A ‘Sweet’ New Approach to Social Media

Flappers, Hoovervilles, the New Deal, British Invasion, Nixon, “yuppies,” boy bands, and the Internet. Few people or places have been around to witness the changes, trends, and events of the past ninety years. But on the corner of 72^nd Road and Metropolitan Avenue, in Forest Hills, an ice cream shop’s workers have scooped cones and topped sundaes for nearly a century.

Eddie’s Sweet Shop, established in the early 1920s, truly enjoys longevity. Few small businesses exhibit such permanency without advertising, something Eddie’s avoided—at least until recently.

“We’ve been lucky,” Vito Citrano, owner of Eddie’s Sweet Shop, said. “I really have great customers.” Citrano, the proprietor of Eddie’s for the past nine years, only recalls business being poor when his father purchased the sweet shop in 1968. Vito’s father, Joe Citrano, hammered his days away in a shoe factory and worked at Eddie’s six nights a week. The son said about his father, “He eventually made the decision to leave the factory where he made money… to work in the store where he wasn’t making any money.”

Over the course of forty-five years of Citrano-family ownership, summer nights of lonely wooden bar stools turned into nights without room to stand. Thousands, possibly millions, of customers have enjoyed lip-smacking sundaes, shakes, and old-fashioned ice cream sodas, brimming with foam. Whether it’s the taste of the homemade products or admiration for the marble counter and decorative woodwork, even on cold winter nights, patrons pack the store.

Most businesses achieving this level of success advertise their products and services, but not Eddie’s Sweet Shop. Up until 2009, the Citranos, like their store, did things the old-fashioned way. “My father and I really have relied on word-of-mouth [for advertising],” Citrano said. Contrary to his traditional business tactics, four years ago, Citrano created a Facebook page for Eddie’s Sweet Shop. The page soared to nearly nine thousand “likes.”

Other frozen yogurt and ice cream shops have ventured into social media advertising, but none of them have experienced the same level of success as Eddie’s Sweet Shop. Twist It Top It, a Queens based frozen yogurt chain, has only four hundred likes on Facebook. The infamous ice cream franchise, Carvel, has thirty-five thousand likes on Facebook but has five hundred locations and sells products in over eight thousand stores. Eddie’s has just one location, and their products are exclusive. The sweet shop’s owner commented, “I don’t care about being compared to those guys. I hope they stay in business forever and make a ton of money. I mean that sincerely.”

The primary purpose of the Eddie’s Facebook page isn’t to promote the business, rather; it exists for loyal customers. “They know about specials before we even advertise them in the store,” Citrano said. When special summer flavors, peach and blueberry, first came in this past June, the Facebook fans were the first to know. They’ll also be the first to know about pumpkin ice cream pies this fall.

Delighted by the response to his business’ Facebook page, Citrano admits having nothing to do with it. “The Eddie’s fan page is run totally by my workers.” Citrano employs a small crew of no more than ten people, most of them teenagers.

Citrano allows his young workers to run with their social media ideas. About a year ago, the workers attempted to start an Instagram account for the sweet shop, but it didn’t generate as much interest as the Facebook page. “We tried to get it off-the-ground, especially since there is a running hash tag on Instagram for the store, but it never took off,” one worker said.

One of the most successful Eddie’s Facebook-related ideas came from the store manager, Sean Donovan. As a result of a conversation with Donovan, a customer, known as “Customer Dave,” agreed to collaborate a weekly ice cream suggestion for Facebook. “Customer Dave’s Pick of the Week” posts include a picture and caption of the loyal patron’s concoction.

“An average post, like ‘Pick of the Week,’ gets seen by at least 3,000 people within a day, sometimes hours,” Donovan exclaimed. Besides acting as store manager, the twenty-five year old serves as an Eddie’s Facebook page administrator. His duties include posting messages from the owner and staying on top of customer comments. Unlike most Facebook business pages, the Eddie’s page tries to “like” all customer comments, so people know their ideas are read and appreciated.

“The page is really a way I try to give back,” Citrano said. The owner doesn’t forget what makes it all possible even after years in the business. “I have great workers… People I served as kids are now coming in with their children. That’s loyalty.” He added, “The Facebook page is a small way I can try to give back to them… I love my customers.”