HI Chef Ricky @ccateringc  

You might need a Social Media Consultant to go over all that you are doing and analyze your ROI – unless of course you know how to do this yourself.  

I looked at your FB (liked) and your twitter account. You don’t seem to be doing badly at all, but of course if this is not gaining you customers (and you apparently know it is not) you might try more interaction with people. 

At Twitter (I followed you) I RT’d a couple of your tweets and added you to the Buddy Bulletin #recipe newspaper edition list  (http://paper.li/SuperEB/1324410111) so your tweets will be aggregated – this will put your tweets out there a little further for you.

I am not an SM expert per se, but I work SM campaigns for several clients. Before I do that though I have to familiarize myself with the industry in question if it is a new avenue for me.  I know at twitter, interaction is not always easy to come by but since I cover such a wide variety of topics with my personal account I do get a lot of interaction going (for myself). You have a lot more followers at twitter than I do so your interaction there must be pretty good OR you’ve had your account for a very very long time.

You do seem to have all the major SM sites up and running (according to your blog) although I did get an error message for some but then the accounts did come up. It looks as though you have your ducks in a row as far as having all the accounts you should have; all the majors and then some.

Do you do guest blog spots?  Sometimes it pays to spread yourself around to other bloggers (within your genre) who usually welcome a breath of fresh air to their blogs. Also, you might try having a few folks guest blog at your site.  Couldn’t hurt – a little collaboration (not with your competitors tho’) with catering companies or restaurant chefs from other areas can be a blessing at times.

Have you done any infographics?  I’d think that an infographic for specific clients say – like a wedding reception (online) would be a boost for those particular clients. An infographic for each client at your blog might be a visual item to toot your own horn and bring a little pride (and incoming links) for (from) your clientele. Use lots of great photo clips with the major parties (people who hired you) to boost their visibility. You’d have to ask permission OR make that a part of your contract; that you have the right to make an infographic after the event, to cover the event.

There are lots of smart SM folks here – perhaps some of them will jump in soon!

I’ll leave the break down of your social media to the experts and answer your first question.

what is the difference between a forum and a blog?

A forum provides a way for a membership of users to post questions, answers or comments on topics that are usually broken down by the website owner. The Social Media Examinar clubs is an example of this. WordPress support is another great example of a forum.

Blogs contain entries that are usually called posts or articles. They are written by “authors” usually the website owner, or a guest blogger. Thy contain information that will hopefully educate, entertain and empower the reader. Social Media Examinar is an example of this.

Let me know if you have any questions.
Cheers!
Jules

@ccateringc they may have similarities and both have the ability to “comment,” but they serve two very different purposes.

@ccateringc 

With a blog you are directing the conversation. You write articles to educate, entertain, empower. Your goal is to attract an audience to your personal niche. You include and encourage newsletter sign up so you can direct market to your niche.

A forum is a place where a community can communicate and ask questions of each other. Like what we are doing now on the SME clubs.  

I checked out your blog. It’s very nice. In it you are communicating to your readership about cooking tips and other info (I’m sure it’s more than that, just trying to give basic analogy) You give value to your readers by sharing information in an entertaining way that is of value to them. They can interact with you and others by commenting on articles.

If you created a forum for your readership they would interact with each other. They would give tips to each other and post questions for another community member to answer. As a moderator you would probably jump in or instigate as you had time for. You may even hire a community manager to take care of this for you. 

Now, here is a VERY important distinction; people SHARE articles that are interesting to them or that they think there own readership or friends would be interested in. This increases YOUR reach, and hopefully your readership, AND hopefully your email list. I can’t say that I’ve ever shared a forum post on social media, can you?

I’m sure I’ve missed a few other distinctions, but this should be enough for you to value the differences.

Cheers!
Jules
PS thanks for the follow on twitter, and like on FB. I returned the favor

Nice Jules @juleswebb – I got to wagging my tongue about SM, etc and forgot this question! You answered it nicely and clearly.  
Just as a summary here is more - Chef Ricky – It all boils down to this:

A blog is where one person writes and other people are allowed to leave comments.
Forums are where lots of people can talk and submit different topics/questions to a presumably larger audience for discussion or answers.
Here are three articles that might help you too:
From 2008 this one shows that people have needed this distinction made more clearly than they have been able to understand —Understanding the difference between Forums, Blogs, and Social Networks

What is the difference between a blog and a forum?

Difference Between Forum and Blog

Eileen

@ccateringc

Do you think its too much to have a blog and a forum?

This is a big question and it involves more than my skillset to answer. Hopefully other will speak up.  I’m a developer and I endeavor to know how things work and how to implement them. Anything to do with “should you” and “marketing” is outside my comfort zone. 

What I can say as a general point.
No it is not too much to have a blog and a forum. Perfect example is Social Media Examiner. We are communicating on their forum and they also have a fantastic blog. 

How do I go about getting folks to communicate on it?
This is a great question I hope someone else answers it. It would be a great topic for a blog post— hint hint @mike-stelzner @kristi-hines