Mackenzie Dimatteo: Baker, Small Business Owner and TikTok Star
Published on April 29, 2023, at 9:19 a.m.
by Jenna Richardson.
Mackenzie Dimatteo is truly a one-woman show. On the “Meet the Team” page on Mack’s Macs’ website lists Dimatteo as the social media coordinator of the Florida bakery. She’s also listed as the cake designer, baker and owner.
Dimatteo coordinates, makes, packages and delivers all her orders by herself and from her home. Additionally, she runs her website and multiple social media accounts, including a TikTok with 218,300 followers and 7.9 million likes.
Mack’s Macs was founded in 2020, during the pandemic lockdown. Out of a job and with nothing to do, Dimatteo turned to baking for fun. She gave most of her baked goods away to friends, family and former co-workers, who in turn began buying her baking supplies and asking her to make them more.
“Then one day I posted on Facebook that I was going to do a big baking night, and if people wanted something to let me know,” Dimatteo explained. “It sold out in five minutes, and I’ve been baking ever since!”
Dimatteo and her brother, Connor Dimatteo, were living together when she decided to start her business.
“Well, it was really annoying in the mornings when she would be banging pots on the counter and I couldn’t sleep,” Connor Dimatteo joked. “But it was great to be there in the very early days and see her learn lessons and change the ways she was doing certain things.”
Like most upstart businesses, Mackenzie Dimatteo didn’t make any money in the first year of operations. However, she persisted, and her business began to grow more and more. During this time, she created business accounts on Instagram and Facebook, and began to see her business grow there as well. Then, in October 2022, she created her TikTok account on a whim.
“There was definitely a learning curve when I started to post on TikTok,” Dimatteo said. “I thought that I could take my Instagram Reels and reuse them, but that proved to not work. They’re so vastly different, and the reasons that people use the apps are different.”
Social media has a wide variety of users who all use different platforms for different reasons. Even for public relations practitioners and social media managers, it can be a challenge to figure out how to reach target audiences and takes hours of planning and strategy. For small businesses who do their own PR, this can be even more difficult.
Dimatteo began to adjust her content on TikTok by using trending sounds, showing herself on camera more, and posting more candid videos, like her “Day in the Life” series. Once she found out what attracted more views, Dimatteo was able to better tailor her videos to her audiences’ interests. From there, her TikTok page began to gain more likes and followers.
“I think my videos do well because they really shine a different light on baking,” Dimatteo said. “I try really hard to not sugarcoat it. I answer questions as often as I can and give advice on what I’m doing daily to help other people be more productive in their own baking.”
However, Dimatteo also has many nonbakers who love her videos as well. On one of her videos, a user commented that Dimatteo’s “happiness is contagious,” while another said that her account was their “safe space.” Her brother calls Dimatteo’s TikTok followers the “Mack-olytes” and has seen firsthand how much they love Dimatteo and her content.
“She’s getting recognized in public now,” Connor Dimatteo said. “It’s the weirdest thing ever because I know her as my lame sister who eats Cheetos with chopsticks, so it’s funny that people get so starstruck in front of her.”
As for Mack’s Macs, TikTok has helped it grow in subtle ways. While most of Dimatteo’s followers aren’t local, her TikTok followers have ordered from Mack’s Macs when visiting Florida. Others have told Dimatteo if she opens a physical store, they would travel to visit it and buy her products.
“It’s cool because my page is clearly reaching different people, and people who are coming here are ordering from me,” Dimatteo said. “I think in the long run, once I open a bakery, it will do even more.”
For other small businesses who are considering social media, Dimatteo has this advice: “Just do it. I wanted to post on TikTok when I first started my business and I didn’t, and I’m kicking myself for it because I could have been even further along than I am. If there’s something you’re wanting to do or to document, it’s almost wrong not to do it.”
Her advice for businesses currently on social media is to use their platforms to encourage relationships, not just sales. Though most businesses’ goal is to promote and sell products, that’s usually not what social media users want to see.
“I’m not directly selling anything on my TikTok, which is another reason why I feel like my page does really well,” Dimatteo said. “I’m not advertising and shoving it down people’s throat; I’m just trying to have fun.”
To do this, Dimatteo says she always stops and considers what people want to see.
“I try to make things that you would stop to watch while you’re scrolling,” Dimatteo said. “I’ll edit a video, and then I’ll exit my app and won’t watch it for 30 minutes. Then I go back in to watch it, and if it’s something I wouldn’t scroll past halfway through, I’ll post it.”
As for Mack’s Macs, Dimatteo dreams of a future with multiple locations, a staff to help her manage baking and social media, and an even bigger community on TikTok.
“The playful spirit that started the business has definitely transcended further into TikTok and into the world,” Connor Dimatteo said. “I’m excited to see where she goes from here.”
Social media is quickly becoming one of the most powerful tools a business can use to promote its products. However, it can also be notoriously difficult to use effectively. For business owners and PR practitioners, Dimatteo’s story is a great example of how adaptability, good nature and a determined spirit are the perfect ingredients for a successful social media presence.
