Outlining the advantages of 4 social media sites

During her presentation at Conclave on Friday, Denise Chislett of Underwood Jewelers addressed how social media and a mobile website can increase engagement with customers and drive sales when done right.

Brecken Branstrator brecken.branstrator@nationaljeweler.com

Underwood Jewelers created a website specifically for mobile, designed to feature buttons that make browsing the site and contacting the store to inquire about products and services much easier for customers on the go.

San Diego--Social media and a mobile website can not only increase engagement with potential and existing customers but drive sales when done right, Denise Chislett of Underwood Jewelers said at Conclave on Friday.

Certain networks are more beneficial for jewelers, and each one has to be active and done right. Learning the strengths and uses for social media platform (outlined below) are the keys to tapping into their advantages and driving sales.

Chislett also recommended keeping the number of active posters to a minimum for the accounts to create a more cohesive voice for the brand.

Facebook
Facebook is a necessity for jewelers these days. About 70 percent of business-to-consumer markets have acquired a customer through Facebook, Chislett said, meaning that it’s a platform that businesses can’t afford to ignore.

The social media network provides a great place for images of products and can give insights into followers’ ages and where they live, among other factors, helping give background information on the shoppers that are being reached.

However, this is not the platform for promoting deals or sales. People are coming to the company on a social network because they want to interact and engage, and they really want pictures.

“Don’t push sales. Let sales come to you,” Chislett said.

This means leaving out, if possible, posts about special discounts, trunk shows, and leaving the price off a post featuring jewelry in stock until someone inquires about it, she added.

Instead, get creative with the message that’s included and let it be something that a shopper would like to see without feeling like they’re being pestered in that space. Comment on the season or what’s going on in pop culture.

When it comes to comments on the company’s Facebook page, everything needs to get a response as fast as possible, Chislett said. Only delete a comment if there is offensive language or it’s a legal issue, and face complaints head on; the consumers, after all, are commenting because they have an opinion and it won’t do the business any good to ignore them.

In terms of reach on Facebook, the social network recently changed its algorithm, meaning posts are seen in fewer followers’ News Feeds.

Facebook now wants companies to boost their posts to put them in front of more people, or buy ads, which show up on the sidebar. Chislett encouraged considering this option to

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increase the reach of posts or creating a targeted ad campaign to reach certain customers in specific locales.

Twitter
Twitter’s fastest-growing age demographic right now is 55 to 64 year olds, which means more customers that can afford to buy the bigger-ticket items now are reachable on the social media platform, Chislett said.

Additionally, and more obviously, the younger Millennial crowd is very active on Twitter and gets a lot of their news from the network. They also use the platform as a place to interact with brands and hear their voice.

To really understand Twitter and how it works, Chislett recommends creating a personal Twitter account first. This will help not only to see best practices for businesses to reach their customers but also to understand how consumers are using it as well.

It’s also necessary to understand how hashtags work. In addition to informing about what things are trending with consumers, hashtags can also be used as a search function, making it possible to find customers in the local area that may not have been reachable otherwise.

When including hashtags in a post, it’s a good idea to include one of the store’s city, according to Chislett, increasing the chances it will be seen by the right customers.

Pinterest
Pinterest can be a great tool for jewelers because it allows brands to see what kinds of products, stones, colors, and more that their customers are looking for, and shows trends in local markets.

To set the business apart from the competition, be sure to give Pinterest boards creative names, Chislett said, and find interesting ways to organize them so they stand out in followers’ feeds. For example, organizing by color will create a flood of pins in one color in a follower’s homepage, which is sure to catch their eye and make them notice who’s pinning them.

Additionally, make sure that when posting pins, they are originating from the company’s website, so that click-throughs take them straight to a product page with the potential for sales.

Instagram
Photo-sharing site Instagram is the perfect social media network for jewelers because it allows them to take advantage of one of their strongest assets--their visually appealing merchandise—and, unlike Facebook, all followers get to see every one of the posts.

Hashtags can also be used on Instagram to make a user more searchable as well as keep track of what’s trending in the consumer market.

While the returns on investing time and manpower behind social media are almost totally immeasurable, there’s no denying it has its benefits and is a space jewelers should be in, Chislett said. In addition to being a way to attract new customers and keep in touch with existing clients, it can also be a great way to get old merchandise that hasn’t sold back in front of customers in a fresh light.

In addition to outlining the advantages of these four social media platforms, Chislett spoke of the benefits of having a completely separate mobile website -- not just a responsive site that adjusts to mobile devices -- built with a design and function created to make it easier for the shoppers on the go.

The mobile site should be cohesive with the regular site in style and design to streamline the brand’s look.

She also noted that for Underwood Jewelers, they believe that the investment they put in for a brand-new mobile site was worth it. The store had a number of instances last year where people used the mobile site to call the store or email an inquiry, eventually leading to a sale.

Brecken Branstratoris the senior editor, gemstones at National Jeweler, covering sourcing, pricing and other developments in the colored stone sector.