The Israeli Diamond Industry launched Stage 4 of its strategic marketing programme entitled - “Together Works”, during a press conference organised by the Israel Diamond Institute Group of Companies (IDI) at the JCK Las Vegas trade show. Within this Stage 4, IDI has used every social media platform from YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to blogs and Linkedin, to promote diamonds. The most significant use of the media in Stage 4 is the launch of the Israeli Diamond Industry YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=israelidiamond, making it the first ever diamond center channel. %% The channel aims at revolutionising the diamond industry’s presence on YouTube, with the understanding that as online and marketing evolve at a breathtaking pace, the YouTube platform will enable buyers to virtually meet new suppliers, and connect with important ‘meet and greet’ that is such an intrinsic part of the diamond business. So far, IDI has uploaded 38 unique videos each featuring a different Israeli diamond company. The image films were produced specifically for YouTube as a service for Israeli diamond companies while introducing them to new and out-of-the-box forms of marketing. %% The press conference also had IDI promoting the Israeli Diamond Industry blog http://blog.israelidiamond.co.il/, launching a new industry face on: Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ramat-Gan-Israel/Israeli-Diamond-Institute/67240223724 , Twitter http://twitter.com/isdiam and the professional network. Linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/in/israelidiamond. These features can also be accessed via IDI’s flagship portal in English, Chinese, Russian and Hebrew www.israelidiamond.co.il. %% Avi Paz, President of the Israel Diamond Exchange and the World Federation of Diamond Bourses, said “As a global industry we need to be proactive in promoting our product, which is what we are doing through the generic marketing campaign scheduled to launch in 2010. This marketing campaign is a result of the cooperation between mining companies, jewellery brands, WFDB and IDMA.,” he said. “We cannot overemphasize the importance of ‘working together’. I’m pleased that in Israel we decided to focus all the IDI resources on marketing and that our campaign ‘Together Works’ is a successful move.” IDI Managing Director Eli Avidar affirmed that social media marketing is an essential piece of all marketing campaigns today. %% Alissa Goren, IDI Chief Marketing Officer, illustrated the the audience reach which can be targeted by IDI’s online presence: “The fact is that in February this year, YouTube reached 100 million viewers, and in terms of general online video watching in January 2009 Internet users viewed 14.8 billion videos online. We are seeing a trend on Facebook over the past six months that its largest growth has been among 35 – 44 year olds, with women over 55 the fastest growing segment. Blogs now touch tens of millions around the world. And over 40 % of Twitter’s audience is working adults aged 35–49. We need to harness the tremendous power of Web 2.0 to the benefit of our industry,” she said.