For the next in our series of case studies looking at how small businesses are using social media, we caught up with Catrin MacDonnell from Papadeli
In no more than 50 words explain what your business is
Papadeli is run by chef Simon MacDonnell and his wife Catrin. It is a cafe, delicatessen and catering service which believes in only providing the most delicious foods. There is a bespoke party service where the customers’ favourite flavours can be incorporated into a unique menu. It is a beautiful shop full of gorgeous chocolates, cheese, hampers, deli treats and even has a takeaway food counter where a range of dishes are made for customers to serve at home.
Papadeli brownies are legendary, as are the superb cakes that are for sale by the slice or can be ordered whole. Famous for its gorgeous food, Papadeli is also well known for being the deli that featured on BBC1′s Mistresses!
How do you use social media as a business?
We use Social Media for a whole range of things. For example, when we were recruiting a new shop Manager, we posted it on Twitter and even before the posters went up in the shop we had a couple of high calibre applicants on the phone. This is the great thing about Twitter – you have your own followers, but each follower will know a whole host of other and they can retweet a post, which means it will reach a much wider audience.
We also use Twitter and Facebook to promote our supper nights and wine tasting evenings – again, this can get retweeted which just helps in broadening the net. At the end of the day, these social networks help us keep in touch with customers in a way we never could before – and we get to know what customers are interested in and what they are up to – which really interests us!
What are your business/marketing objectives for social media?
Objectives? Firstly, I think our objective would be to let people know that we are a friendly business who likes to get involved – and besides giving customers who come into the shop a good feeling when they are attended to, it was previously impossible, or at least difficult to reach out to those who didn’t already know the shop in this way. Secondly, social media is a great vehicle for informing people about what’s going on at the shop, and getting these events out to as many people as possible.
Do you measure the success of your social media marketing? If so, how?
It’s actually easier to measure success through Social Media than other marketing/advertising methods. If you place an ad in a magazine, it’s so hard to measure the uptake, whereas with Twitter or Facebook, people respond quickly and you can actually measure followers, response to comments etc. The network grows which increases our contacts base, which is also measurable.
How does social media fit in with the other marketing your company does?
For a small business like Papadeli, advertising and marketing can be prohibitive in terms of cost. Social networking, although time consuming, costs nothing, and when you don’t have the cash to spend, it’s definitely worth investing the time. You have to be quite organised and apportion a certain amount of your time and attention every day, but it’s actually pretty enjoyable connecting with other, like-minded people. Social Media often presents us with opportunities to meet up with people face to face, when groups get together, so the relationship is strengthened in that way, which is something which wouldn’t necessarily happen with other forms of advertising or marketing.
Do you have plans to increase your use of social media in 2010?
This year, we have definitely taken the Social Media networking much more seriously and have got more involved in it. It’s great when you realise how many interesting and interested people there are out there, and we get a good feeling out of the supportive nature of the twitter and Facebook communities. It’s not just a promotional tool and can lead to lots of thing apart from business opportunites, so we definitely be staying in touch with all our current contacts, and look to expand our networks, too.
What would be your top 3 tips for businesses looking to get involved in social media?
It’s not a waste of time. I think a lot of businesses overlook the influence of Social Media and think that it’s not for heavy weight businesses. On the contrary, these days, these businesses need to get more involved than ever as this is the way forward. I think some people are unsure about what to write – and I’d say, as long as it’s interesting and not to “hard sell” anything goes.
I’d also tell people to be patient – it can take a little while to get the hand of it and start feeling part of the community, but as long as they are genuine and not in it just for the sales, they’ll soon start seeing the benefit. I would suggest writing fairly freqently too, as different people are checking their accounts at different times, so repeating a tweet, for example, doesn’t do any harm. Twitter and Facebook are very easy to use and shouldn’t take up too much time, so they’re definitely worth giving a go!
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