts, with pictures of their purchased baked goods
• Hashtags to start a conversation about a particular topic among followers (e.g., Is fruit a dessert? #DDfruitdessert; What's an item you'd like to see on the menu? #DDmenuitem)
• Both
• Status updates (basically, as mini-blogs)
• New blog posts
• New orders
• Order planning/research
• Personal baking
• Menu/business development
• Sweepstakes/giveaways (anyone interested in that??)
• Solicit item ideas, feedback, etc. via polls using status/comments on FB, hashtags on Twitter

All you social media butterflies out there, what am I missing? What other cool functionality do these sites have that I am not taking advantage of? I'd appreciate as much help on this topic as I can get!

Oh, and the important stuff - where to find me ;) :

http://www.facebook.com/DolceandDecadence
@dolcedecadence