For this blog post I decided to change it up a bit and write about my first event and social media account management. My major here at Texas State is Public Relations with a minor in Business Management. Having some experience under my belt I decided to ask my sister, who is a small business owner, if I could help her out with the Instagram page for her baking business (Pastelitos SA) . She accepted the offer and let me handle the account and coach her on presenting her business for her weekend events downtown and at Salon Lumen. I quickly went over her page and counted the average number of likes per post and how she managed it. The average likes per picture ranged from one to nine. She also had 88 followers before I took over. One could say that the account needed a major overhaul since it was hardly ever used and when it was it was used sporadically and not consistent.
For this weekend she had 2 events. One was a birthday party downtown at Mi Tierra Café (Friday) and one major event at Salon Lumen (Saturday). The event on Friday was a small gathering but presentation is everything in business. Her cake had to be over the top because the traffic of people that are out eating on a Friday night. With the cake in one hand and my camera on the other we headed out to deliver. As soon as we walked in people noticed the cake and glanced at it like a small piece of art walked in. We waited and waited until her client arrived. The client was overwhelmed by the cake and was over all happy for the purchase. As all of this is going on I am taking pictures left and right to make sure that I get the correct angles and images for her Instagram account. The delivery is complete and we go on with our night.
On Saturday evening we had a second event at Salon Lumen. This event was for the salons third year anniversary and there was going to be vendors there promoting their business along with the celebration. We had one day to get things ready for this even. I gave her some notes and pointers on questions that may be asked during the event. There was a total of five vendors in total and a crowd of 100 people throughout the night. We brained stormed ideas for her booth and where she was going to place her pastries for display. The ideas were set and it was time to execute. I had prepped her on some questions that she may be asked so she is not caught off guard by any future clients.
We show up to the event and set shop. The people start to pour and I start to click away with picture after picture. Her booth is swarmed with clients trying to get a taste of the home made cheesecake, cherry bombs and cake shots. As the night goes on I give her tips on how to pass out business cards more effectively and smoothly rather than making it like a transaction. I also give her points on how to bring up her social media profile so that she can gain traffic on it. By the end of the night her table was completely empty and she had a list of prosperous cakes in hand. All night I was taking pictures and thinking about how to place them on her Instagram account.
As the weekend came to an end, her Instagram gained 16 followers and the likes on her pictures increased to 20 plus per post. In closing, the tips and pointers I gave her paid off. She managed to increase her Instagram followers and presented her business in a different way in order to make herself stand out from the rest of the vendors. She also managed to snag some future sales on one of the events. Overall her events were a success and her Instagram is slowly growing day by day.
Don’t forget! The holidays are around the corner and its time to place the cake orders for the holiday parties. Make sure to shop local and help small businesses grow and make sure to check out her Instagram to check her cakes and to place an order send her a message directly at PastelitosSA@yahoo.com.
Tech and Change 