Social Networking
Social networking is a medium that allows interested parties to tell their stories about occasions that include jewelry. Hosted social applications are now being used to very effectively share real-life stories for commercial purposes. Social networking empowers people by providing a platform to enable them to share their own stories. This social capital holds high credibility with consumers.
We all like to read about love stories whether they be lighthearted and funny or deeply sentimental. What makes social networking so compelling is the fact that all of the content is authentic and user generated. Social networks provide narratives that celebrate some of life’s best occasions . . . and it is amazing how jewelry is included some of these.
Social networks are made up of groups of people who find connections to one another. Jewelry can be one of those connections where people have common interests and want to share some of their activities. Jewelers can take advantage of social networking by providing a networking site to allow customers to share the benefits they have derived through the ownership, gifting, self-gifting and wearing of jewelry. For example, Zale Corporation (lovestories.zales.com) and Gordon’s employ Bazaarvoice to host their own social commerce applications. Jewelry consumers and businesses can also use social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Myspace. Some social networks have found ethnic followings to cater to such as Ning which is preferred by Asian users.
Jewelers can create their own profile for their business and take advantage of lots of opportunities to advertise their company through a social network. Consumers are increasingly using social networks to find and share their experiences with companies like jewelers. Updates to a business site are automatically communicated to interested parties.
There are several luxury jewelry companies with social networking sites. Cartier is one example of a luxury jewelry company with a site on Myspace. Zale and Seiko can both be found on Facebook. To maintain that mystic of exclusivity some luxury providers have turned to private networks like ASmallWorld, which is by invitation only private online community. Besides creating pages on social networking sites, some jewelers also advertise on Google, Yahoo, and Kudzu.
Today there are so many new ways to market a company . . . and many jewelry companies are looking for merchandising managers to help promote the company. If your company is not using social networking or blogging or online advertising then merchandising managers should consider taking on these new forms of promotion.
What experiences can you share with us regarding social networking? If your company has used social networking, tell us about your experiences.
Au-Co Mai commented:
We have a staff writer of which one of her responsibilities is to
update and post content on social sites and networks. It's
important to not over invest in something that is new like social
marketing. We do have analytics that show which social sites
actually resulted in traffic or better yet a sales conversion, but
the evidence is not substantial enough to put her on it full time.
If you have staff member who enjoys writing have them post
consistently for a test period. Doesn't cost anything but a few
hours of time. It's not the traditional type of marketing or
advertising so don't get frustrated if you don't see results
immediately. Another benefit to posting in social networks is
search engine optimization. Ideas of things to post in these
networkds, articles written about your jewelry, fashion media
features, gorgeous hero shots of a piece of jewelry, online videos
of your product or events, promotions, contests, etc...
Tim Malone commented:
Thanks for your comments Annette. I agree that managers need to
keep track of the time they invest in their various activities . .
. and "new toys" like social networking can become a distraction. A
very popular form of marketing today is Word of Mouth Marketing. If
focuses on developing strategies to motivate customers to make
referals and has proven to be very effective. Consider how your
social networking can follow Word of Mouth marketing by creating
more referals for your company.
Annette commented:
Social networking definitely has a place however it can also be a
huge time drain. It is better to concentrate on just a couple of
networks and participate fully in all areas of the network than
join many and spread yourself too thin. Remember that other members
of the network don't want to see hardcore pushing of your product -
they are there to be social. Have photos of your page and then
encourage people to visit your page by participation in other
things. I have definitely had sales generated by my presence on
social networks, but you have to do it with the thought that it
'may' generate sales, rather than it 'will'. If you added up the
cost of the hours spent keeping a presence on a couple of social
networks, it may not turn out that favourable!
Annette commented:
Social networking definitely has a place however it can also be a
huge time drain. It is better to concentrate on just a couple of
networks and participate fully in all areas of the network than
join many and spread yourself too thin. Remember that other members
of the network don't want to see hardcore pushing of your product -
they are there to be social. Have photos of your page and then
encourage people to visit your page by participation in other
things. I have definitely had sales generated by my presence on
social networks, but you have to do it with the thought that it
'may' generate sales, rather than it 'will'. If you added up the
cost of the hours spent keeping a presence on a couple of social
networks, it may not turn out that favourable!
Tim Malone commented:
Thanks for your comment Sandra. Great examples. It might be
surprising to some marketers just how receptive audiences of social
networks have been toward commercial entities and their
accompanying messages. I would suggest that it all comes back to
having a relevant message to share with the right audience.
Sandra Cooke-Locken commented:
I have successfully used social marketing on my personal Facebook
profile. While I don't have my store's profile on Facebook (any
longer), I do have a photo album that I post all the pieces of
jewellery I design to. As I use Facebook as a means to connect with
friends and family, I didn't want to overwhelm them with constant
store updates. By keeping the page personal, and only posting what
I've designed, people can see what I'm up to and read any
testimonial that goes along with the picture. I find that it's
worked much better than the store page I had, and I think that it's
because it's a less intrusive way of informing people. I get many
comments on the designs when I post pictures and have had sales
because of what people saw on my personal page. As well, I love
that GIA has a page on Facebook where I can reconnect with my
professors and classmates and we can help each other find
products/services or answer questions. I can tell customers, with
absolute honesty, that I have connections around the world in the
jewellery industry and it's all because of social networking site.
I know that if I can't find a particular item, I know someone who
can!
