Kate Carrara of Buttercream Philadelphia knew a valuable lesson before she took on the identity of “Cupcake Lady:” generating buzz keeps a business alive.

Of course it helped that she was beginning with a buzz-worthy business plan. A former attorney driving a cupcake truck around the city to sell cupcakes makes for better headlines than the typical freelance job turned start-up business.

The weird-news angle helped Carrara get outside press. Most of the local television stations have done a soft-news feature, following the infamous truck around the city with their video cameras. She’s been featured in local magazines and newspapers. Food blogs have been raving.

The outside publicity helps, but Carrara is noteworthy in the news she has generated for her own business. Before she procured the truck, she was just a lawyer who liked cupcakes a lot, bouncing ideas off of Philly Blog.

“I actually said I had a cupcake truck before I had one,” she admits on Buttercream Philadelphia’s webpage. Getting positive feedback on Philly Blog helped her gain the courage to quit her day job and find the perfect mail truck with a window to sell her wares from.

Although the business has launched, Carrara is far from done with building buzz. She Tweets regularly to update customers and fans on her status and location. Her fun, colorful website tells personal anecdotes.

The cupcake truck has had its share of business mishaps: from licensing issues in their parking locations to mechanical problems. Because of Carrara’s up-to-the-minute updates and human side of the business, the problems don’t turn customers away, but rather rally their support.

On October 15, a gas station attendant put regular gas into the truck instead of diesel. As the truck was towed to a mechanic, several additional pieces were broken. Carrara continued tweeting throughout the problems to update her customers on when cupcakes would be available again. Followers were able to track her reactions from hopeful (“We will survive, if I have to bike cupcakes around the city!”) to nervous (“Owning your own business = scary nights of no sleep.”).

During the whole ordeal, followers were tweeting their support, and re-tweeting her celebratory October 25 announcement: “It's fixed, full stops this week!”

In addition to updating fans on the mechanics of her business, Carrara uses Twitter to update fans on her locations, flavors in the works, and on special deals. She has recently unleashed a new plan to lure customers out even when there’s inclement weather; $1 cupcakes if it’s raining outside.

While there are few things that can get customers as excited as cupcakes, all small business owners can take a pointer from Carrara’s active social media participation. She built enough initial hype to generate buzz and gather a large number of followers. With her regular updates, she has customers emotionally invested in the inner workings of her business and showing up to physical locations around the city.

Good things must come in small packages; this buzz-worthy business is run through the power of 140-character updates and miniature cakes.