Jeweler’s new campaign combines Halloween, hashtags

Crews Jewelry is hosting a pumpkin decorating photo contest through social media to try to bring more traffic to its social media accounts, including Facebook and Instagram.

Grandview-based Crews Jewelry is holding a pumpkin photo contest, asking participants to carve or decorate a pumpkin and post an image of it to social media sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter using the hashtag #CrewsJewelry. 

Crews then will repost all of the entries to its own Facebook and Instagram accounts, where the public can vote on the pumpkins by liking the images on each platform. The pumpkin with the most likes will win a pumpkin charm bracelet by Angelica, a line by Royal Chain.

Participants have until Oct. 26 to share an image of their decorated pumpkin, and a winner will be notified on Oct. 30 so they have time to pick up their bracelet before Halloween, Crews said. 

Using social media is the “easiest way to run the contest,” store manager Stacey Stauch said, and helps the independently owned and operated retailer to increase the number of followers, fans and likes.

“We’re reaching a market that might not know about us through social media, and it’s a way for us to get some new customers and feedback,” Stauch said, explaining that Crews is located “off the beaten path” and that 85 percent of its business is second- and third-generation customers or referrals. “We’ve have a lot more (fans) on our Facebook now and we’re trying to get more involvement.”

Stauch said Crews, which first opened its doors in 1971, recently hired someone to manage its social media accounts.

“We didn’t realize how much time it took (to run multiple social media accounts) and how many different avenues there are for social media,” she said. “We hired someone who’s young and on top of those platforms, and she’s helping us take this contest on.”

Crews has a presence on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, FourSqaure and Google Plus, and has linked the accounts to cover all its bases. For example, if the company posts a status and image on Facebook, it automatically gets posted to the other social media accounts as well. 

“We’re trying to get some fun ideas together