I recently had someone tell me that they felt it was better to post anything to their business Facebook account than nothing at all. This particular jeweler didn't have anyone in the store willing to manage their Facebook account, yet they felt it was important to be active.
Their solution was to hire a social media management company that didn't know anything about jewelry, and was posting non sequitur information to their account. Although their fan base was slowly increasing, it was obvious to some customers that the store had hired an agency to manage their Facebook account.
From their point of view, they liked the engagement results and the slow positive increase in page fans, yet it could be so much more.
Many people don't yet understand that all social media networks are a form of marketing that attracts customers. Last month, I wrote this Nugget explaining how to view your Google Analytics Acquisition Channels report. That report show how potential customers find you, including people who click to your website from social networks.
When looking at Facebook as a marketing channel, you begin to realize that what you post there should be orchestrated to further your marketing message. In other words, many of your social shares should be part of your current marketing campaign. Clever marketing campaigns will share portions of information on different social networks to allow for customer discovery. Videos, photos, artwork, and written messages can all be included as part of the campaign... You are limited only by your creativity.
In addition to a marketing campaign, you should also keep true to your long term goals and mission statement whenever you are posting something socially. Simply ask yourself if what you are posting will benefit your customers in such a way that they will eventually develop a trust for you, and make a purchase.
Your social media activity will be in disarray if you don't align your posts with a marketing campaign, long term goals, or your mission.
My personal preference is to show the retail staff how to collectively work together to manage their Facebook account. Allow them to come up with creative ideas once you give them a roadmap explaining your marketing campaign, your long term business goals, and your mission statement. Many employees will embrace the creative freedom when you entrust it to them.
I prefer that jewelers develop an internal process of managing their social accounts, especially Facebook. There's very little long term benefit for your business when you hire a agency who is posting random information that's unrelated to your business. If you must hire an agency, seek out one that has experience working with retail jewelers or in the jewelry business.
