UPDATE: And the winner is… Kajsa!  Congratulations your name was selected, and you have won a 12 piece box of macarons. Thank you to everyone who commented. Stay tuned we have more comment posts with prizes coming up.

A life of pastries, truffles and macarons may sound like heaven to some, but to Thomas Haas it’s just another day at work. Haas is a fourth generation pastry chef who grew up in his family’s pastry shop in the Black Forest village of Aichhalden, Germany.  His great-grandfather opened the Café Conditorei Haas in 1918 and since then, successive generations have lovingly prepared the family’s legendary Black Forest cakes and other delicacies.

Haas, along with his wife Lisa, started their own small business Thomas Haas Fine Chocolates and Patisserie in the fall of 2000 in North Vancouver and has since expanded with a second shop on West Broadway in Vancouver.

Though no stranger to success (his shops produces hundreds of croissants daily), Haas began to see the importance of incorporating social media into his business strategy as the online chatter trickled into the stores. Customers and visitors to the store were sharing photos, comments and blog reviews on Twitter and Facebook without him knowing.

Though highly skilled in the art of chocolate and pastries, Haas knew little about social media, but knew he had to start using it.

He started his social media profiles – both Twitter and Facebook – about six months ago and since then has noticed a steady growth in followers. One of his baristas has even created “trademark” latte art so he can easily identify when someone has tweeted or posted a photo of his beverage online.

I spent some time chatting with Haas about how he has incorporated social media into his business strategy and why he thinks it is an essential part of the business:

What sort of apprehensions did you have about social media before using it?
I didn’t know much about social media. I thought Facebook and Twitter was mostly used for personal messaging – talking to friends and family, not so much for business purposes. It also seemed time consuming to me needing to post and update everyday – just another task which has to be integrated into the daily routine.

How are you currently using social media?
We use social media for any updates which we think our customers will find interesting. This includes monthly specials, weekly dessert specials, awards, sandwiches of the day, new products and creations, special store hours for holidays, and special events. We use Facebook for business related updates only – our customers love photos and we encourage them to share their own. With Twitter, we try to find a good balance between business related and personal content. I cycle a lot in my spare time and there is a great competitive racing community in Vancouver, so I interact with some of my cycling friends and bike companies on Twitter.

What do you like about using social media?
Once social media has been integrated into your daily routine, it is an easy way to interact with your customers. It is a quick tool for spreading the world – all you need is a computer or a smart phone. For small businesses with small marketing budgets, it is free marketing and a great customer relationship management tool.

What kind of changes have you noticed?
That’s a tough question. We are still in the beginning stages of using social media having only started it six months ago. We have definitely seen a steady growth in fans and followers and we hope to continue this trend.

Why is it important for small businesses to incorporate social media into your business strategy?
Small businesses usually have small marketing budgets and social media is a great and cost-efficient way to market the business and engage with your customers. It builds and maintains customer relationships, as well as help gain new customers by extending your reach beyond just your own personal network. Our customers who are mainly between the ages of 18 and 40, take it as a given that we use social media, so it has definitely become an essential part of our business.

Contest

Thomas has graciously donated a 12 piece box of French macarons to giveaway to one lucky Invoke reader. Haas recently catered Michael Buble’s wedding and provided macarons for the dessert buffet table — he likes to think that his tweet to Buble was the reason for it.

To enter, leave us a comment at the bottom of this post sharing your best social media tip for small businesses. One lucky winner will be drawn June 29.

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