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If you read our recent article titled, “Social Shopping Websites,” then you are aware of the benefits of social shopping.  Imagine you are a shopper looking for the perfect pair of diamond jewelry earrings to add to your fine jewelry collection.  You could drop the key phrase: “diamond jewelry earrings” into Google and start sifting through the thousands of sites that pop up in their search results, spend hours on random websites researching and comparing quality, pricing, and customer service reputation, or you could head to a social shopping site like Kaboodle and save a lot of time by reading the reviews from your fellow social shoppers.  Social shopping is a new way for consumers to gather information and rate products that they want to purchase, or have purchased.  It takes the guesswork out of Internet shopping, and because it is easier that using search engines and can provide more accurate results, it is no doubt the future of e-commerce.  Today we will explain ways that you can harness social shopping sites to help promote your jewelry website.

Jewelry websites have an advantage over other products in terms of marketing through social shopping sites; these sites are generally related to the fashion industry.  The most popular social shopping sites which focus on the fashion industry include: Polyvore, Kaboodle, and ThisNext.  There are two major benefits for you as a jewelry storeowner to utilize these three sites and others like them.  First, you can gain insight into the wants and desires of your potential clients, and second you can market your products to those most likely to buy them.

First, create your own social shopping profiles to research your clients. On these sites, users create personal profiles that afford various ways to engage in social shopping with their friends.  They can create wish lists which itemize all the clothing and accessories they long to have; they can create style profiles which detail some of their favorite items and how to coordinate them; they can highlight specific products or trends that they find interesting and want to share. By examining the choices users make with these various social shopping site features, you can get a good read on the types of jewelry your clients want.

Second, create your own profiles so you can showcase your work to a targeted group of people.  Through your various social shopping profiles you can market your own jewelry website.  The friends that you gather will have access to the items you add to your wish lists, style profiles, and product alerts.  For example, you could create an entire look complete with jewelry from your own website.  This shows your potential clients ways they can coordinate your jewelry with various outfits.  Those who want the new Juicy Couture jump suit can see how great it looks paired with your gold hoop earrings.  You can also create pairings of your products and show potential clients which earrings match which bracelets, and so forth.  Be creative with your combinations and show the social shoppers out there all the benefits of owning your jewelry.

Encourage your friends and clients to showcase your products in their profiles.  This is another great way that the people close to you can help your jewelry website succeed.  You do not have to be the only social shopper promoting your jewelry; your friends can do it too.  Encourage them to use your products when possible in the various wish lists, style profiles, and product promotions that they create.  The more buzz about your jewelry, the better!  Need more tips on marketing your site?  Contact Websites for Jewelers today!

Related articles

• 7 Social Shopping Sites that worth your time (seoservicesgroup.com)
• Why Facebook Could Dominate the Next Generation of Ecommerce (jagdidit.com)
• Nordstrom Buys Social Shopping Site HauteLook (webguild.org)
• Kaboodle’s Chief Marketing Officer Talks Social Shopping [Interview] (socialtimes.com)

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You have heard about social media marketing, but have you heard of social shopping?  At Websites for Jewelers we have been discussing social media marketing for your jewelry website a lot over the last several weeks.  We have urged our readers and our clients to create profiles of their businesses in social networking websites like Facebook and LinkedIn, and have detailed the myriad reasons that social media marketing is crucial for your business, like in our article titled, “Social Media Marketing is a Must for Jewelry Websites.” Today, we are discussing a new marketing opportunity to come from the huge business of social networking: social shopping websites.

Unsure what social shopping websites are?   As defined by Wikipedia, “Social Shopping is a method of e-commerce where shoppers’ friends become involved in the shopping experience. Social shopping attempts use technology to mimic the social interactions found in physical malls and stores.”  Where people use Facebook to connect with the daily lives of their friends and LinkedIn to maintain business relationships, people use social shopping sites to scout out the latest styles, the best deals, and consumer reviews, and share this information with their friends.  Imagine a new group of websites that have the sole purpose of exposing products and exchanging information about them!  This is creating a HUGE opportunity for the marketing of your jewelry website.

There are several types of social shopping websites: group shopping site, social consumer review sites, social marketplaces, and shopping communities.

Group Shopping Sites:  These are sites that allow people to come together and purchase large quantities of an item in order to receive a bulk discount.  Some examples are: Groupon, Kactoos, and BuyWithMe.

Social Consumer Review Sites:  Some of the most popular sites on the Internet have been consumer review sites that allow people to find out about the performance of various products that they want to buy, the most traditional being Amazon.  There is a new breed popping up that adds a more social aspect to the communication and users can not only read posted reviews, but also engage with other shoppers.

Social Marketplaces:  Social marketplaces are much like the website Etsy, where sellers can come together in an online version of a farmers market or bazaar.  Some small jewelry companies have been able to create a following through sites like Etsy, but eventually find that they need their own e-commerce site to continue to grow.  Social marketplaces are great for those that sell as a hobby.

Shopping Communities:  Largely dominated by the fashion industry (AKA great for jewelry websites) these types of social shopping websites provide consumers with the ability to create shopping lists, exchange information about products, styles, discounts, and personal experiences. Rena Klingenberg of Home Jewelry Business Success Tips has an excellent article on social shopping websites and recommends the following sites for those in the jewelry business: Polyvore, StyleHive, StyleFeeder, ThisNext, and Wists.  Kaboodle is another shopping community that we love to recommend.  It was launched in 2006 and has over one million users to date.  Kaboodle allows users to create an online personal catalog of everything they want to buy on the Internet and share this information with friends.  Users can also create gift lists, write a blog, and ask other’s opinions about items they wish to buy.

How can you harness these social shopping websites for marketing your online jewelry business?  Look for more information in our next post titled, “Marketing your Jewelry Website with Social Shopping Websites.”

Related articles

• 7 Social Shopping Sites that worth your time (seoservicesgroup.com)
• The rise of social shopping in 2011: 7 examples of where it is going (rossdawsonblog.com)
• 10 Social Shopping Sites to Watch in 2011 Shopper’s Guide (apartmenttherapy.com)