| | | | | fashion and gossip blogs by sending bloggers pictures |
| Buying a diamond is typically an interactive, hands-on | | | | of celebrities wearing designs. The partners |
| experience. So $15 million Whiteflash.com, an online | | | | collaborate with to publish 10 to 20 articles per month |
| diamond jewelry retailer, has sought out ways to | | | | on its own website related to fashion and style. |
| make its website seem more neighborly to upscale | | | | Earlier this year, the company also extended its |
| customers hailing from Singapore to Russia. | | | | Facebook presence with a fan page where |
| has achieved this by using live online chat to extend | | | | customers can share stories and photos. |
| support beyond traditional U.S. retail hours and by | | | | Wexler estimates they spend about $10,000 per |
| getting chummy with bloggers who can keep its | | | | month on social marketing activities. "Anything you |
| name well-represented in search engines. | | | | touch has the potential to touch 50 other people," |
| In the process, the Houston-based company has | | | | she says. "This is where we're going with marketing. |
| grown organic visitor traffic to its site generated by | | | | You have to get people talking about you." |
| the top three search engines by 411 percent since | | | | To keep people engaged while on the website, |
| 2006, to an average of 10,000 visitors per month. | | | | Wexler plans to add live chat features using |
| Revenue, meanwhile, has grown by 15 percent, says | | | | technology from in early 2009. This serves a dual |
| CEO Debra Wexler, 49, who co-founded the business | | | | purpose: It helps provide prospective customers with |
| with Brian Gavin, 50, a fifth-generation diamond | | | | quicker answers to their questions, and it gives the |
| cutter. | | | | staff valuable customer metrics that can be used to |
| By working with internet search agency Web.com, | | | | guide future product choices. Says Wexler, "We can |
| Wexler has orchestrated a social marketing campaign | | | | better understand where they are coming from and |
| over the past two years that stokes dialogue on | | | | where they are going. |
