I recently spoke with Bo, from KOifusion about his successful use of Twitter to promote his food cart.

KOifusion is a food cart that produces a mashup of Korean BBQ along with Mexican, American,  and Italian flavors. Bo’s cart travels to different locations across the city to feed cart lovers alike. Their company is only 2 months old, but they have driven their marketing through Twitter, using it to share promotions, their cart locations, as well as what’s going on day to day.

Bo can’t believe the connections he’s made in such little time, he doesn’t just talk about the cart, Bo said he tweeted about his car breaking down and had 5 different folks come to him with lunches and a willingness to help.

He mentioned that Twitter allows folks to give suggestions while feeling safe and easy to reach out. Bo really likes Twitter because he can update from his iPhone, it’s fast and is the best way to spread news. He can’t wait till there’s a way to sync with other media tools to make updating even easier and looks forward to the ease of use of social media in the months to come.

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I’ve been researching different tools to analyze my links through twitter. Bit.ly was ok, but just didn’t have enough data and not easy to use. Tweetburner had potential, but its personal stats page was broken. Hootsuite fits just right. For a more extensive review of similar tools: http://networksboise.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/test-drive-hootsuite-ping-fm-twitterfeed-bit-ly/

My favorite reasons to use it:

-Tracking my URLS, I want to make sure and see if folks are following what I post and by golly, they are. I can see at what times were the most clicks, etc.

-Hootlet , the easy to use plugin for Firefox works smoothly, I pop in and shrink my URLs -scheduling tweets, here’s another review that focuses on that: http://www.twitip.com/twitip-reader-review-hootsuite/

-you can use Hootsuite to check several different accounts

-the latest 2.0 version is even better with columns separately different messages and get tabs to help you stay organized and get the data you want!

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Beth Baker claims she’s a runner, not an athlete. Beth’s business, Running Evolution coaches folks who have never run run 5Ks as well as runners who want to go longer distances. Beth loves her job because of the rewards to helping people improve themselves and reach tough goals. Learn how Beth’s used social media to reach out to runners and the people who want to run.

Please describe your business and why you are passionate about it?

I am a running coach that specializes in the “new to running” runner. I am in love with my job and each person that transitions into a runner. I run and talk with them and get them going and they end up doing incredibly well.

Do you use different social media tools to promote your business?

Yes, I use twitter and facebook.

What tools have worked for you? What hasn’t?
They both work in different ways. Twitter is more of a networking tool and facebook is more of keeping up connections to past, present and potential clients. If I need help finding a marathon race in Austin, I use twitter and if I have a new class or special, facebook.

What do you hope to achieve with these tools in the next 6 months?

I think social networking is in constant flux, and you have to keep your name in the page daily. My goal is to stay on top of it with consistency.

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Having brick and mortar stores can have their challenges and advantages. It’s great to have a place where customers can physically come inside and shop, but you are limited to a regional space where customers can reach you.

Mabel and Zora is a clothing boutique, having two stores in the Portland Metro area.  They offer ladies’ clothing, jewelry, luggage, art and accessories from new and established designers, including local Portland designers. I got a chance to interview them about their use of social media and how it’s affected their business:

Do you use different social media tools to promote your business?
We have started using Twitter and Facebook lately, we have been on myspace for a few years, I like the twitter and facebook, I’m not a big fan of myspace, it’s a little hard for me to navigate around and is slow.

What has worked for you?
Twitter and Facebook have both been very successful for us and we know we still have a lot to learn about it! But so far, so good! I don’t know if people are seeing our blog or not but we keep writing just in case. We redid our website last August and spent a lot on it and nothing really sells on it, so we are trying to get more people to it, so far no luck, but they are coming to our stores! I know I need to do more with the website, but just haven’t got the patience for it!

What hasn’t?
Like I said above, the web sales haven’t really worked out, but the website does drive people to the store, which is great, I would just like it to pay for itself!

What do you hope to achieve with these tools in the next 6 months?
I guess I’d like to just keep learning, and figure out how to simplify. I’d also like to get the website selling more. I’ve read lots of things in magazines about things I can download to simplify the twittering and facebooking, I just need to take the time to put them into action!

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I recently got an opportunity to interview Amy Ambroult of AG Ambroult Jewelry. Amy designs and crafts these amazing silver jewels such as necklaces, rings, bracelets, and other pieces are literally. Visit her website: agambroult.com to see her amazing jewelry line.

Please describe your business and what you offer:
AG Ambroult jewelry is a line of contemporary silver jewelry that explores the link between industry and nature.  I (Amy Ambroult) am a jewelry designer and fabricator — which means I make all the pieces by hand, using traditional metalsmithing techniques.

Yes–Facebook, Twitter, and I have a blog (http://agaelemental.blogspot.com)

I think they have all served a purpose. I wouldn’t  say any one doesn’t “work”. In terms of sales, Facebook has definitely been the best. I have a fan page for my business and invite all my personal “friends” to become fans. This brought awareness of my business to long lost friends and acquaintances that wouldn’t have otherwise known about my jewelry line. As a result, I have had a good handful of orders through Facebook contacts.

Twitter has been great in bringing awareness of my business to perfect strangers. I have tried to create an interesting “persona” through my tweets. It has brought a good amount of traffic to my blog and Etsy shop (where I sell my jewelry online), though I couldn’t say for sure if this has resulted in any online sales. Either way, it is helping to reinforce the “brand” of  my company–which could only be a good thing.

The same goes for my blog–reinforcing my “brand” and “persona” by not only posting about metalsmithing and my jewelry, but also about recipes, gardening tips, craft projects and other thoughts of interest. This brings people to my blog who might not otherwise be interested in knowing about my jewelry. Creating a following on my blog will bring a feeling of community, trust, and credibility, which will (hopefully!) transfer to the public’s opinion of my company.

In the next 6 months I will continue using these forms of social media to bring awareness to my business, reinforce my company brand, and continue to create an interesting online presence and persona that will become synonymous with my business, AG Ambroult.

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