Engaging the elusive demographic of high-earning, tech-savvy males is no easy feat. And when it came to creating an impactful social presence, Crown & Caliber was essentially starting from scratch. As a pre-owned luxury watch marketplace operating in an industry dominated by powerful brands, our strategy aimed to place Crown & Caliber in a high-end yet accessible space and grab the attention of our core audience of male watch enthusiasts.
As an eCommerce platform with 4,200 watches from 125 luxury brands, Crown & Caliber's challenges were twofold: first, appealing to an audience with a variety of interests and tastes; second, making a name for ourselves in an industry built on centuries of tradition. To that end, we developed a voice that separates us from the elevated language and lifestyle of "luxury," crafting content with an air of intelligent wit that was both approachable and informative.
Just as our company aims to disrupt the well-established and revered watchmaking industry, our goal with our marketing was to start a conversation with casual enthusiasts and collectors alike in a way that makes a luxury item feel that much more attainable.
In summary: This isn't your grandfather's watch company.
We began in July of 2015 with a strategy that emphasized high-quality imagery paired with our accessible (but knowledgeable) voice. As everyone knows, audiences vary on each social platform, but we sought to keep our content consistently engaging yet uniquely interesting on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter respectively.
Come to us on Facebook to get a link to our latest blog, enter a Facebook giveaway, or engage with us in a customer service capacity.
Find us on Twitter to vote for your favorite watch in our frequent twitter polls, to read some of our favorite articles on the watch world, or to download the style guide we created in partnership with Trunk Club. We also appreciate it when you share the love.
On Instagram, browse our professional-quality photography of outstanding watches that have just arrived, are coming soon, or were so cool they've already sold. You can catch us participating in the hashtags where our audience is, such as #SpeedyTuesday and #MacroMonday. In addition, explore our branded hashtags, created specifically to enrich the emotional connection our followers have with their watches—for instance, #CaliberWatchStory in particular highlights what drew a man to the watch on his wrist. Our newest series, #CCSidebySideSaturday, gives our followers a perspective on watches that differs from the front-on shots they see every day in their feeds. We also share quotes from the inspiring men we have deemed to be a #CaliberMan. (In case you're wondering what qualifies someone to be a #CaliberMan, we tend to ask ourselves the question: "Can he take a bear?".)
Another large part of our social success came from our marketing partnerships with major brands and retailers. We secured social media placements with partners such as Neiman Marcus, Huckberry, Gilt Groupe, Trunk Club, and The Black Tux. We also hosted special sales on our site curated by Instagram influencers such as @kicktoc, @craniotes, @wristi, @watchesofinstagram, and @wristmachine.
No matter where you encounter Crown & Caliber, we'll give you something interesting to engage with or have a quick response to your question, which usually comes with a wink and a nod.
As a result of our efforts, Crown & Caliber has built a significant and well-engaged community of watch lovers. Since July of 2015, our social following has grown to over 100K followers across all platforms. We have seen particular success on Instagram, increasing our followers by 300% to over 52K and expanding our Facebook audience to over 40K, an increase of over 800%.
Social growth has also driven sales and email acquisition that affect Crown & Caliber's bottom line. Since launching our overhauled marketing strategy, visits to our site from social platforms have increased by 900%, and our email list has jumped in subscribers by more than 1000% to over 200k. Likewise, our gross sales for 2015 were up 300% over the previous year.
It's clear that our branding efforts and our unique approach to social media made an incredible impact in establishing Crown & Caliber as a major player in the luxury watch space. And we're pretty okay with that.
