So you think you’ve got a community, huh?
Does your community engage with each other around a shared interest in you?
Does your community believe that you’re interested in them as human beings rather than a sales channel?
Foiled Cupcakes has that kind of community.
Foiled Cupcakes is a delivery-only gourmet cupcake bakery that serves the greater Chicago area.
As per its Twitter bio (above) it is a brand grown by “YOU”, a.k.a. its community.
It was founded by “Head Cupcakeologist” Mari Luangrath, and her social success story is particularly refreshing and uplifting because she was anything but a digital native or social media addict before starting her business.
(Mari on SEO).
The more links you have the better it is for, like, your search result…thing.
But she is a natural.
Let’s cut to the bottom line.
Or bottom lines plural.
Blue projected sales. Pink actual.
Pink = uplifting social success story.
This graphic was created by Lauren Litwinka for the Aimclear blog.
In fact the full social success story behind Foiled Cupcakes is written up in stylish, accessible prose in an Aimclear post that you really should read.
You should read it for the quality of the writing.
And you should read it because it tells the story so well that there’s no point in me recounting it here.
What’s really important is the lessons that should be learned from this case study.
Lessons that come through loud and clear in Part 1 and Part 2 of this trilogy of uplifting social success stories.
- Talking about others is much more engaging than talking about yourself.
- Being interested is the best way to be interesting.
- Being someone that people want to buy from is a more effective social strategy than trying to sell.
- Enthusiasm is infectious.
- Nice things happen to nice people.
- You don’t need social media training, or social media guru consultancy, if you are a natural people person.
These things sound obvious.
But, like a lot of really important business principles, they are simple to describe but not easy to execute.
Hey, Phil:
Thanks for the shout. What an honor! I agree that Lauren did a fabulous job recounting our presentation last month at SES Chicago. In fact, I told her that we should look into having her do all future presentations for our company! 😉
I’m glad you posted the other two examples as well (Machine of Death and Underground) and am always interested to learn from those who are really finding clever ways to promote their cause. I love this quote you posted from the Machine of Death post:
“We are committed to ensuring that you can experience our work whether you can afford to buy a book or not; whether you live in a country that Amazon ships to or not; whether you have space in your life for a stack of paper or not.”
I really believe this is why these businesses experience WOM referrals. It’s because they’re committed to their cause, and not just to the bottom line. And they’re nice people. And they speak in terms that humans understand. And they get that people are smarter than advertising or gimmicks.
Refreshing posts. Thank you so much for featuring us again. We’re really honored.
Thanks for the response Mari.
Given how naturally you seem to operate in these spaces, I probably shouldn’t have been surprised to hear from you.
I’m touched and grateful nonetheless.
Having a cause to which you are genuinely committed is obviously a good place to be.
And I’ll probably quote you on that one day.
I wish you continued success.