Second Star Pies
Second Star Pies' Instagram Account
Growing a customer base of pie lovers
In Spring of 2020, I took on the challenge of starting my own home baking business to gain more experience in social media marketing and also to express some creativity during quarantine. What started as delivering an occasional pie to friends grew into an underground Portland pie movement with tens of pies delivered to customers every Saturday!
I grew my customer base exponentially by communicating my authentic love of baking, sprinkles, and the pure joy of dancing in the kitchen!
Scheduling posts
By keeping a weekly routine of Pie Reveal Tuesday and Delivery Saturday, it became easy to update my customer base about any changes to this schedule.
Communicating joy
This project allowed me to experiment with different marketing techniques and also helped me to realize that marketing and copywriting is best when it's authentic. In this case, I wanted to capture the joy and light that baking brings into my world and how others can benefit from this sugary expression of love. If only all projects were this delicious!
Why is Second Star successful?
In less than a year, the Instagram account for Second Star Pies grew from zero to nearly 200 followers across Portland and surrounding cities. I believe this growth was the result of:
- changing to a business account on Instagram and benefiting from their marketing insights about which posts had the most engagement.
- being consistent with my posting schedule so that customers knew when to expect a post and when to check their instagram for new pies.
- replying to any comments, messages, and requests immediately.
- an increasing variety of posts. I grew to include not only photos, but stories, polls, and videos and also benefited from the use of apps that made design easy such as Word Swag and Canva.
- gaining experience with food photography. I learned from other Instagram accounts that I admired and played with lighting as well as placement, color, and composition.
- creating all organic content. Organic content is known to garner more attention and engagement so this was important to me.
Is this a professional project? Not really. But does it matter? YES!
I have shown that I am able to create successful B2C content and have seen an increase in customer base and sustained customer retention. I focus on my core mission for all posts, which is to share the happiness that baking brings to me with my customers in the hope that they can also experience some of that joy. It has worked! It also inspired me to delve further into the field of copywriting and interactive media. I've learned so much, and I'm eager to keep growing.
Testimonials
"I reached out to Eliza after a recommendation from a group I'm in that sang her praises, and, if anything, they were underselling her! Being able to have something delivered to me during the pandemic with all the precautions is amazing. Even if I don't order something that week, I love checking out Second Star Pie's Instagram to see all the delicious creations. I've had FOMO like 5 times!" - Amber K.
"Every bite was a complex heaven. So good!" - Andy M.
"Best thing EVER! My amazing friend bought the lemon bars for my birthday last weekend, and I'm still not over it!" - Ariel
"That sunshine pie is GBBO-worthy! SOOOOO GOOOOD!" - Monica F.
"The campfire pie is AMAZEBALLS! True meringue wizard!" - Hannah
