Jewelry Business Guru by Cindy Edelstein

JewelryBizGuru Blog has moved to CindyEdelstein.com

Finally! I've got a new look, a new name and a new blog at www.CindyEdelstein.com. I'm so excited!

Expect a lot more content and please don't be shy to comment or ask questions on the new site. CindyEdelstein.com offers a lot more information on the rest of our projects and events, too. So much to share! I hope you join me there.

 

Social Media Fashion Statements -- Are the Top Brands Engaging Well?

Have you heard of Coach's Poppy collection? Well, even if you weren't shopping for accessories you might run into the Poppy's like Dorothy came across that field full of them. Serendipitously, while web surfing some favorite blogs.

When visitors land on fashion and design blog The Lil Bee, they'll notice something unusual reports Brian Morrissey on Adweek.com. In the upper left corner of the page sits a graphical rendering of poppy flowers sprouting across the page with the message "You've found a poppy" and invitation to "follow the poppy trail."

The Lil Bee is one of hundreds of blogs that are part of a network stitched together this month in a social media campaign from fashion brand Coach. 

The bloggers have added a small piece of code to their sites that acts as a mini discovery tool, along with a game for users to grow the poppy image on the site by their visits or using Twitter to broadcast a message.

           According to Adweek.com:

The Poppy Project, which promotes Coach's Poppy line of affordable but still luxury fashions, is an unusual approach for the fashion world, which has built brands in traditional media with lush images and an aspirational message. These approaches run counter to the ethos of social media, where sharing and connectivity rule the roost.

Coach leaned on Facebook to launch Poppy a year ago. It tapped into its fan base -- now nearly 1 million -- with a discount offer. In post-launch research, store managers reported many customers said they initially heard of the line from Facebook, according to David Duplantis, svp of global Web and digital media at Coach.

"We felt the organic nature of poppies growing in social media was a home run," he said.

Yet many fashion brands, particularly those in the luxury category, remain wary of social media. Instead, visit the sites of major fashion names like Louis Vuitton and Gucci and you'll find pretty much the digital equivalent of Vogue: lots of glossy photos and little in the way of interaction. Diana Hong, creative director at Create the Group, a New York digital shop that specializes in fashion, said the rather simple step of adding a Facebook Like button can worry fashion clients who zealously guard their brand image around exclusivity.....

... Duplantis doesn't believe the fashion industry is particularly far behind in social media. He points to other social media efforts by Coach, including a contest for brand advocates to design a Coach tote bag. That effort generated 3,200 submissions and 114,000 votes. "Social in general is relatively new," he said. "Fashion brands are engaging in an interesting way.  People need to find what platforms are right for their brand."

Read full Adweek article: Social Media Fashion Statements.

The Implications of Facebook Pages for you and your business: B.L. Ochman's blog

There will be consequences if you don't understand the rules and the stakes of Facebook Places. Love it or hate it, you'll need to understand it, says guru B. L. Ochman in her latest blog post.

Individuals have to jump through hoops to opt out of Facebook's new Places feature, and companies better follow the complex rules to opt in.

Places is NOT like Foursquare or other GPS services
, she points out.

Sounds a lot like Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp and Booyah - until you consider that Facebook user's typically provide far more personal details, including photos, videos, relationships, employment and educational data.

Individuals need to change their privacy settings --again! --- to opt out of the tagging feature that lets friends tag you at a place (like the bar when you're supposed to be visiting a sick friend or your favorite bakery when you're supposed to be on a diet...or worse!) and let's your tag be seen by everyone else that checked into that place. Who wants to run into a business associate when you're at the water park?

Businesses, particularly retail businesses, NEED to opt in and reserve your business name here. You don't want the chance to lose it.

read the whole blog, including this point:

B.L. Ochman's blog:  The implications of Facebook Places - for business and for you + how to opt out..

9 Ways to Enhance Your Facebook Biz Page | Social Media Examiner

Facebook fan pages number among the few social media channels that allow page customization for users, says Ching Ya, author of Social @ Blogging Tracker. She is a header designer and provides Facebook customization service for small businesses.

Many people may be unaware of the advanced functionality FBML gives a fan page, she says and you can follow her advice by reading this article on the Social Media Examiner Blog:
9 Ways to Enhance Your Facebook Fan Page | Social Media Examiner.

You can apply a bit of HTML code to boost your Facebook page that adds tabs and boxes so you can add your own webpages, contests, flickr feed, etc. So much more than the basics!

Ching Ya says rich content creates a memorable interface that gets people talking, lets a special announcement or contest go viral, improves fans’ engagement and so much more.

I did it and it was quite easy! Try it!

See the custom tabs on Benefit Cosmetics Facebook page -- you can add ratings, contests and feeds from your blog, YouTube account and so much more.

Surprising Statistics About Twitter in America from Social Media Today

A comprehensive survey (1,753 respondents) released today by Edison Research (a division of Arbitron), paints a fascinating picture of Twitter and its role in America’s social media ecosystem, reports Jason Baer on SocialMediaToday.com.

The full 49-page study is full of interesting graphs and data morsels, but these are the 7 findings that Jason didn’t anticipate:

1. Twitter is Ubiquitous
Like Terrell Owens, Carrie Underwood, and Coke Zero, Twitter is almost universally on the radar of Americans. 87% of respondents had heard of Twitter, compared to 88% who had heard of Facebook. (Note that the survey population was 12 and up, including a representative portion of seniors). Thus, we can safely assume that with the exception of Amish, prisoners, and sea creatures, the entirety of the country knows about Twitter.

2. Twitter Sucks at Converting Awareness to Usage
Known by 87%, just 7% of Americans use Twitter. Thus, fewer than one in 13 Americans who know about Twitter, actually use Twitter. Compare that ratio to Facebook, where 88% have heard of it, and 41% have a profile (a conversion rate approaching 50%).

3. Twitter is the Important, Vocal Minority
While only 7% of Americans are using it, the Twitter population is still 17 million people, which is roughly equivalent to the combined populations of Connecticut, Oregon, Kentucky, Kansas, and Oklahoma. And while substantially smaller than the Facebook brigade, the Twitter crew is tuned in to brands like nowhere else on the social WEb.

4. Brand Interaction is a Major Part of Life on Twitter
In addition to following brands, Twitter users research and engage with companies. 42% learn about products and services via Twitter. 41% provide opinions about products/services. 19% seek customer support.

“Twitter users talking about marketing and brands far exceeds the usage on the other social networks,” said Tom Webster, the VP of Strategy & Marketing at Edison (and the study author), when I interviewed him for this post.

I maintain that as Facebook continues to tie together the real-time Web with the open graph, Twitter usage will inexorably shift from person to person connectivity, to customer to company connectivity. I believe Twitter will ultimately be the way that we interact with brands, and will power the social CRM movement. Tom agrees, and included that concept in the Executive Summary.

Read all 7 of Jason's surprising statistics at SocialMediaToday.com.

Let Your Fans Shop Without Leaving Facebook

I'm fascinated by this recent INC magazine article about shopping via Facebook.

Let's face it -- there are just so many ways a consumer can buy now but there are even more coming. It's easy to do when you know and trust the brand.

So most designer's first steps is to get known and trusted. NOT TO SELL like Ron Popeil! Social networking is just that .... NETWORKING!

As Michael Schector of Honora recently wrote on the GenNextJewelers blog: "The best – and most effective – social media programs aren’t based on promotions and message distribution. Instead, they revolve around removing friction and uncertainty for potential or current customers. It’s about marketing sideways, not marketing head-on."

Social media is for engagement -- and of course, that hopefully leads to sales but you have to engage them first.

Inc. Magazine's website recently showed where this engagement can lead:

"E-commerce on Facebook is something we're watching rather closely,'' says Scot Wingo, CEO of ChannelAdvisor, which helps its clients sell online through multiple channels.

The idea of actually selling on Facebook is in its frontier days. However, what Wingo and others see are retailers both large and small working to create a social selling experience more than a transaction.

"A lot of what people do is try to get people engaged, talking about the brand,'' says Andy Lloyd, CEO of Fluid, Inc., whose Facebook social shopping platform yielded eye-opening results for Rachel Roy, a division of Jones Apparel. A three-day pop-up store with Facebook-only merchandise sold out in the first six hours, the brand added 1.5 new fans a minute and the company's fan base increased 35 percent, according to Fluid.

"The challenge with shopping on Facebook is you're training users to do something different than they've done in the past,'' Lloyd says. "People really haven't shopped within Facebook.

A number of avenues are emerging to turn Facebook Fan pages into retail outlets. Lloyd recommends a cautious approach for small to mid-size businesses embracing Facebook retailing. "Start out and do something basic,'' he says, advising that you utilize existing technology and ecommerce systems.

Among the options:  ....

Click the link to read the full article on INC.com   Let Your Fans Shop Without Leaving Facebook.

Best Practices For Social Media: The Basics of Program Planning « The BrandBuilder Blog

One of the easiest to understand outlines of Social Media planning that I've found is by Olivier Blanchard. He succinctly outlines the four parts of the plan and even wiser, points out that all 4 roles may not be fulfilled by one staffer or outside consultant.

You can use this article to think through your own plan and see if you need more help or just more organization to maximize your social media footprint.

Best Practices For Social Media: The Basics of Program Planning « The BrandBuilder Blog.

At Ben Bridge a "Girl" Becomes a Trust Agent

Are you wondering how you can get started with social marketing? Or how to do it well?

Here's a quck blog post from Veronica Wei Sopher an employee at Ben Bridge who turned herself into @BenBridgeGirl a clever, engaging "trust agent" for her company who tiptoed carefully into cyberspace to become the voice of her company. 

 Her rationale?

"Why am I doing all this? Because I’m a “trust agent” (hat tip to Chris Brogan and Julien Smith). I believe this is the next move that will truly set Ben Bridge Jeweler apart in customers’ eyes. So many people are ready to hear from and rally around Ben Bridge. Amazing things happen when a company begins speaking with a human voice instead of a corporate one. Frank Eliason has done it for Comcast. Scott Monty has done it for Ford. Richard Binhammer has done it for Dell. I know I can do the same for Ben Bridge Jeweler. "

 Hats off to Veronica, a beacon of enlightenment. Follow her on twitter and see what the fuss is about!