The Big Three: Social Channels for a Focused Strategy
As an agency, it’s our job to outline recommendations to our clients that are both strategic and provide the best opportunities for their marketing dollars. Social media has always been an area that can be confusing to most retail jewelers. Do you dive into every social channel or just pick your favorites? Neither. When it comes to marketing, it’s all about the numbers, strategy and execution. One can argue the validity of just about any social channel, but most can’t effectively utilize more than a few social channels. To put it in perspective; if you wanted to place a print ad in local magazines, would you equally spread those efforts across all magazines in the area or those that provide the best targeted and strategic opportunities? (That’s a rhetorical question). The same applies for social media and it’s a simple formula: time+strategy+audience = effort /money.
Which is to say, How much time do I need to dedicate to properly maintain the social channel? What is my strategic usage for the channel? And, is the user base valid and large enough? Those questions should determine the amount of effort and, yes, money should be budgeted for your social efforts.
In the past we’ve recommended our clients to focus on Facebook and Pinterest. However, in 2014 we introduced Instagram to wrap up our Big 3. I know many already use Instagram, but before jumping on the next social media channel du jour it has to fit into an overall strategy and objectives. And in addition to the formula above, it has to provide some synergies to other channels.
How we chose our Big 3
Facebook: It’s always Facebook first. No matter what you hear about teens fleeing, the death of Facebook is not around the corner. Its platform allows for multiple ways to connect to consumers, including custom pages that allow you to showcase product; which is great for gift ideas you can push traffic to via strategic posts and Facebook advertising.
Time: 70% of our time is spent on Facebook
Strategy: To target the masses during direct sales times of the year (Think gift giving opportunities like Mother’s Day & Christmas) and build brand awareness, promote products and events to acquire new fans, and capture indirect sales during the rest of the year (Think birthday, anniversary, etc).
Audience: Around 160 million users in the United States. Most jewelers’ Facebook page is made up of 80% women.
Pinterest: Pinterest is a great way to create linkbacks to your website, which help with SEO. By pinning images of products from your site, people can re-pin and share that content with others. This can lead consumers to your site and allow them to continue browsing. What’s great is that 80% is organic pinning.
Time: 10% of our time is spent on Pinterest
Strategy: With Pinterest made up of primarily women over 25, we view this as our social channel to target the female self-purchaser, as well as bridal.
Audience: Around 47 million users in United States. 70-80% female, between the ages of 25-34 and 50% have children.
Instagram: Another photo sharing channel, Instagram, attracts the younger population. With its ability to stream content to Facebook, we look at Instagram as an opportunity to attract the bridal customer, share the content to Facebook and use forms of Facebook advertising to drive traffic.
Time: 15% of our time is spent on Instagram
Strategy: Our focus will center around bridal and engagement. By sharing to Facebook and using Facebook advertising to promote posts, we can drive cross platform traffic to help build our base on both channels.
Audience: Around 65 million users in United States and the majority between 18-29 years old.
Remember: don’t spread yourself too thin or else your efforts can become diluted. Unless you have resources beyond most, don’t take on more social channels than you can handle… and spend most of your time on the side of the pond with the most fish.
