I am still getting my feet wet, so to speak, in social media marketing. I look at how big businesses do it, but realize that their apps, Facebook page functionalities, and army of Twitter users all require huge resources. Facebook may bring them tens of thousands of traffic, but the custom built app they created may have cost $25,000 or more — money that a home-based operation may not have.

That’s why I am doubly impressed when small or home-based businesses are able to successfully use these social media sites without investing huge amounts of money.

One such site is CurbsideCupcakes.com http://www.curbsidecupcakes.com , a Washington D.C. mobile vendor of gourmet cupcakes. In a pink mobile van, they don’t stay in one place and wait for customers to come. Instead, they go to a predetermined area (except for “wildcard” days where their location is a surprise), and use Twitter and Facebook to announce to their customers their location.

The success of CurbsideCupcakes.com starts with their insanely delicious cupcakes. A huge part, however, can be attributed to how they are able to use social media sites to make the shopping experience fun for their customers. The number of their followers in Twitter is really good (and they don’t have to follow anyone to be followed), and their Facebook page is very, very active. In both these mediums, engagement runs really high.

Read how CurbsideCupcakes.com effectively use social media to grow their home business