It has been suggested that I set up pages on these two sites. I have to admit that I don't really understand what to do with either of them to promote by business.
Are any of you using either or both of these sites? Are they a useful tool for your biz? What are you doing with them?
I see on a lot of sites "check us out on facebook" "follow us on twitter", etc etc. I just don't know what to do to make it work for me. I am completely open to ideas and suggestions. Thank you!
I use Facebook. When I started using Facebook, it was just to keep up with friends and classmates. Then people would request that I add them as friends just so they could talk and see cake. I set up a business page on there and now they can just go there. John Doe that wants to see my cakes doesn't necessarily need to see my kids' tee-ball pictures, ya know? 
Here is the link to it if you want to see it. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Taylorsville-NC/Three-Forks-Cakes/190010975003?ref=ts
You may have to have a FB account to open it. Not sure about that.
Oh, and I get tons of orders from it. Some are from strangers, but most are from my local FB friends that didn't even know I had the business.
The cake supply store in town if on Facebook, and its nice to see updates about different promos that are going on, or pictures from cake conventions.
At the bare minimum, its free advertising
Yeah, I'm a Twit! I follow primarily wedding planners, cake/cupcake shops, caterers, photographers, florists, corporate meeting planners, and other misc folks. My objective is to get them to know me, to direct traffic to my website and blog. Ya never know when an event planner will be working with a bride in my area or if they might need a speaker for an event they are putting together in their area.
I hook up with local business people then post a message(s) about how I cater corporate meetings, seminars, workshops, etc. It plants the idea.
It was thru Twitter that an event planner saw my blog entry on "Do You Need An Event Planner?" and used it in her own blog, so I've been copied in San Francisco! (YAY! One of my objectives met!)
I dont' Facebook or MySpace. My kid set up a page for me, but I have no idea how to get into it.
I refuse to use Facebook for business purposes. That said, I have pics and I comment back and forth with friends and family, but no biz is discussed ever. I think it's bad practice, UNLESS your Facebook page is devoted solely to your biz. Talking biz with someone, and then having your friend "send" you a Bloody Mary because it's freakin Friday girl-let's get driz-unk!!!......not professional. Nuh uh. 
Jammjanks, I agree with you. I have my own Biz page on FB so eveyone can see my cakes but not my kids and other personal info that is in tendend for friends only.
Thank you all for your replies.
Thank you jammjenks for a link to your page, that helps a lot. I have no idea how to set it up.
As far as adding fans/contacts- you have to know names correct? How do you add people or do you wait for them to add you?
I mean, you can't just search photographers (just an example) for your area can you? Oh and I want to let people know I deliver to nearby towns, is there a way to do that?
The facebook set up is very confusing to me. Twitter is worse. What do you put down? I wouldn't think that anyone cares what flavor cake I am baking or whatnot. I guess I don't think what I am doing is interesting to others, a bakers life is not exactly exciting.
What do ya'll think? Help? 
I feel really out of my element here but if I can get people to look at the page it may generate more interest in the biz. I can't just stick my head in the sand like all of this is not making a big impact on business. Thank you for bearing with me here.
ETA: this is definitely for biz purposes only!
Lenette, The way FB set up its pages section is a little weird to me. It allows you to put your biz info but it doest really allow a discription (at least from what I have found). What I did was uploaded all my pictues and on each one have a very small discription servings and price. Also as far as people seeing your page there are ways to promote your page so more people can see it. For me I just invited all my friends to join. You can look it up if you want to see what I am talking about its ~ staceycakes
IMO I wouldn't expect to get much Biz out of FB pages. You might if you use there promote your page but for me it hasn't given me any contacts other than my friends.
Twitter is worse. What do you put down? I wouldn't think that anyone cares what flavor cake I am baking or whatnot.
The purpose is just to network and get your name in front of folks over and over and over.
Some of my posts are like "I'm baking three wedding cakes today and my kitchen smells great!" and "Had a great BNI meeting and met Bob the Photographer. He does great work."
A lady asked for a referral to family attorneys and I was able to direct her to an attorney in my BNI group.
It's a free way to keep your name out there. It takes awhile. My first few weeks, I was floundering, too. But it gets easier and better.
I have had a facebook page since before I started decorating. As my hobby has grown, so has the interest in my cake albums on Facebook. I've had soooo many old friends contact me about cakes. I won't add people I don't know just so they can see the cakes though. I put the cakes in a folder anyone can see. I put pics of my kids in folders only my friends can see.
If I get an e-mail from a stranger wanting me to add them so they can see my cakes, I either tell them they can see them without my adding them or I send them to my blog.
I refer strangers to the bakery where I work and tell them that I can still decorate their cake but because they aren't a personal friend, I can't do the job from home. I don't have a licensed kitchen. Facebook has been great for me and the bakery! Plus I get a finders fee for each cake the bakery gets that is from my blog, facebook, or anyone else that wants a cake because they saw my work outside of being at the bakery.
Getting on my <positive>soapbox:
Social media and social networking is the present and future of the Internet on all levels; especially big and small business (everyone on this board).
We (as a culture) are already moving to Web 3.0 and Web 4.0. I'm sure you have heard the term Web 2.0 thrown around a lot the past couple of years. In summarized terms, it is how we use and interact with the internet. Web 1.0 is simply looking at a static page, as if the Internet was a magazine, no interactivity at all. Even email is a back and forth, static activity.
A simple advertisement is no longer enough to get a client. People what to know what you are doing IN REAL TIME, not from a site that just sits there.
Statistic from BrideTide/ Socialnomics: By 2010 Gen Y will outnumber Baby Boomers.96% of them have joined a social network.
What generation do you think most of your wedding clients are coming from? Their parents are boomers and influencing them to keep up with change.
(More stats here: http://bridetide.blogspot.com/2009/08/35-social-media-statistics-that-will.html)
The plane that landed in the Hudson River, where everyone survived - that was reported and posted on Twitter before **ANY** news crews found out and made it to the scene. That should tell you something. People want instant and current info; sometimes it is relevant and useful...sometimes not. It just depends on who is reading it.
The social aspect comes from doing business with people that you know! Facebook and Twitter fosters that. A business facebook page is set up differently than a personal one, people find your page and participate in the community that YOU create and manage. It doesn't happen instantly though, it takes time to develop.
I have people from Brazil, Puerto Rico, and several other countries on my FB. They sought me out because they are interested in cakes, and want to connect with others that have the same interests.
Social Media and network is what will set you apart from your competitors and have an impact on your business if you do it correctly.
I'm very passionate about the topics of Internet technologies and small business...that's why I got a Master's in it. Feel free to email or PM if you want to talk more about it.
I use Twitter and sometimes when I don't have much going on in the kitchen, I post funny cake related quotes from movies or tv shows or fun cake facts. Google it, you'll find a bunch! I figure as long as I'm saying something, they'll remember me.
I refuse to use Facebook for business purposes. That said, I have pics and I comment back and forth with friends and family, but no biz is discussed ever. I think it's bad practice, UNLESS your Facebook page is devoted solely to your biz. Talking biz with someone, and then having your friend "send" you a Bloody Mary because it's freakin Friday girl-let's get driz-unk!!!......not professional. Nuh uh.
Lolz..
That is exactly why I have two accounts.
like previously said above some where, i too use my FB for finding old classmates and childhood friends and keeping up with relatives etc.. i just found a childhood neighbor of mind just yesterday even. i hardly ever need my myspace anymore i only check it for friends that i don't have on FB.. i do have twitter for for the life of me i cannot figure the darn thing out and frankly i have to say it hasn't impressed me or drawn my interest much. not saying it wont but.... i dunno.. i could live w/o it i guess.
that being said, anyone wanting my FB page please feel free to ask me. be happy to say hi.
I use Facebook to spy on my kids.
Snicker...mine added me, and now I can't bit** about them...sigh...
I use Facebook to spy on my kids.
Snicker...mine added me, and now I can't bit** about them...sigh...
I've got my whole extended family on fb, mother, brother, sister, aunts, uncles, cousins. If one aunt sees something written on one of the nieces/nephews walls they'll call the Mum in question and ask them about it, only to have the Mum go 'I have no clue', who then has to call the child, who explains that it was just some random quote lol. (We've had a few instances where the family thought marriages were breaking up because of random facebook posts).
CakeForte; GREAT post. I agree with you on so many levels. Where did you get you're Masters? That must have been a very interesting program. I had a prof who specialized in Technology in Culture for his PHD in Anthropology, very interesting guy to talk to.
Bleeding Heart Bakery is hands down my favorite business to follow on Twitter. They talk about promotions, job postings, everything - I mean talk about someone who knows how to use the medium!
(I have a huge crush on them anyway, though.)
I have an account too - not many followers, but have made a GREAT contact for another business idea.
yeah, I came across a vegan bakery website in Ontario and they list their workers and give a short description of their personalities and they made it cute and fun. It's like you're getting to know them and a little like reality TV where you want to "tune" in and find out what's happening at the bakery. You can make an account and they have discussion forums on the bakery website - bizarre but it's being used! Anyways, this is a little bit on topic but mostly off topic so I'll stop now.
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