The 109

Social media has a growing effect on Fort Worth ice cream stores

By William Baird

Published Feb 18, 2018

Old school treats – gelato and ice cream – are getting a boost from 21st century communications. Stores such as Amorino, a shop on Monahans Avenue known for its flower-shaped gelato, and Melt Ice Creams, a local ice cream shop on Magnolia Avenue, now use social media to show off their products and connect with customers. “[Amorino] was born in a time when social media wasn’t there,” said German Rodriguez, co-owner of Amorino in Fort Worth. He said customers now come in, buy their “flower” and post it to social media. Each site offers businesses a new community to connect with. “I think that also applies to who is using what platform so you have a lot of people who go to Facebook or Twitter for information,” said Mary Beavers, manager of Melt Ice Creams. Some stores do not even need to promote themselves. Melt is famous for its yellow brick wall where customers like to pose for pictures with their ice cream.

Photo credited to: @heykristenclarke on Instragram

Social media also enables businesses to target communities. “Suddenly they can reach millions of people and they can target them based on their likes and interests – consumers tell us this for each like, retweet, and share,” said Stacy Grau, a marketing professor at TCU. “It is a win overall for many brands.” Some business social media accounts show their content to thousands of people. “We had three or four foodies from Instagram coming, and as I met them and was doing interviews with them, I learned that some of these guys had 20,000 to 40,000 followers,” said Rodriguez. Even though customers come to the store because of social media, both places agree that they stay for the quality product.