Organization Name: Sweet Temptations Cupcakery
Industry: Cupcake Shop; Bakery; Vegetarian & Vegan Restaurant
Name of contact if available: Jacqueline (Jakki) Prince, Owner
Web references: Sweet Temptations, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
Description of how social media is used for business performance:
May we tempt you with a cupcake from Guelph’s very successful cupcakery, Sweet Temptations?
Located in the South end of Guelph, Sweet Temptations Cupcakery is a successful cupcake shop with flavours for every occasion. Jakki Prince started baking with her Nana as a young girl. In 2009 she finally pursued her love of baking by enrolling in a formal cake decorating class. She may have started with small beginnings but Prince’s successful shop proves that her passion and dedication over the years is paying off. The store is trendy and inviting with beautifully decorated sweets on display. Pomegranate pizzaz is the newest cupcake in the counter.
It’s more than a career for Prince. It is her passion. She speaks about the people she bakes for with care and heart. These are the people she reaches out to on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. With her iPhone by her side she responds to customer questions and community comments constantly. Her “real time” conversation places value on the people she serves.
Sweet Temptations Cupcakery Dishes Social Media Strategy from Balnar Management on Vimeo.
In a recent interview, Prince proudly states that she is the social media voice for Sweet Temptations. She likes to think of it as a standard uniform style that they have come to develop over the last five years. Handling 95% of social media engagement herself, only recently have some of her employees contributed to Instagram photos. Never having outsourcing her SM, she does not want to lose that personal connection.
Prince mentions that SM is a large responsibility and is proud of the communication on-line. She manages it by thinking of it as it only takes 30-90 seconds to do that one post. She tweets as much as she can daily and posts on Facebook approximately 3 – 5 times a day and Instagram once.
“I look it as 15 minutes of free advertising a day. It translates into better connections with the community rather than putting dollars a day into print advertising which I normally wouldn’t do.”
Her phone by her side whether it’s early morning or 11 p.m., if someone has a question through social media she is ready to answer it, especially for Twitter. It’s that ‘real time’ conversation that is important to her. Customers will inquire what the ‘flavour of the day is’, appropriately responding and setting those aside for the customer. It’s a real personal touch.
Keeping a keen eye on their Facebook & Twitter insights on daily basis, monitoring new likes and who they are; how many people are engaged, who is sharing, which businesses are connecting and tries to reach out to that company. It’s a two-way street.
Using Google Analytics for the website, Prince measures progress monthly and compares year-to-year. She also measures their social media ROI through FB boosts and ads to see how many coupons are being redeemed. For example, when having an afternoon promotion, Jakki will reach out by asking the public to share their favourite Taylor Swift song and in turn receive a ‘buy 4 and get 2 free deal’ on cupcakes. Approximately 300 Facebook fans saw the ad and 8 people came into the store singing for cupcakes.
What are the advantages of social media marketing? Exposure. Business exposure, increase in traffic, and new business partnerships are just a few of the ways Sweet Temptations Cupcakery has benefited from Prince’s “free advertising” or, social media marketing. Prince has connected with several local business through Twitter that have turned into long lasting relationships and loyal customers.
“It just happened today, a customer came in and bought a 1/2 dozen cupcakes because she had seen us all over SM”.
Being a hockey and Guelph Storm fan, Prince reached out to the Storm to supply cupcakes to fans celebrating their birthdays at a game. The cupcakery has sponsored the Storm for two seasons now and continues to help promote the team through social media.
In a recent interview, Prince discusses a two and a half year client relationship that forged out of a simple tweet.
Prince not only owns and operates the Cupcakery on Gordon Street, she also has a presence at Farmer’s Markets in Guelph, Cambridge, Aberfoyle and Southfield’s. Because she is constantly engaged in conversation with customers outside of the shop, mobility is key. 75% of her posts are made on a mobile device including pictures and shorter posts via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Longer posts made to the blog or changes to the website are more easily done on the store desktop. This is also convenient for Prince’s co-workers who will respond to customers immediately while Prince is making deliveries.
Prince went on to discuss the future of her business and changes in Social Media.
With social media engagement comes change and a constant upkeep of content and technology. One area that Prince looks to make changes in is the way her blog and website appear on a mobile device. With a large number of her consumers being students, business people in transit and people meeting her at wedding shows and farmers markets, the need for easy mobile access is huge.
Near the end of our interview Prince steps away to serve a customer. Whether it’s “real-time conversation” through social media or face-to-face interaction, it is easy to see that this passionate entrepreneur has a bright future ahead of her.
You haven’t tried a cupcake until you’ve experienced Sweet Temptations! Contact Jakki through social media and reserve your favourite flavour today.
Lessons for others:
1. Think creatively about your social media marketing efforts. Put some time into thinking about promotions and campaigns that would work for you. Look at it as ‘free advertising”.
2. Don’t use the excuse you have no time for social media, start with one platform, a tweet only takes 30 – 90 seconds. Try it and watch your business grow! The more time you spend on it, the more return you will receive.
3. Be involved and active in your community. Take time to listen to the conversations that are going on around you and look for areas where you can step in, fill a need, and create relationships and partnerships.
Submitted by: Lisa Fodor & Katelyn Wilson
To contact the author of this entry please email at: katelyntina@gmail.com OR lfodor3@hotmail.com – U of W, Social Media for Business Performance students.
If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Programme Director, Social Media for Business Performance.