Striking Gold Using Social Media

“Investigate whether or not your target market uses Social Media. If they do, get on it – NOW!”

Interview by Dan Willersdorf

Owner: Skye Anderton
Business Years: 2010 to present
Instagram Page: 2,247 followers and counting
Facebook Page: 8,888 likes and counting
Website: www.rubyolive.com.au

After spending eight years in London working as an accessories designer and buyer for High Street retailers, Skye Anderton decided to return to her home in Brisbane, Australia, looking to launch her very own jewellery business “with an ethical heart by using sustainably sourced materials whenever possible.” Thus the birth of Ruby Olive, the brand that’s a namesake of her grandmother.

Ruby Olive tried all sorts of marketing strategies in the first four years “including joint ventures with other brands, public relations, print and online advertising, and Social Media – all with varying effects, at different stages,” Skye shares. “We’ve noticed significant changes in the past 4 years in relation to each platform’s return on investment, and as a result we’ve changed direction accordingly.

“We found that many people in our target market were active on Facebook and Instagram, making it the perfect way to keep our customers up to speed on our latest offers, collections, news and inspirations,” Skye says.

“We started a Facebook and Twitter page and starting posting anything and everything. We took notice of what was getting the most interaction. We constantly refined, and we’re still refining and changing focus even now. It was hard work getting to 1,000 likes on Facebook, but as soon as we reached that goal it seemed to be a bit of a domino effect. Now we’ve almost got 9,000 likes.”

“It’s now a really important part of our business. We find it’s a great branding tool to tell new customers all about Ruby Olive in a fun, social and engaging way–it provides you with an amazing opportunity to constantly be in touch with your existing and potential customers,“ Skye adds.

FINDINGS:

The best times to post

“We learnt that the best times for us to post were early in the morning between 7am and 9am, and later in the evening between 6pm and 9pm. We developed a schedule to accommodate both morning and evening users,” Skye notes.

Human interest not just selling

Skye recommends that businesses should also keep in mind that it shouldn’t be all obvious selling of their brand. “In amongst the posts about products and offers, we also post fun facts about the brand, travel photos, food photos, arts and crafts, interior designs and just generally anything that encompasses what Ruby Olive is about,” she shares. “It’s all about human interest! We as a brand are just as much about being fun and social as we are about being in business.”

Facebook ads

“Facebook Ads are definitely a great tool that can be really cost effective if done right.” Skye says. “I do think every business and their target audience is very different. It’s all about trialing, testing and measuring each platform to see what works.”

Twitter & Automation

Skye says they connected their twitter profile to Facebook so they didn’t need to post to Twitter separately.  “It’s not ideal, but we don’t have the time and we don’t get the results from Twitter like we do from Facebook and now Instagram.”

And when YOU do get your business on Social Media…

Personality Counts! (But just have ONE!)

Skye emphasises the importance of being able to identify the kind of personality you want your brand to convey. “You want to be that business that is engaging and your audience feels like they can interact with,” she says. “We recently had a great time interacting with our customers on a post asking everyone to guess the name of our new collection – they loved it!”

Study, and Have a Plan

“What are the best times of day to capture the majority of your target audience? What kinds of posts are they clicking on and interacting with? Play around with a bit of trial and error then take your findings and build a solid plan around them – even if it’s just a clear and structured post schedule,” Skye advises.

Post GREAT Photos on Instagram

Skye admits that photos that are bland will go unnoticed when published online – that’s why every post matters. “When posting on Instagram, make sure you have images worth sharing,” she says. “If they’re not clear, of poor quality, or just a little on the boring side, your followers will just keep on scrolling and potential new followers will not follow. Keep the images consistent, too. It’s another platform for your brand after all. We’re a very visual business, so Instagram works brilliantly for us.”

Final words…

“We LOVE Social Media…where else can you talk to customers and get honest, immediate responses? Social Media is the perfect way to tell your customers about what’s going on in your business. So many people use Social Media now from all sorts of demographics and it’s proved itself to be a very powerful tool.”