Website and Content

22 Apr Website and Content

The first two blogs in this series have been more about the foundations and fundamentals to a longer-term marketing strategy and plan. In this final blog, I cover what most people think about when they think anout marketing nowadays – social media! – but I also cover other marketing strands like emails and Pay Per Click advertising. Whilst using social media may seem easy and straightforward, there is still a core level of strategy and planning that will help make using it more structured and successful for your business moving forward.

Marketing Plan

I often use the terms ‘marcoms’ when discussing what I’m planning for Sophie Flanagan Fine Jewellery and how I go about it. What this broadly means is my marketing communications plan: the who, what, when, where and why. So why make a plan? It helps you know what content and imagery you need, how far in advance you need to source/create it, how much money you may want to spend, and it allows you to create the plan and schedule it all in advance! It also helps keep other assets often forgotten, like Google Business and Link Tree, up to date and relevant. If you’ve done the foundation work on your audience, you’ll know the best platforms for finding and engaging with them.

A plan can be as complicated or loose as you like! I use a spreadsheet, plan out my quarterly themes, my monthly topics and then the dates I will post to social media platforms. Meta, LinkedIn and Pinterest all allow you to plan and schedule your social in advance, so you can take the hassle out of having to remember to post. You could always sign up and subscribe to a scheduling platform, like Buffer for example, so it’s all in one place. Scheduling in advance means you’re not scrabbling for content when you know you need to post, you know what you need to say, and you know you have the relevant imagery to hand as well. That is not to say you can’t create ad hoc stories for social, and because they are only live for 24 hours it doesn’t necessarily matter if it’s not the best piece of content ever!

Image Bank

Having an image bank was one of the best pieces of advice I was given. Knowing what imagery I have and if I have relevant content to fit my copy topics and quarterly themes means that if I realise I haven’t got quite what I need, I can either create it, find it, or adjust my social plan accordingly. You do not need to have a brand-new image for every post, and you will get to a point where you recycle, but that’s fine, if there is a big enough time gap between. Also, ordering which image is first if you post multiple pictures to one post, means that you can use the other images as lead content another time. Keeping these images ordered, well labelled and with a spreadsheet of type and use will help in the long run!

Social Media

Frequency and consistency are key. Your followers will come to expect your posts. Over time, the platforms will give you analytics so you can decide if when you’re posting is the best time/day to engage with your followers. Social media is also not about being passive. The algorithm will only kick in if you follow, engage and comment with other accounts. There are a few accounts on Instagram that don’t follow this rule, but then we aren’t all Beyonce or the Prince and Princess of Wales!

What does your page look like on Instagram for example? Is there a colour scheme? Do you use templates for text images? Do you only post reels (short videos)? Once you start in a certain vein, I would recommend sticking to that style. This comes back to trust in your brand.

A review of your hashtag usage is also beneficial and there are several resources online that can help you with knowing what’s trending and what’s good to use. As with all things social media though, the algorithm changes frequently as to what is the ideal number to use in a post, but at the start of 2024, Instagram recommended 3-5, but you can use up to 30!

Collaborating with others across social platforms is a great way to extend your reach quickly. Make sure that it’s a relevant collaboration and both parties benefit from the arrangement. If you are looking to work with influencers, you should make sure you are legally protected and adhering to the platform’s strict rules on what is considered an ‘AD’. Running competitions may also seem like a great way to gain reach and followers but again, make sure that you are running them in accordance with what is allowed. You will also see a bump in followers and likes, but be warned, this may be temporary! I would also steer clear of buying followers through bots etc. It’s a false economy!

If you have engaging content – images, videos or words – and you write your captions with keyword inclusion in mind, you will slowly start to gain traction. It will not be overnight, but takes time, consistency, and effort.

Email Marketing/Newsletters

Once you have an established clientele, you may start to email market to them on a monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly basis, but once you start, you need to be consistent. Make sure your consent policy is up to date on your website and that you store the data in a compliant fashion. Platforms like Mailchimp are useful for storing data and sending emails, allowing you to keep track of things more easily.

When it comes to the emails themselves, they should be used to direct traffic to your website or social channels. Use relevant calls to action like ‘find out more’ after an intro paragraph. This will also allow you to keep your website up to date. Lead with the most important information and then use maybe only one or two sub sections. The key is to keep the emails short and engaging whilst making people want to know more.

Pay Per Click (PPC) and Paid Adverts

Pay Per Click and paid adverts on social can be a great way to gain traction in some niche areas. However, these adverts, PPC especially, take time, money and a good deal of understanding on how to make your adverts work as effectively as possible. Using a platform like GoogleAds is not for the faint hearted!

Boosting and promoting content on social media is more user friendly and depending on where you find most of your audience, a good cost-effective way to try paid for ads.

In Conclusion…

There are many things I’ve not covered in these three blogs, but I hope that what I have has been useful in some way. Whether that has sparked an idea, made you assess what you’re doing or even got you to start looking at your website and socials differently, then it’s a step in the right direction! Ultimately, jewellery is a luxury item, so creating desire in your marcoms is key to longer term engagement in the marketing funnel, and to do this requires a plan!

Feel free to contact me if you’d like any assistance with your marcoms plan or have any questions.