Tumbling Along With Me

“You don’t need a social media strategy - You need a brand strategy that leverages social media.  Don’t get off the brand strategy just because there’s a new communications channel, that’s how you lose the plot as a brand.  Technology is the tail, not the dog.” 

Wow.  He’s spot on.  I saw this back in ‘97 when companies had to quickly create an “internet strategy,” often wasting tons of money on agencies, consultants and painful meetings.  What they eventually realized, was that they needed to integrate this new communications channel in their brand promise/fulfillment approach to their customers.  Those that did, succeeded wildly in the coming years.  

So here’s the takeaway: Don’t let social media glam you out, causing you to waste time and money on ‘keeping up’ - Confirm your brand promise and how you fulfill it, and find ways that social media can complement it.

I don’t have much to add to Tim Sanders’ points about not getting distracted by Social Media, but rather figuring out how to leverage these tools to help you meet your current goals. The only thing you may want to consider is if you are implementing Social Media before you’ve created the brand strategy.

Right now, I know that many of us in the jewelry industry are scrambling to figure out how Social Media is going to affect the way we handle marketing. Tim suggestion is an important reminder to ensure that these efforts are not taking us away from our goals, but that they are helping us meet them.

I’ve said it before, but I am a big Tim Sanders fan and wanted to share a key point from one of his recent posts. His book http://www.amazon.com/Love-Killer-App-Business-Influence/dp/1400046831/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277817337&sr=8-1 is one of my favorites and shows you some of the best ways to help yourself in business by doing more to help others. You can read more of Tim’s posts on his blog, Sanders Says or click the link above to read full post.

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Take a look at just about any industry with many competitors—colleges, hotels, sedans, accounting firms (especially accounting firms)…

The websites bend over backwards to be just like all the others. You can’t identify one hotel website from another if you delete the name of the hotel (unless there’s a beach or a snow-capped mountain in the background).

Sometimes, we try so hard to fit in we give consumers no choice but to seek out the cheapest. After all, if everything is the same, why not buy what’s cheap and close?

How about a site that says, “Here’s why we’re different.” And means it.

These days, when the jewelry industry’s conversations turn to ecommerce, it often tends to become a challenge of price. Local jewelers often mention that it is impossible for those who run a local store and a staff to compete with the prices of strictly online vendors like Blue Nile. With this in mind, I really connected with Seth’s point about differentiating your store and your site to pull the conversation away from “who is the cheapest”.

Mostly this post is food for thought, but we’d like to know what you do to differentiate your jewelry store or brand both on and off the web in the comments section.

If you are not a reader of Seth Godin’s blog and books (especially Tribes and The Dip), we strongly recommend you start!

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Yesterday, Erik Qualman (the author Socialnomics) released an updated version of his very popular YouTube video on Social Media stats titled: Social Media Revolution 2 (Refresh).

Here are some of the more interesting Social Media stats:

• Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the U.S.
• 1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media
• Facebook added over 200 million users in less than a year
• iPhone applications hit 1 billion in 9 months.
• The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year-old females
• Generation Y and Z consider email passé - some universities have stopped distributing email accounts
• The #2 largest search engine in the world is YouTube
• There are over 200,000,000 Blogs

Social Media can be a challenge to keep up with here is a great video that will help you understand why this shift in the way we communicate is so relevant to those of us in the jewelry industry.

If you are looking to learn more about Social Media, you may want to check out Erik Qualman and his book Socialnomics it is a great place to get started.

If you prefer the short version, the video above is ideal to show you just how important the web has become to all of our businesses.

Thanks to Mitch Joel at The Six Pixels of Separation Blog for sharing this video!

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Sales is Service is PR is Service is Marketing

People are emotional beings. We live by how we feel; act on how we’re acted upon; respond to how we’re treated. All our decisions are based around our emotions, which is why we’re emotional marketers.

Think of any business transaction you’ve had as a customer. The best ones will remain in your mind for all the right reasons, and chances are you’ve made repeat purchases with these vendors because of your user experience. The bad ones? They remain with you too; but your business doesn’t.

Danny Brown is a blogger that I have a lot of appreciation for, he was extremely patient with me as I was figuring out what the web meant to our business. I’ve spoken with Danny online often and over time have even come to think of him as a friend. Recently Danny had to take some time off for health reasons, but is finally feeling a little better and getting back in the game. His first post back after a multi-month absence is phenomenal and more importantly is extremely relevant to all of us in the jewelry industry.

His focus has always been on community and the impact it has on businesses. This is something that has always been important to the jewelry industry and I hope that this short teaser from his full post encourages you to check out his site, read the full post and take a deeper look his insights into community marketing. Glad to see that you are back at it Danny!

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Twitter has 105,779,710 registered users.

It gets 300,000 new users a day.

About 60 percent of them are coming from outside the U.S

It receives 180 Million Unique visitors a month.

And 75% of traffic comes from outside of Twitter.com

Twitter now has 175 employees.

600 million search queries a day(!)

100,000 twitter apps out there.

Thinking about using Twitter for your jewelry business? Here are a few stats that show you why you just might want to consider it as part of your online strategy.

Stay tuned to The Gen-Next Jewelers blog for an upcoming post on getting started with Twitter.

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Just 2 Letters

The difference between “selling” and “helping” is only two letters, but the gap is in reality, much larger.

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.

Nationwide Insurance has a terrific iPhone app that allows you to document a vehicle crash in real-time, including photos, collection of the other drivers’ insurance information, and other key details. They aren’t trying to sell you more insurance – at least not at that point – they are being helpful.

Geek Squad makes its living providing technology configuration and repair services, via BestBuy stores everywhere. But yet Geek Squad has a YouTube channel that includes hundreds of videos showing people how to do it themselves. They aren’t trying to sell you services – at least not at that point – they are being helpful.

Geek Squad Founder Robert Stephens was asked about the contradiction of a services company providing helpful videos at a conference where I spoke. He said that the reality is, their best customers are those that can do some of it themselves. If they can assist them initially, they’ll appreciate it and turn to the when they need more help.

That’s understanding the difference between selling and helping. That’s understanding that social media success is a long putt, not a tap-in. That’s measuring results on an annual basis, not a weekly basis.

That’s what you should be doing.

I am a big Jay Baer fan and not just because I happen to look like him (although that does help his case). I wanted to share this recent post of his as I love this idea of helping vs. selling. His advice on leading with the services you offer to help remove friction and build loyalty is spot on and the goes way beyond online efforts.

Taking the time to focus on consumers needs rather than your need to sell can go a long way towards building a customer for life. We often see this kind of service within jewelry stores (most jewelers will clean your jewelry at this point). Bringing these efforts to your web presence can help you engage with your customer in a way that truly benefits them. Show them how to check their ring for loose stones in a video or simply invite them to stop in and get their jewelry cleaned, no strings attached.

It is likely to drive them into your store and make them think of you when they start thinking about that next purchase. Much of the promotions we see online focuses on sales and online only deals to drive people to your store or your site, but it just may be the services that you offer that capture the attention of your more reluctant consumers.

Click the link above to read the full article from Jay Baer’s Convince and Convert Blog.

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Does this strike a chord with anyone else, or is it just me? You can read the whole article at Tom Fishbure’s site, but I tend to think the cartoon says it all…

I for one think that we will see some game changing innovations this year, I just hope we know what to do with them when they appear. How about you? Do you think that 2010 is going to be a game changing year or business as usual?

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Just getting started in Social Media? Here is an easy to read resource on the strengths and weaknesses of many of the most popular Social Media sites. Read the full article at Drew’s Marketing Minute.

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Many respondents also plan on adding mobile site capabilities in the next two years, though about six in 10 say they have no plans for an m-commerce site.

Many jewelry manufacturers and retail jewelers that we have spoken with are starting to look at reworking their sites. This data from “Website Design Strategies and Tactics” February 2010 survey offers insight into what other e-commerce savvy websites are considering for their 2010 redesigns.

I for one was shocked at how few of these companies are thinking towards mobile, especially with the popularity of the iPhone and the upcoming release of the iPad. Seems to me that browsing on the go is only going to continue to increase.

Click the link above to read the full article on Emarketer.com to gain more insight as to how other online retailers are approaching their sites this year. This is essential reading for anyone in the jewelry industry who is looking to make changes to their online presence in the near future.

Read more Out of Industry News on The Gen-Next Jewelers Blog.

The usual mantra is to ‘try harder’. Trying harder is impossible when you’re already trying as hard as you can.

But you can always try different.

If you aren’t reading Seth Godin’s almost daily blog, you should be! If you haven’t taken the time to read his books Tribes, The Dip and his latest work Linchpin, you should be!

Seth’s out of the box perspective on almost any subject is always essential reading. At Gen-Next Jewelers we strive to foster this kind of out of the box thinking throughout the Jewelry Industry and visionaries like Seth Godin are the voices we need to seek out and listen to.

How his Q and A session at last years AGS Conclave was one of the least attended sessions I’ve ever seen, I will never understand. Thankfully we have his books and daily insights to help us navigate the changing world we live in.

Click the link above to read the entire post on how we should all consider trying different rather than always trying harder.