As with many of the stories we tell on this blog, some of the greatest entrepreneurial ventures start out as a result of people no longer working in their initial field (needing a fresh start), or unemployed professionals with an idea. Today’s featured entrepreneur is, let’s say, totally chill in Southern California and freezing out the competition by capitalizing on small business social media efforts.
Meet Coolhaus, a Southern California start-up that merges architecture with sustainable frozen treats and stylish ice cream sandwiches. Natasha Case is the owner of Coolhaus and she started the company after several stints as an architect.
Now she’s peddling ice cream sandwiches and she has social media to thank for her initial – and growing – success story.
Natasha had an idea to merge the two worlds of architecture and food to start her business but it’s the way she uses social media that’s really helped launch her small business. She and her business partners refurbished an old post office truck to look like a sweet ride that offers even sweeter treats – all with catchy names, themes and, oh yeah, pretty darn good for the environment, too. The ice cream sandwich wrappers are sustainable because they’re made with edible materials. (photo credit clickz.com)
But Natasha and Coolhaus are all about three things – stylish, delicious treats; having lots of fun; and oh yeah that social media presence. Typically when entrepreneurs have this kind of combination it’s difficult not to be successful – and love what you do.
Tweet Treats
Coolhaus has had lots of success using Twitter to promote the business and daily specials. Natasha likes to send out tweets to create excitement for daily flavors and even has a little fun with her following with trivia. She’ll send out a tweet as a question and everyone that shows up at her truck with the flavor-themed answer to the trivia question will receive a daily discount. At almost 8,000 followers she has almost as many as some of the national ice cream retailers (who shall remain nameless).
For Natasha and Coolhaus, Twitter has been a no-brainer when it comes to marketing strategy. It’s a great way to quickly create a following, develop raving fans and extend her brand across all kinds of regional areas. When done correctly, Coolhaus can even send out tweets throughout the course of the day or even during stops. There’s even a bevy of other Twitter tools for small business that Coolhaus can use.
Feed Your Face(book)
Natasha also uses Facebook in her small business social media strategy because, like Twitter, time and creativity are really the only sources of investment. Facebook allows Coolhaus to create even more excitement leveraging her architecture side of the business. With Facebook, fans and customers take pictures of themselves standing next to the stylish ice cream truck and even pictures of the sandwiches. Those pictures usually end up on the Facebook page. Coolhaus has a little more than 2,000 fans on Facebook. Natasha’s success speaks to the rising trend of small business using Facebook for business.
Business has been growing at a healthy pace for Natasha and Coolhaus. She’s currently planning more trucks in areas like San Francisco, Texas and New York. And you’ll be seeing even more of her architecture designs blended into the business by using skyrise building designs into popsicles, for example.
Kudos to Coolhaus for finding success with their small business and social media strategy.
Related articles:
Social media helps some small businesses
