It was a glittering night for Jack Murphy Jewellers at Northern Ireland's first ever Social Media Awards! Held in the world famous Europa Hotel, Belfast on Thursday 26th September. It was hosted by the inspirational Little Penny Thoughts and Shauna Rafferty, with entertainment from Ireland's most popular and biggest band Riff Shop.
The sparkling awards ceremony celebrated freelancers, individuals, teams, agencies and businesses delivering social media marketing and demonstrating excellence in their work, with Jack Murphy Jewellers taking home TWO AWARDS!
Firstly, winning the 'Influencer/ Blogger Campaign of the Year' Award for their partnership with Down Royal Racecourse Summer Festival of Racing earlier this year.
Gemma Murphy commented: "It has been an exciting year for us as we have significantly grown our social media presence, whilst also recently having announced the expansion of our existing showroom, with plans in place to double it's size, pre-Christmas. We have built many wonderful relationships through our partnership with Down Royal Racecourse and we look forward to building on these as we move into the new year!"
Judges stated: "The winning campaign delivered every tangible benefit of influencer marketing - follower engagement, driving traffic, creating more authentic content not to mention a huge jump in brand awareness."
Later in the night, Jack Murphy Jewellers received recognition for their 'Sparkle in Style' event which took place in November of last year. Judges applauded Jack Murphy Jewellers for their detailed application and awarded 'Best Social Media Campaign in Retail' to the family-run business.
Judges stated: "This was an incredibly detailed application; far more effort and detail have been invested. When most businesses on the high street are loosing sales and scaling back they have pushed back by creating a successful event and engaging with influencer marketing. This has led to an impressive 25% increase in their sales in-store. They have clearly demonstrated the power of social media and digital marketing and the effect it can have on a retail environment. They have a small team and are family-run yet they appear from the outside to be highly competitive online with much bigger firms. Very good application and well deserved."
Founders of the NI Social Media Awards, Niamh Taylor of DIgital 24 and Caroline O'Neill, Owner of DIGG For Success and DIGG Childrenswear commented: "We were truly overwhelmed by the response to the first year of the awards and would like to extend our congratulations to the winners and finalists.
Thank you to our fabulous sponsors as the awards wouldn't have happened without their support and to our expert panel of independent judges for giving up their time to go through over 300 entries and selecting the stars of Northern Ireland's social media marketing."