By the Bootstraps

The dog days of summer were typically the time small businesses across the nation would unwind. But thanks to the recession, more businesses are taking what used to be their vacation time to plot for future success, according to an article on Breaking News 24/7.

The slow days of July and August have always given small business owners an opportunity to tackle some of the chores that may get a lower priority the rest of the year, such as installing new software, painting the office or writing employee manuals.

It would appear from this article, taking a break during a recession is tantamount to losing your competitive edge. As many of the small business owners I’ve spoken to remind me, owning and running a store is a 24/7 job. The article says that since there are some positive economic indicators hinting that we may have passed the worst of the Great Recession, many businesses are using this time to act like the ant from the fable and store for the winter. Smart idea considering loans and outside capital, , are hard to come by.

Photo credit: “vacation cliche”

Now more than ever businesses are experimenting with social media to build a loyal customer base during the recession. By the Bootstraps spoke with Mari Luangrath, owner of Foiled Cupcakes, a cupcake delivery service based in Naperville that has a solid social media presence. The business delivers cupcakes to Chicago and the west suburbs. Within a few months of its opening, the store has more than 2,900 followers on their Twitter page and more than 600 fans on their Facebook page.

Just how does Luangrath use social media for her business? Listen to our conversation, or read the transcript below.

By the Bootstraps (BB): What drew you to Twitter?

Mari Luangrath: I have a college friend who was on Facebook and he kept tweeting and I said what is this? [laughter] We did a quick Facebook chat and he said you need to get in touch with my friend. So he put me in contact with his friend whose name is Adrian Dayton and we had a 30 minute conference call and he said, “You need to get on this.” And I got on and I said, “I don’t know what I’m doing. I have no idea what I’m doing.” And then about a week later I still had no idea what I was doing, but I had people following me and excited about cupcakes.

BB: How do you use it?

ML: My personal reason for using social media is just to reach out to people and develop relationships with them. I certainly don’t use social media strictly as a selling tool and I certainly try to balance out the whole personality of our brand along with some information about what we do and making it fun and keeping it exciting. I would say what we do is just a mix of relationship building and interaction with our consumer.
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I’m friends with or follow many small businesses in Chicago. Most of them tend to be boutiques (that’s just where my interests lay) but many area businesses have followed the advice of Bankrate.com’s recent article on advertising through social media. Here’s a list of great area businesses and where you can find them:

• Hejfina: This high-end boutique in Chicago’s Wicker Park carries Alexander Wang, A.P.C. and other big-ticket items for men and women. Targetting such a selective customer base, hejfina lets its Facebook followers know about in-store parties and sales.
• Volo Wine Bar: A wine bar in Roscoe Village, Volo promotes its many food and drink specials on Facebook and Twitter. They also post videos on YouTube of their chefs cooking.
• Sweet Boutique: Who doesn’t love a good sale? Sweet Boutique sells its women’s clothing online and twitters discount codes to its followers on a regular basis.
• Chicago Food Tours: The city of big shoulders and meat and potatoes has transformed into a foodie paradise in recent years. Chicago Food Tours offers tasting tours in the North Side and make followers aware of ticket sales and other events on Twitter.