I was recently speaking with my colleague Melissa Gasnick Cloeter, founder of Own it Ventures, an organization the empowers women entrepreneurs...  Own it is having a all day conference on pitching the media, investors and something new this year, retail supermarket buyers. If you come by, say hi to me since I will be on the retail pitch panels and the retail pitch tank.

Creating Buzz with Twitter Hashtags

We were kicking around ideas that will create buzz during the conference from the attendees. I said many people live tweet at events posting a continuous stream of "whats up" for those who are not attending. We were thinking of #Iwouldbuythat to get attendees to Tweet about the products that were being pitched and peoples voting with their dollars so to speak.

The beauty of this is it is taking your audience and multiplying it out by all of their followers. This is easy to do and an example of how entrepreneurs can take advantage of the network effect of social media... for free! You do need to know how to use hashtags and understanding their value.

Hashtag Examples in the Food Business

So here is a good example of using hashtags and Twitter for raising awareness.

Dunkin' Donuts is celebrating St. Patrick's Day with a special Twitter program to help lucky fans win some green. Dunkin' Donuts' #GooDDLuck. Dunkin uses a variety of hashtags, this is but one example and maybe you should follow @dunkindonuts to get some ideas.

The DD Twitter Sweepstakes gives fans a chance to win a $77 mGift each day through Friday, March 15, @DunkinDonuts will ask a different "lucky" question each day, and fans can tweet their answer along with the official hashtag #GooDDLuck (see the official rules here: http://dun.kn/14NqqVd).

Using Twitter For Product Launches

This program supports the introduction of Dunkin' Donuts' new Irish Creme donut (a sugared raised shell with Irish Creme-flavored filling and finished with a sprinkle of powdered sugar) and a variety of Irish Creme beverages (Coffee, Latte and Frozen Coffee Coolatta®) available at participating Dunkin' Donuts restaurants nationwide for a limited time.