Which Social Media Platforms Are Best for Jewelers?

Facebook is that the user demographic is starting to skew older than other networks, which may or may not benefit you depending on the type of jewelry your store sells.

Instagram
Next, let’s move onto Instagram, which passed Twitter last year in terms of monthly active users.

The platform boasts one of the highest user engagement rates, making it an effective space to build a brand community. Instagram is an especially great platform for businesses that have products that lend themselves to being showcased visually. Restaurants, jewelers and clothing manufacturers are all examples of businesses with visually appealing products that are perfect for Instagram.

However, don’t limit yourself to just pictures or videos of your jewelry. As beautiful as your products are, the ‘Gram is also a great place to humanize your brand by showing off your company culture. This is especially important on Instagram because users on the platform tend to skew younger and these younger consumers value connecting with brands online. Office shenanigans and behind-the-scenes looks can go a long way in putting a face to your business.

One challenging aspect of Instagram for marketing purposes is that the platform does not support links within posts. You are only allowed one link within your bio, which can make it challenging to redirect followers to content on your website or blog. One way around this is to make use of Instagram ads that redirect to an external website. These ads were originally for larger brands, but have recently become more affordable for smaller businesses.

Twitter
Twitter has recently been suffering an identity crisis of sorts and its user base has started to stagnate. However, this is not to say it’s alright to start ignoring the platform. Twitter remains a great place to receive small bursts of current information and to connect with industry thought leaders. The platforms lends itself particularly well to reaching out to people you may not fully know yet.

Here at Likeable, we connect with people on Twitter all the time and frequently are able to take conversations with prospects into email or Skype.

Twitter is particularly useful for redirecting to external content and you can insert multiple links into a single tweet. The network also has powerful advertising capabilities with the added bonus of the promoted tweets looking very similar to normal tweets.

If you want to maximize your reach on Twitter, it’s recommended that you make use of ads because the lifespan of tweets is so short. Ads will boost your reach, and the platform even gives you estimates of how many link clicks you will receive based on your ad spend.

Similar to Instagram, Twitter is great for fostering an engaged community around your products. It’s a helpful place to find out what people are saying about your business, your competitors and your industry in general. There are also listening tools to help you gather these insights to make better informed decisions moving forward. Finally, Twitter is often used as a customer service platform because of its real-time nature, so make sure you are responsive.

LinkedIn
LinkedIn is an interesting network because its audience is more easily defined than other platforms. Billed as the “network for professionals,” LinkedIn can serve a variety of purposes for both businesses and individuals alike.

One of the most powerful aspects of the platform is its networking capabilities. On LinkedIn it’s possible to connect with and recruit users based on industry and common connections. It’s an especially powerful resource for business-to-business companies and can also be used to establish your thought leadership within an industry.

Similar to Facebook, LinkedIn also has a helpful groups feature that can allow you to have private conversations with thought leaders on trending jewelry topics.

If you are not a business-to-business jeweler, you can still certainly find use for the platform as an individual, but as a business-to-consumer jeweler it might be better to initially stick to other the other platforms previously mentioned.

Snapchat
I’ve already outlined my thoughts on Snapchat, but let’s recap (because it’s my still my favorite platform.)

The platform has quickly moved from the fringe of social media relevance to a legitimate platform where the likes of BMW and Hasbro now frequently advertise. Snapchat has deftly figured a way to include paid advertisements within in its app without disrupting the user experience.

Now, for small business purposes the paid advertisements are not within the realm of financial feasibility. However, this is not to say that small businesses cannot find use for the app.

As of last year, more than 400 million snaps were sent daily. With over 25 million users in the United States alone, there is a good possibility that you may have some potential customers frequently using the app (even more likely if your target demographic is skewed younger.)

Especially with the inclusion of the story and chat features, companies are starting to figure out ways to effectively use Snapchat’s organic reach potential.

Snapchat differs greatly from some of the other platforms here because of its innate casual and time-sensitive nature. More so than any other network Snapchat really allows you to be your authentic self.

Snapchat will be most effective for your business if you have a product that’s interesting to show off visually--which all jewelers do--and if you have a younger customer base.

So, which of these social media platforms have you found most useful as a jeweler and why? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @LikeableLocal.

Mike Farrell is the community manager at Likeable Local’s New York office. He is an avid reader, writer and listener of hip-hop. Connect with him on Twitter, @mikefarrelldude.