Who’s Winning the War on Food Truck Social

Big Gay Ice Cream Twitter Account Stats June 2013

This past week The Daily Meal announced their picks for this year’s 101 Best Food Trucks in America. Personally, I’ve been a bit bias on a few industries that are still not always up to speed on the whole social media and technology thing, (Healthcare/Fitness, TV/Film, Hospitality and Travel, and Food/Restaurants industries.) So I thought it would be fun to check out a few of these food truck’s Twitter personalities.

Let’s take a look at 5 food truck’s from NYC that made the list and how they’re using Twitter.

1.) Big Gay Ice Cream Truck

Big Gay Ice Cream Twitter Account Stats June 2013

They’re simply just amazing at social. They have the most followers on my small list of 5, and here’s why…

They have great Twitter conversations and responses:

Do you like us? Big Gay Ice Cream Tweet Response

They just do want they want and help out friends:
Big Gay Ice Cream Tweet

No social media rules. They speak their minds, with whatever comes to mind… It makes it personal, not just a brand:
Big Gay Ice Cream Tweet

Recently, I went to the East Village store a few weeks ago since they sadly don’t have the truck in NY anymore. Which isn’t really a terrible loss the tourist still rack up the line whether it was for a truck or shop. Point being is they now have drag queens that help make this terrible waiting thing both bearable and entertaining. They also do a fantastic job Tweeting about this experience while still making it relevant to what’s going on in the world. For example, this Tweet the day of the Tony Awards:

Big Gay Ice Cream Tweet Tony Award Drag Queen

2. The Cinnamon Snail

The Cinnamon Snail Twitter Account

Who doesn’t love to be updated on truck locations. They just seem to be a couple of streets off every day. That’s NY parking for you.

Screen Shot 2013-06-19 at 2.27.34 PM

I don’t know who does their photography but it’s gorgeous. And yes, they also have a beautiful Instagram account.

Screen Shot 2013-06-19 at 2.29.35 PM Screen Shot 2013-06-19 at 2.31.58 PM

Like: How they post weekly specials. Dislike: The mass social channel promotion. I don’t like to double-click.

The Cinnamon Snail Twitter Posts

3. Wafels & Dinges

wafles and dinges truck twitter account

They win just for coming out to Queens on weekends. Although I’m having a love/hate relationship right now with this question promotion (below). I get it. Engage with fans and offer freebies, I guess I’m just not loving the questions. Personally, I wouldn’t share a picture of my dad to a food truck. Plus I responded to one of these and no free dinges yet, what gives?

wafles and dinges truck twitter account  wafles and dinges truck twitter account wafles and dinges truck twitter account

Constant updates=Love! This truck is everywhere and at all the best tourist locations.

wafles and dinges truck twitter account

4.Schnitzel & Things

Schnitzel & Things Food Truck Twitter

Pre-order your food. If you’ve every experienced NYC lunch rush you understand how genius this is.

Schnitzel & Things Food Truck Twitter

Womp, womp. Same basic formatting for tweets. We get it, it’s lunchtime. We thought we’d attempt a drunk Schnitzel & Things food truck run on 52nd btw 6th/7th at 2am. That’s actually not a bad food truck idea.

Schnitzel & Things Food Truck Twitter

5. Red Hook Lobster Pound

Red Hook Lobster Truck Twitter

I wanted to save the glory child, #1 food truck in America for last. Because they were that terrible.

I don’t understand most of these references. It’s not really explained and they keep mentioning Derecho like we all of a suddenly get it.

Red Hook Lobster Truck Twitter Red Hook Lobster Truck Twitter

I’m a grammar snob. There was just too many of these mistakes: ITs, 2day, be4. It’s making me cringe. AND TOO MANY ALL CAPS AND OVERUSE OF THE WORD LOBSTAH.

Red Hook Lobster Truck Twitter Red Hook Lobster Truck Twitter Red Hook Lobster Truck Twitter

So what have I learned?

If you have a great product I guess you don’t need to be good at social media. That’s where word of mouth marketing really helps. But, it doesn’t hurt to be relatable and fun with your fans. It only takes word of mouth marketing that much higher. Additionally, it doesn’t have to be all about where the truck is, it helps of course, but it should also be about your product and personality. Each food truck has its niche or else you’d never make it on that list or in NY, so emphasize what you’re made of. Trust me, we’ve got plenty of those doughnut and halal trucks.

10 Places from My Childhood I’ll Never Be Able to Visit Again

Virgin MegaStore NYC Times Store

Attempt at trying a Buzzfeed-y type post…For some of these places, only the South Florida 90’s kid generation will know these places best.

1.) 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea – The Ride at Walt Disney World

Best

20,000 Leagues under the sea - the ride

Ride

20,000 Leagues under the sea - the ride

Ever

20,000 Leagues under the sea - the ride

2.) Funscape

Short lived but so magical. Funscape was located on Cypress Creek road right next to Regal Cinemas. It was like an indoor mall with 2 levels of arcade games, food, golf, bumper cars, and my personal favorite 3-D mini movie rides.

3.) Blockbuster Golf & Games

I had either my 10th or 11th birthday here. It was awesome.

Blockbuster golf and games

4.) Discovery Zone

I miss you so much. We’ll always have that slide. RIP: 1990-1999

Discovery Zone Discovery Zone Cubies  Discovery Zone Slide

5.) Mars Music

Music store in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 1999-2002. I took my guitar and singing lessons here. 😦

Mars Music Store

6.) Tower Records

Music chain based out of California from 1960-2006. Had to visit there when I went on vacation to LA, long live music stores.

Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.

7.) Virgin MegaStore

At its peak, there were 23 Megastores in the US. My 2 favorites were the one in Orlando, FL which was the first I had ever been to, last time I was there it was a Lady Diana exhibit and it’s flagship store in Times Square which closed in 2009 and is now occupied by Forever 21.

Virgin MegaStore Orlando FL Virgin MegaStore NYC Times Store

8.) Peaches Records & Tapes:

I fondly remember the Boca Raton, FL location, and bought my first tape here, I’m pretty sure it was Hootie and the Blowfish. There’s still one location of this former chain still around in New Orleans, LA.

Peaches Records and Tapes

9.) Wally World

The only hotel to stay at when you were a kid headed to Disney World. Indoor pool, character dinners, arts and crafts, games, kangaroos, heaven.

Wally World Hotel Orlando

10.) The Factory

I went to so many concerts here in high school. It was probably the best time in my life. It was also next to a porn store, my dad loved dropping me and all my friends off here.

Side note: I also took these photos from their Myspace page. I’m getting old.

The Factory Music Venue Fort Lauderdale

Make Me Laugh! How to Stand Out on Vine

KC James InchWorm Vine

♫ Might as well face it, I’m addicted to Vine. ♫

Truth is this obsession has only been going on for about 2 months now. When I wanted to start my own “30 Day Vine Challenge”. I wanted to challenge myself to start taking a video a day of NYC life, then gradually became obsessed with the Vine community and all the Vine ‘personalities’. At first I wanted to make this into a ‘Top Video Personalities/Comedians to Watch” list, which it is. But the more I did my research the more I noticed how the top Viners each really have their own niche.

Let’s start with some videos.

Note: Best way to view these is by turning on/off the sound to each Vine one at a time. 

KC James

Had to put KC at the top of my list because he’s a personal favorite. He’s hilarious and always changing his Vines up where most others on this list will stick to only one of two Vine themes they’re known for, but not KC. He has a number of “Vine Series” including:
How to Recover After an Embarrassing Slip
https://twitter.com/iamkcjames/status/335109992803868672
“Magic Vines” – Which are stop-motion Vines that create interesting concepts (flying, disappearing, etc.)

https://twitter.com/iamkcjames/status/336206197675937793
How To’s:

https://twitter.com/iamkcjames/status/334824925925892096

https://twitter.com/iamkcjames/status/330824052136636416

https://twitter.com/iamkcjames/status/327968498267602944

Series: How To Be An Orange Country Mom

https://twitter.com/iamkcjames/status/328669909364113410
Series: How To Concern People In The Bathroom:

https://twitter.com/iamkcjames/status/327207341894291457
Series: How To Spot An InchWorm At (Wal-Mart/Target)

https://twitter.com/iamkcjames/status/327523689518215168
And last but not least, his amazing basketball shots:

https://twitter.com/iamkcjames/status/322200473908170752

DirtyCurt

Best known for Huckle Bee Bob (He’s even brought this costume to Europe) and pretty much torturing is puppy with cat noises and dressing him up as a triceratops.

Nick Mastodon

Best know for his music/movie/commercial mashups:

Woodsie

Best know for demon baby and my personal favorites are when he spends time at home playing with his daughter’s toys:

Nick Confalone

Best known for Vine’s of his ridiculously cute baby:

https://twitter.com/nickconfalone/status/323599453472841728

https://twitter.com/nickconfalone/status/330494378571358208

Rudy Mancuso

Rudy hasn’t posted too many of his Vine’s on Twitter. And Vine hasn’t quite figured out an easier way to share Vine’s other than your own but I did manage to find a “Best of Rudy on YouTube” — That’s right, someone other than Rudy has too much time on their hands.

He’s best known for his characters Isaac and Alberto, Isaac as Siri, chair spinning, mi madre, foreign parents (aka making his mom say really long sentences in English), and Lion King in random places. These all make sense when you follow his Vine’s as religiously as I do.


Here’s two more of my personal favorites:

https://twitter.com/rudymancuso/status/340970489444974592

WhoisMaxwell

Max is probably best known for his creepy mustache, yelling, and how to videos. Here’s a few of my favorites:

https://twitter.com/whoismaxwell/status/339487223265239040

https://twitter.com/whoismaxwell/status/327261544780021760

https://twitter.com/whoismaxwell/status/316291703675949061

https://twitter.com/whoismaxwell/status/315962299653435392

Takeaways:

The key to standing out on Vine? These Viner’s create content that is unique, interesting, and funny, while pushing their ideas to the next level. All these Viners are known for their own unique themes, series, and ideas. This translates to a community of Viners. Remake Vines and collaboration between the rest of the Vine community start to begin.

I’m always so surprised when I see that most of these great Viners are from Cali, they all know each other and show up in each others Vines. And if they’re not from the same state they do collaborations or remakes of each others work. It’s amazing when it unfolds.

You can follow all these great talents by looking up their names on the Vine App — as well as myself, Nicole Monahan (shameless plug!) I mostly Vine NYC life, office puppies, events, and subways musicians. 🙂