It’s no secret t
hat diamonds are a girl’s best friend, and it seems that Pinterest is now also becoming a girl’s best friend. Especially a girl who is planning a wedding. We have interviewed a few companies who have indulged in the wedding industry on Pinterest, and Tacori has jumped on board as well.
Tacori recently ran a “Your Best Friend’s Wedding” Pinterest contest, asking followers to create boards that reflect their wedding style, including Tacori jewelry. We had the chance to talk with Tacori’s Senior Vice President of Marketing and Publicity, Michelle Adorjan, about how they use social media, specifically Pinterest, and the success of their recent contest.
Get Pinterested: Tacori has an impressive group of followers on nearly every social network. Can you tell us a little bit about your overall social media strategy and how you keep your social media fresh, exciting, and engaging?
Michelle Adorjan: I think the reason we’ve been successful on the Social Networks that we’ve chosen to be part of, is because we genuinely consider technology and all these great new “social platforms” (like Facebook, Twitter, Polyvore, Pinterest, etc) to be amazing opportunities to engage with our audience in an authentic way.
As a brand, we don’t always get to employ two-way communication with our fans. Print ads or online banners – although fabulous at long-term brand building – are so very one-way and limiting insofar as the “connection” it provides with consumers. We truly treasure the opportunity that each and every social network presents as a new and fresh way to engage our consumer in a sincere manner that builds a relationship based on genuine feeling.
It’s this mindset that sets us up for success.
Has your experience with Pinterest, or any social media for that matter, changed the way that you look at your business or how you do your marketing?
MA: Our ongoing experiences with social media always challenge us to find new ways to express the “voice of Tacori” in the best possible way.
Twitter, for example, forced us to be concise due to their character limitation! Facebook allowed our fans to create a community where they talk to us (and us to them)….which today does not sound scary, but if you would have asked us 5 years ago if we wanted 365,000+ people able to access our product and say whatever they wanted without any safeguards or censorship…well, it was a much more daunting prospect at that time, compared to how we view this interaction today! Today, Facebook allows us the best interaction platform to test ideas, launch new products, gauge reaction to new advertisements and so much more.
Pinterest is such a visual platform, it has inspired our team to create new photo shoots and unique content that will appeal to our community on Pinterest (and beyond). In fact, we’re investing in our own photo studio so that we can create unique behind-the-scenes content for Pinterest (and other social networks).
As new technology pushes the bounds of “what’s possible”, it simultaneously pushes the idea of “what consumers expect from a brand like Tacori”….and we are always looking to meet that challenge!
What drove you to Pinterest?
MA: Early this year, we noticed that Pinterest was organically becoming one of our top ten traffic drivers to our website – and this was without us even having an integrated “pin it” button! (we’ve since added the button, of course!) Once we realized that our “Tacori Girls” were already on Pinterest, we wanted to join the party!
We see Pinterest as a great opportunity for businesses to showcase their culture and lifestyle. Can you share with us how Tacori uses Pinterest to do this?
MA: Pinterest is an extremely interesting new medium that’s very attractive to both Tacori and to our clientele. The ability to showcase and share visual interests is unparalleled, and we wanted to create something fun for the pinterest community that, while rewarding to them, could also provide great insight to us here at Tacori about how our Tacori Girls visualize their style fitting in with our jewelry designs. It’s exactly as you said: it showcases culture and lifestyle in the perfect visual storyboard.
Plus, because Pinterest is so addictive and fun (and we believe it will only continue to grow) we wanted to be one of the first brands in the jewelry space to try something creative like this to see what sort of response it would be possible to achieve.
Since Pinterest is the new kid on the block, is there anything you’ve done or anyone you’ve looked to for help getting started?
MA: It’s true, everything is going to be “new” when it’s new. 
I’ve been with Tacori from the way back times…before there was Facebook, before Twitter, before Instagram, before Pinterest….and I know from experience that there are no “experts” to start. The only way to get started, is to get started!
I tend to trust my own experiences as a “user” of a new platform to inform how (and if) Tacori (as a brand) should get involved. Because if you don’t have any experience as a user, you’ll never truly know how others experience your product. And for a contest like this, it’s important to understand how Pinterest performs so that we can monitor “success” metrics.
Pinterest is a place full of great inspiration. Does Tacori use Pinterest for inspiration for any business ventures? Do you look to your followers for inspiration?
MA: No matter the medium, we are constantly inspired by our fans, friends and followers. (even IRL) Specifically for Pinterest, we definitely look to see how Pinterest users integrate Tacori designs into their boards (and into their lives)…it always gives us great insight into the lifestyle and culture of our community.
We love Tacori’s “Your Best Friend’s Wedding” Pinterest contest; can you tell us your strategy and thought process behind this contest?
MA: Because Pinterest is so addictive and fun (and we believe it will only continue to grow) we wanted to be one of the first brands in the jewelry space to try something creative like this to see what sort of response it would be possible to achieve.
We wanted to create something fun for the Pinterest community that, while rewarding to them, could also provide great insight to us here at Tacori about how our Tacori Girls visualize their style fitting in with our jewelry designs. It’s exactly as you said: it showcases culture and lifestyle in the perfect visual storyboard.
As far as the concept itself, June and July are the height of Summer Wedding Season, and although not everyone will be a Bride this year…the chances are much higher that we’ll be attending a wedding or two (or more)! So this concept came about as a fun way for our followers to think about what they’d wear to a Summer Wedding…which we think perfectly pairs with the “something blue” Island Rains earrings that we featured as the Grand Prize.
What results did you see now that the contest is over? And how do you define success in general when it comes to Pinterest?
MA: We define success by continued activity! We’re like everyone else…we want our Pins and Boards to be “liked”, “repinned” and to have “comments”. So long as our followers on Pinterest continue to engage with us, we will continue to be involved on Pinterest!
As far as our success of the contest, we saw our follower rate increase 46% over the contest timeframe, which I think speaks to the success for “Tacori” as a brand (it’s always nice to have more friends!). As far as creating something unique for our fans, we had several hundred entries for the Contest, which I think speaks to the fact that this was a fun and engaging Board for our followers to create. And by creating a unique experience for our Pinterest followers, I think it helps our relationships grow and deepen within the Pinterest community.
Pinterest is all about visually appealing content. Do you feel you have an advantage because your content is so visual already? What do you do to make Tacori’s content stand out from the rest on Pinterest?
MA: Actually, seeing the high level of quality on Pinterest, I feel like our images need to be better! It’s actually extremely difficult to photograph jewelry beautifully, so we are investing in a new photo studio where we can create better images that we hope will inspire even more “pins” and “repins”!
What kind of content do you think users are looking for on Pinterest when it comes to jewelry?
MA: I think they want the “wow” factor. Something they haven’t seen before. Something that inspires them or makes them think.
For us, Pinterest allows us to tell the complete “Tacori Story” – beyond just the finished product. Because all of our jewelry is handcrafted here in California at our design studios, literally just yards from where I’m sitting…I think Tacori will have the edge to create unique “behind the scenes” photography that really showcases not only our designs, but the craftsmanship and inspiration that goes into every piece. I’m very excited about bringing that connection to life through our social network platforms.
We would like to thank Michelle Adorjan and Tacori for taking the time to talk with us. If you are looking for some jewelry to wear to your best friend’s wedding, head over to Tacori.
