Bakers Delight, one of the country’s most successful bakery franchises, recently passed 100,000 ‘Likes’ on Facebook, joining the ranks of Vegemite and Telstra.

Bakers Delight corporate communications specialist Orry Lack said social media has been key to the franchise growing its profile among a younger demographic.

“Social media initially represented a big challenge for us, as it does for every business crossing into a new frontier,” Mr Lack said.

“But once Bakers Delight was established on Facebook, the site grew organically and we started to see a lot of support out in the community.”

Bakers Delight is currently working to strengthen its social media presence further with profiles on Twitter and Pinterest, and by developing long-term relationships with bloggers.

“The new platforms give customers a chance to interact with Bakers Delight directly, which significantly increases brand awareness and translates into sales,” Mr Lack said.

“Through campaigns like our Pizza Base competition, where customers were encouraged to upload a picture of their own pizza masterpiece with a peer voting mechanism, we’ve managed to tap into those word-of-mouth conversations that are traditionally very tough, increase our following online and promote engagement and involvement.”