This Scoop Shop's Secret Sauce? Social Marketing

What's This?

By Lauren Drell2013-10-31 21:31:12 UTC

Doug Quint and his partner Bryan Petroff started Big Gay Ice Cream Truck back in the summer of 2009, when food trucks entered the zeitgeist. It was a standard soft serve truck, but it had flair — a rainbow logo, imaginative toppings, irreverent owners and a handy tool called Twitter. Quint tweeted the truck's location, as well as random musings about Golden Girls, and his sassy tweeting style quickly earned a legion of fans, from New York foodies and hot summer tourists to celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain and Oscar-winning actor Susan Sarandon. These fans come to the shop for sundaes, cones, floats and shakes, with names like Bea Arthur and Salty Pimp. They follow on Twitter and Facebook for Quint's hijinks and a love of the brand he's created.

Would Big Gay Ice Cream have become such a runaway success without social media? It's hard to say. But the numbers don't lie — their amusing updates across platforms have had an impact. To date, @BigGayIceCream has posted 31,000+ tweets and accrued 53,000+ followers. Its Facebook Page has more than 23,000 fans, and the newer Instagram account has more than 6,400+. Big Gay Ice Cream has claimed its Foursquare venues and left some tips, though the platform is low maintenance for Quint on a day-to-day basis. Despite its prominence in the food category, the Big Gay crew has placed less emphasis on Pinterest, though they boast a relatively active account. Big Gay Ice Cream focuses on the three platforms that help them show their personality, engage with fans and post food porn: Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. They fish where the fish are, and the beauty of social media is that it's free to do so.

The soft serve connoisseur's social presence helped the brand expand to two brick-and-mortar locations in New York (East Village and West Village), and Quint and Petroff have been busy with stints in Los Angeles and Cape Cod. Their outgoing personalities have earned them coveted spots in the New York food scene, as well as on food-focused television shows, like Unique Sweets . And it doesn't seem like they're slowing down anytime soon.

Check out the video above to hear how Doug and Bryan built their empire, and how they used social media to fuel that growth.

Homepage image: Flickr/wallyg

Topics: Big Gay Ice Cream, Business, Marketing, Small Business, social marketing, Social Media, Social Small Biz