Category: Success Stories

Success Stories: 9 Questions with Alexis Lamster of Postling

success-stories-postlingPostling is a tool small businesses can use to market, listen, and respond to their customers using social media. It launched on August 1, 2009 and recently broke 10,000 users.  I talked with Alexis Lamster, Vice President of Customers, about what Postling has accomplished, what it hopes to accomplish, and why small businesses are their main target customer.

1.) Who is your target customer?

We strictly target small businesses. We are extremely passionate about small business and we really feel we are the only ones with this kind of platform who is targeting the smaller companies.  We have a few customers who aren’t small businesses, but we try to be very, very small business focused.…

Success Stories: Eight Questions with Rachel Epperson, Owner of The Needle Shop

In this installment of Success Stories I talked with Rachel Epperson, owner of The Needle Shop located in the Chicago neighborhood of Bucktown.  Rachel uses Facebook, Yelp, and Flickr to promote her business.  She is also expanding into a blog later this month.  Read below to find out how she uses social media to grow her DIY sewing school and fabric store.

1.) Why did you first start utilizing social media for your business? How did your store change from before Facebook, Yelp, Flickr etc. to after you started using them?

I was on Facebook like everyone else and it came up a lot in class.  …

Success Stories: Eight Questions With Mari Luangrath, Owner Of Foiled Cupcakes

In this installment of Success Stories, I interviewed Mari Luangrath, owner of Foiled Cupcakes, about her social media usage.  Foiled Cupcakes sells cupcakes exclusively through their website and delivers them all throughout the Chicago area.  Mari is a champion of Twitter and Facebook and estimates 90% of her business comes from social media.

1.)  How did you begin using social media?

I started using Facebook a few years ago, just for personal use. And I hopped onto Twitter totally by accident. Over dinner, a friend said, “Hey, Twitter might be really good for you to launch your new business. Have you heard of it?”…

Success Stories: Six Questions with Stephanie Sack, Owner of Vive La Femme

My second Success Stories interview is with Stephanie Sack, owner of Vive La Femme, a clothing store in Chicago which offers the latest looks and trends for Chicago’s stylish women of size.  Stephanie uses a blog and Facebook to promote her store.  Read below to find out how.

1.)  Why did you first start utilizing a blog for your business?  How did your store change from before the blog to after the blog started?

The blog was born after I pared down the entire marketing concept for the shop.  I used to have a very elaborate wesbite, really jazzy and snazzy, but it was a pain to keep up. …

Success Stories: Nine Questions With Michael Farah, Owner Of Berry Chill Yogurt

Berry-Chill-LogoWelcome to the first post of a new series: Success Stories. I am interviewing businesses that are using social media as all or part of their marketing plan.  My first interview is with Michael Farah, owner of Berry Chill, an all-natural yogurt store with several Chicago locations.  Berry Chill has a constant social media presence, and exclusively uses social media to market themselves.  Just how does Farah use social media for his business?  Read below to find out.

1.)  How did you begin using social media?

I started out in the social media world through personal use and decided to start using it for my business too. …