Social media pay off

New Dream Catering, Savannah Highway, Charleston, S.C.

Social media for business purposes can annoy the heck out of me or it can pay off. In my opinion, it pays off if it give the impression that there is a real person behind it who isn't just doing it because they have been told "every small business needs to be using social media."

Eric Gaffin had "friended" me on Facebook and posted comments about what he was doing and cooking. I go out to dinner with a group of old friends every month or so and he said he was willing to cook for groups of six in his kitchen if he wasn't busy catering an event.

So, we did it! For $35 he sent us a menu to pick from, told us we could bring a bottle (or two) of wine and he cooked us up a feast. By the time we got to the potato and pancetta encrusted grouper with wild mushroom risotto and roasted vegetable stack we weren't sure we would be able to manage our molten double chocolate cake. Lordy.

Not only did we have a great evening in a chef's kitchen but I booked him to cater my annual volunteer recognition luncheon in April. Not bad for a Facebook "friend" and it's all because he wasn't pushing advertising at us, but talking about what he does best - being a chef and posting glorious pictures of his dishes.

Thanks for a fun evening, Eric and Laurie! You took good care of us.