I am always happy to write some great digital marketing content for Canadian Jewellers who I think could benefit from it. Thanks Canadian Jeweller Magazine for having me as a contributor!
Link to FULL Canadian Jeweller Magazine Article

Don’t STEAL Your Potential Customers Time On Social Media, Respect It!

Did you know that the odds of becoming a human are 4 trillion to one? The good news is becoming successful on social media and digital as a jeweler has much more favourable odds, so take a breather, grab your cleaning cloth and let’s go! In the current digital and social media landscape we are in, social media is the oxygen of our marketing and what I mean by that is in a business such as jewellery, referrals and word of mouth have always been intricate to the success and increase of sales.

Having a succinct tactical and manageable social media strategy as to how you want to be perceived online by potential jewelry customers is the first step. Execution and highly curated content is the second and most important step. Think about when you go to the jewellery shows and buy your product, you are browsing around with one goal and frame of mind: “What will my customer want to buy and what are their needs?” Treat Social media like this when you are curating and cultivating your brand through DAILY posts (and by posts, I don’t mean SALES spam) I actually mean posts that engage and prompt response from your audience. A good rule of thumb is 20% sales and 80% life. We call this content marketing which focuses on the top level of the sales funnel. Here is an example that backs up my thesis. Over a 100 years ago, Michelin tires used to write restaurant reviews about great restaurants that were on the countryside in hopes that people would start driving out to try the restaurants ultimately using their tires more which means they would have to stop and get their tires switched out more frequently at one of their locations. This is where the restaurants got their most prominent rating system called the “Michelin Star” from. Did you just hear what I said? A tire company created so much of an ethos that it was used as a top tier rating system in a completely different industry as it executed on the thesis of content marketing. An example for jewellers would be to start writing about top wedding photographers and DJ’s as this would attract potential couples who have just been engaged and looking for great wedding vendors!

So, let’s circle back to my opening remarks about the odds of becoming a human and how they are drastically disproportionate than the odds of being successful on social media. Gone are the days when jewellers were saying “if” and now are the days when jewellers are saying “hell yeah” let’s get our beautiful product favourably placed online with a story that surrounds it that is actually compelling and makes people want to stop and get to know us. Again, if you were to look at your Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Website, would it look as shiny as that diamond ring or jewellery case that you are forever cleaning in your store? If the answers are both not the same, time to switch things up a bit! After all, there is a company called Amazon that seems to be causing major retailers to tap out in a big way. Across North America, foot traffic is down in malls, period. Why wouldn’t it be? Amazon, Uber and many others have perfected and capitalized on the number one thing humans hold close to them, TIME. So is your social media trying to steal people’s time or actually bring value?

The only way for you to truly get what you want from social media, is to give it the respect by taking your customer’s time into account and bringing some massive amounts of value. I hope this article helps to get you thinking tactically and empathetically when marketing using social media.