Coupa Café Hosts Monthly Social Media Breakfast

Rise and shine. Mingle and tweet. That's how the day began for about 40 early birds who attended the Social Media Breakfast LA event held July 24 at .

The popular monthly speaker series, which starts at 7:30 a.m., featured Jaclyn Mullen, founder of Jaclyn Mullen Media. Mullen focused on how solopreneurs and small business owners can create buzz and build their businesses using social media like Twitter and Facebook.

“Sometimes it takes the digital connection to get people together even if they’re down the block from each other,” she said.

Mullen has summarized her personal business strategy with the catchy “3 Cs:” creating content, cultivating communication and connecting with people.

Calling herself “The Jaclyn of All Trades,” Mullen was tapped by public relations firm Krupa Consulting to help create a social media strategy for  to celebrate the restaurant’s 20th anniversary and introduce its line of signature sauces. In March she participated in a live Twitter chat sponsored by the ­Beverly Hills Conference and Visitors Bureau called “Serving Up Spring,” during which representatives from local hotels and restaurants tweeted about plans for the upcoming tourist season.

The typical agenda of Social Media Breakfast LA includes networking over Coupa Café’s light Venezuelan fare before everyone settles into their seats for a quick round of introductions. Attendees range from interns to executives in the fields of entertainment, childcare, health and beauty, theater and more.

Jessica Springer and Justin Williams are co-founders of the Los Angeles chapter of the national Social Media Breakfast series. Williams selected Coupa Café for meetings due to its central location and the graciousness of owner Camelia Coupal.

Williams said that as a UCLA student, he would visit the North Canon Drive eatery to dine and study. He now runs his own social media and events firm, SketchbookLA. Springer is a senior publicist at Allied-THA.

Though in some circles it may be impolite to tweet while someone is speaking, Williams encouraged the social crowd to tweet during breakfast with the hashtag #smbla as a way to share information and promote the event.

Seth Apper, chief executive concierge of the year-old luxury and business travel site aXcess Travel, attended this month’s breakfast. Working out of nearby Century City, Apper has many clients in Beverly Hills. He said he uses social media in the travel industry, whether it’s to re-tweet special deals to clients or “check-in” with social media so his contacts know what hotels, restaurants and venues he visits.

Social Media Breakfast LA returns to Coupa Café on Aug. 24. The featured speaker will be Beverly Macy of Gravity Summit, a leading social media consultant. Tickets cost $15. For information about tickets, follow Social Media Breakfast LA on Twitter and Facebook.

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