We live in an era of social media, when consumers prefer to use digital technologies and social networks to get information about products and services from each other, rather than from traditional media. In this article you will learn more about what social media are and how much they are popular in countries enjoying the highest demand for jewelry and luxury items. You will get expert opinion about whether social media can generate earnings for jewelers. We shall also look at examples of successful use of social media based on the experience of well-known jewelry companies adding our own ranking for the best social media to develop jewelry business.
Social media (SM, for short) is, first of all, a dialogue of individuals supported by web technologies and services that enable the exchange of various information, and this includes social networks (like Facebook or Odnoklassniki), blogs and microblogs (e.g., Twitter), services for video sharing (e.g., YouTube), photo galleries (e.g., Flickr), various bookmarks (Digg, Delicious, Stumbleupon), forums, advice services (as Yelp, Trip Advisor), etc.
How much popular are social media across the world? According to the Consumer New Media Study conducted by Cone, a public relations and marketing agency, in 2010, 87% of Americans use SM, of those 61% feel they have a stronger connection with a brand and are better served by companies when they can interact with them via SM.
According to "Groundswell", a bestseller written by the Business Week, over 50% of adult Americans with Internet access visit social networks at least once a month. This kind of activity is similarly high in South Korea because of the country's high broadband penetration and community-focused population. Participation is moderate in Japan and France and lower in Germany.
The “Groundswell” statistics say that 68% of Americans, 54% of Europeans, 75% of Japanese, 73% of Chinese (in major cities) and 79% of Hong Kong residents having an access to the Web are proactive in dealing with the SM-generated content: they are reading blogs, forums, messages distributed in the networks, they watch video and listen to podcasts, and they carefully study the reviews and references on products and services. In China, for instance, fashion blogs are so popular that they appear to be the source of opinion for 58 percent of consumers, as Bloomberg Businessweek says.
Online sales of luxury goods may climb 20 percent a year by 2015 as producers build networks of potential customers on social media websites such as Facebook.com, says Bloomberg citing the report from Italian luxury trade group Altagamma. According to its forecasts, sales of fashion goods, jewelry and other luxury products will reach 11 billion euros ($ 15 billion) by 2015, and this will largely be due to blogs and SM since every second customer visits Facebook and Twitter for advice prior to making a purchase. Don’t you feel it’s high time for you to launch a corporate blog?
At least one half of customers in Europe, USA and China form an opinion based on the Web or are looking for information online before making a purchase at the store, whereas the majority of sales of luxury items is preceded by a visit to a boutique (after all, though it is cheaper to buy online, but visiting a store you have the chance to try the chosen item on). Fashion blogs are trusted by 27% of respondents in Europe and the U.S.
According to media reports, the social wave has also reached Russia, where SM are enjoying a wonton growth in popularity and prestige. In the U.S., SM have actually turned into the "sixth power" after the traditional mass media.
According to a report on retail business activity in the social media released by L2, a New York based think tank for digital innovation, “watch and jewelry companies are less savvy at using the digital medium than other sectors.” Moreover, “the ‘watch and jewelry’ and ‘accessories’ categories continue to be the worst performers" in digital media, the report said. “However, both categories vastly improved as brands began making investments in social media.”
Only Tiffany was ranked as the top digital brand in the jewelry category.
The best social media for jewelry business:
1. Blogs
The blog is the basis and foundation of your strategy in SM. Blogs serve to increase incoming traffic to a corporate website, they serve as a "human" voice of your company and help promote websites on higher positions in search engines. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, blog content will remain prominent on the Internet for years: it will be found and read via Google, Yandex, etc. On Facebook, your messages will disappear from the updates column within a day, on average, and on Twitter even faster - after 30-60 minutes. In addition, SM come and go (just remember MySpace, which was popular several years ago), but blogs remain. The control over the blog and its contents is in your hands, unlike everything else that you put into SM.
An example from business:
In October 2011, American diamond jewelry retailer Hearts on Fire launched a campaign which, in addition to print advertising, includes SM and bloggers who write about fashion: Christine Cameron of My Style Pill and Stephanie Johnson of SJ's Style Compass. The girls will be ambassadors of the brand writing about jewelry on their blogs, while their thoughts and advice on fashion and style will be included in the advertising.
If you want to quickly increase the inflow of visitors to your site, start to comment on news and other publications at reputable industry sites and blogs. In addition, this will allow you to raise your reputation as an expert in the industry.
2. Modern word of mouth - recommendations sites (Yelp, Tulp)
On my own example, recently I put the highest "rating" for one store selling watches and jewelry in California - Gerhard & Son Watch & Jewelry Repair – at popular web-site Yelp, which incidentally is considered a "social trust currency" in the countries where it is used (Austria, Canada, France, Italy, UK, USA, etc.). I had a nice talk in Chinese with the owner of the store, got great service and a strap for my Tissot watch for free. In response of gratitude I wanted to recommend this shop to others. This is what Yelp is based on; at least in the U.S. it is used by a lot of people, when they decide where to go, even if just to buy some potatoes.
According to the statistics as of the beginning of 2011, Yelp is monthly visited by 41 million users. This is a modern form of word of mouth! In Russia, there are also several projects run to move Yelp experience onto the Russian soil, for example, http://tulp.ru.
3. Social networks (Facebook, Odnoklassniki, etc.)
According to some estimates, the average Facebook user spends about 1 hour daily at this web-site. On average, it has about 100 friends. As Forbes says, you can snowball your message and gain access to anyone - customers, suppliers, supply chain partners, reviewers, detractors – even competitors.
Tiffany managed to open a very popular corporate page on Facebook. At this point, it has been joined by 1,550,888 Tiffany fans and currently more than 27 thousand people discuss Tiffany on Facebook. People are eagerly commenting posts from Tiffany, tell their content to their friends, share photos and stories associated with the products of this brand.
4. Micro-blog Twitter
Twitter allows you to listen to what they say about companies, people, industry news and even wishes addressed to new products. Twitter gives you a chance to talk to your clients shaping an effective customer service and to find people who like or may like your products and to amplify what they say.
Zappos, a U.S. online retailer selling jewelry among other things, won special prominence on Twitter. Zappos has built its reputation on a high quality service; its team responds to customer questions in real time collecting all mentions of Zappos on Twitter and publishing them on the corporate website. Zappos allows its employees to write on Twitter and even encourages them to do this by placing their messages on the site. This shows everyone who is going to make a purchase at Zappos that this company is committed to service their clients and trusts its employees.
5. Videos on YouTube
Jewelry is first of all visual aesthetics, beauty for the eyes, so it is important to use services that make it possible to demonstrate it effectively. Do you know what one of the most popular search queries on YouTube / Google is? The answer is "How to (insert as appropriate)" - how to wear scarves, how to wear accessories, how to wear large necklaces and rings... A video about “how to enhance one’s image with accessories” run on YouTube was viewed by more than 150,000 people.
Social media can really help jewelry companies with business development. They hold the key from the future in marketing, branding, reputation building, sales and customer interactions, but it is better to begin operating within them right now. They are much cheaper, for example, than TV advertising and much more efficacious, because people are gradually losing confidence in direct advertising and are more inclined to listen to the experience and opinion of other consumers. It's time to start blogs and contact customers in social networks.
Olga Patseva, Editor in Chief of the American Bureau, Rough&Polished
