On Sunday 14.08.2011 I sent a text for #SBS (Small Business Sunday) by Theo Paphitis as I’d done a couple of times before and settled down to watch TV with the family.
Suddenly my phone started going crazy with message after message on Twitter. When I checked it, I couldn’t believe my eyes – we were #SBS Winners and all the messages coming through were new followers and messages of congratulation from fellow #SBS Winners and other well-wishers on Twitter. Theo had re-tweeted my message to 158,000 followers! Incredible... My phone carried on beeping all evening and in the end I had to put it on silent so that we could get some sleep! Being very new to Twitter at the time, I still didn’t really realise what this meant for us.
Over the following week we had an increase of more than 250 new followers and it’s been a real in-sight into how to use Twitter and the power it has.
Winning #SBS has introduced us to at least 20 new website customers who didn’t know http://www.itsnutfree.com/ existed. We’ve also had 5 enquiries from larger commercial companies which could result in some larger orders in the near future. Our website hits have gone through the roof to such a degree that our web company rang to find out what we’d been up to!
Having spoken to ShellyBobbins, I got to work and issued a press release which we sent to key customers as well as newspapers and the thousands of people on our database who receive our regular newsletters. On Shelly’s advice we had an #SBS Winners badge designed and placed on the front page in pride of place on our website (http://www.itsnutfree.com/).
To celebrate winning, we launched our celebratory #SBS Chocolate Hamper and that’s been really popular on our website (http://www.itsnutfree.com/sbs-chocolate-hamper). We sent one to Theo to say thank you and his office say he’s delighted!
Our press release was printed in newspapers throughout Yorkshire who were delighted to see a local company win something on Twitter like this.
I started It’s Nut Free ten years ago as a result of my eldest daughter’s nut allergy and the need for safe nut-free products that are delicious for everyone. We’ve had a website from the beginning but have only recently started a Facebook page and a Twitter Account. When I sent that tweet last Sunday, I had no idea of the power of Twitter or the amount of interest winning #SBS would create. It got our company name in front of hundreds of thousands of people – something that would have taken us much longer to do.
I would recommend any small business enters #SBS on Sundays between 5.00 – 7.30pm. The #SBS Winners Club is a fantastic club to be in and I’m over the moon that we entered, we won and we got such good advice from Shelly 
- thank you to everyone who follows us, all those lovely people who sent us messages, Theo Paphitis for taking the time to support Small Business like this – and Shelly for teaching me how to make the most of this. We’re very proud of our #SBS win!
It was such a pleasure to help you I loved every minute, thank you for your kind words & telling us all about your amazing #SBS week !!! Im sure everyone will enter now after reading this !!
Welcome to the Small Business Club x
Love Shellybobbins
Amazing what an impact it has made. What great advice from Shelly too!
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