Reflections on Week 5

Another really interesting session. Barry was a font of knowledge about celebrity sponsored tweets. I have to admit that I had no idea they existed. Also loved his 'Snicker Snail'! Nia's presentation about 'For Luca' showed graphically how social media can spread the word about a cause or a business in an amazing way. I liked the idea of 'Sneaky Peaks' (photos) of something in its stages of production (think this was from Steve's presentation). Note to Self - Use this 'Sneaky Peaks' idea on my Facebook page.

Mike's presentation about GoPro really set me thinking about how much I need/want a new camera - must start saving! Also liked the idea of the social media icons being down the right side of the screen of GoPro's web site. Note to self - try this out and see how it looks on my web site (not sure if it will work for me but liked it) They also run lots of competitions which got me thinking.

Emma's presentation about MLE really highlighted the power of You Tube. Note to self - need to think creatively about what type of videos I can make and put on You Tube. Another good reason for needing a GoPro - I'm very good at convincing myself about spending money!

Loved the way that Nathan demonstrated how Innocent Smoothies engage with children and how they have kept their web presence looking like a small business when they are now owned by Coca Cola - impressive.

The final part of the evening was devoted to a presentation on how Etnies uses social media most effectively. Then we were given a case study. We had to look at how Cardiff Comedy Festival uses social media and what they could do to improve its use. This for me was the most instructive part of the class. I learnt how my approach to using Facebook and Twitter is not engaging people enough. I had followed the lead of what my competitors in the jewellery business are doing and that is mostly telling their contacts about their latest designs and offers. Note to self - look at more jewellery social media sites.

Following the class I spent some time researching more silver jewellery web sites and looking at how they use social media. This was partly to check out if I had missed something when researching for my first presentation and also to find a company to study for my second presentation. The process was very informative. My initial research identified only very large businesses, such as H. Samuel and Fossil, as users of social media. As popular brands they appear not to need to entice engagement from their followers by running competitions, and asking them questions. Most of their postings are of new designs and ideas to which their followers responded, most freely, with their comments .

As a small and new business the case study taught me that I need to change my tactics if I want to increase my followers from the present number of only 30! So I have developed a campaign that will include competitions (with a prizes of a piece of jewellery) to encourage more 'hits' and 'likes', jewellery tips, a quiz on gemstone information, a prize for my 100th follower on Facebook and one for the 50th Follower on my Chrissie Designs Jewellery Blog. Any more ideas would be gratefully received!

A most amazing turn of events has also taken place which I will be writing about, later today, on my Chrissie Designs Blog . Without giving too much away (for the full story read my other blog ) I have been having remarkable success with Pinterest! Within 48 hours of pinning a photo of a bracelet and ring worn by Gwyneth Paltrow I have had 16 likes and 42 re-pins! Not sure how good that really is but I am thrilled with it. A majority of those 58 contacts are on Facebook so I sent them each a message thanking them for their interest and telling them that I will be pinning more soon, including a new board on bridal jewellery. It turns out that many of these young people are brides to be and have wedding pinboards. By following these and any jewellery pinboards I can get a feel for what styles of jewellery they like and are possibly buying. Great business research! All in all a most productive week.