Hi Kristin. You are working for Mission Bicycle Company. Can you tell us a little bit about Mission Bicycle and what your role is in the company?

Mission Bicycle is a custom bicycle shop located in San Francisco, CA. We custom build one at a time single and internally geared bicycles designed for city riding. My role and focus is based heavily on photography, branding, and social media.

Earlier this year, you raised over $66K for Sutro, a new bicycle designed specifically for city riding on Kickstarter. Why Kickstarter and how did it go?

Kickstarter made sense. Independently we were able to get the Sutro through the conceptual and developmental phases — but needed an extra push to get the design into the actual production phase. Within 72 hours of launching the project, we had reached our funding. The response was overwhelming, but it validated that our thinking was relevant to city cycling.

You use heavily social media services as marketing channels, e.g. Vimeo, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr etc. How does social media fit into your marketing strategy?

Our branding is considerably understated. Every bicycle we build is custom built one by one and rides into the world unbranded. We have a heavy reliance on photography and other visual elements to compensate for the decision not to brand.

We have a signature shot; a beautiful Mission Bicycle photographed straight against a colorful San Francisco street wall. Visually it communicates our story, custom bicycles designed for city riding. We can tell that story again and again by publishing our visual content on various social media platforms.

Mission Bicycles Instagram account shows lots of great bike photos. Why do you choose Instagram as a display for your bikes?

Instagram is a great platform. The mobility of bicycles and mobile photography — together they just make sense.

Who is taking the pictures and what are you trying to capture?

I take 50% of the photographs and Kai takes the other 50% of the photographs. We are a team of two, we work well together. Every shoot is different but we try to capture interesting angles, viewpoints, details, etc. More or less it is about capturing bicycle porn.

Lastly what is your favorite bike from Mission Bicycle? Do you happen to have an Instagram picture of it…?

My favorite Mission Bicycle endlessly changes. I have bicycle lust — not loyal in anyway — but always inspired.