Jewelry Marketing through social media usually focuses on Facebook and Twitter but don’t forget LinkedIn! I used to think of LinkedIn as primarily for professionals in more traditional careers but then I joined and discovered groups like Hand Crafted Jewelry and Women’s Jewelry Association. These groups provide a forum for designers to share advice on many relevant topics.
LinkedIn is a great way to stay in contact with people you meet at trade shows or other public events. I channel all my jewelry related contacts through Linked In and save Facebook for close friends and family. This is a nice way to balance connection and privacy.
Giving recommendations on LinkedIn is easy and most people will reciprocate. If prospective customers look you up on LinkIn and see glowing recommendations they are much more likely to place orders!
I only recently learned about one of LinkedIn’s most powerful marketing features. If you look at the Network Statistics option under the Contacts Tab on your home page you can see how many people you are connected to. I have 133 direct contacts, 15,900 2nd degree contacts and 1,451,400 3rd degree contacts. LinkedIn allows me to search and reach out to these 3rd degree connections. If I want to sell jewelry to Barney’s, I just enter the company name in the search field in the upper right corner and discover that I have a connection to a buyer at the store through someone I met while setting up our micro-loan program. I can now send this person a message asking for an introduction and advise on how to proceed. That sure beats a Cold Call! Don’t be shy, people are usually quite helpful in this setting.
Do you use LinkedIn?

Hi Nina,
I do use Linked In, and occassionally post on the forum groups, but never to reach out to contacts. I definitely will take a look at my connections to see what’s in there! Thank you for the tip.
My Linkedin profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/peggyli
Peggy
Comment by Handmade Jewelry by Peggy Li — May 25, 2010 @ 11:44 am