Increasing numbers of jewellery designers and retailers are jumping on the Instagram bandwagon – and for good reason!
Instagram has become a very popular search tool for millennial consumers looking for jewellery – particularly engagement rings – as a result of influencer and celebrity involvement in jewellery retailers’ and designers’ social media campaigns.
The Power of Celebrity
Instagram posts featuring attractive celebrities and influencers with perfectly painted fingernails, showing off their engagement rings whilst living their dream lives, can impact greatly on consumer choices. Influencers can dictate trends, and Royal Family engagement rings are a perfect example of this. For example, when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their engagement in 2017, the demand for three stone engagement rings, with large central diamonds, increased significantly.
Alyssa Smith is a British businesswoman who started a small jewellery business in 2010, with a start-up fund of just £500. Now, Alyssa sells iconic silver jewellery to customers all over the world. Her customers include a host of celebrities, including Jamelia, Theo Paphitis, Sheridan Smith and Beverley Knight. She credits the power of social media marketing – particularly Instagram – for her astounding success:
“It was through social media that we first managed to connect with several well-known celebrities to endorse our brand,” explains Alyssa. “Social media is an absolutely huge part of our brand. This is how we interact with our customers on a daily basis.”
The Power of Storytelling
Millennials increasingly expect their shopping experiences to extend beyond the products themselves. The most successful social media marketing strategies tend to leverage the power of storytelling, often by inviting followers to experience an influencer’s lifestyle, and encouraging them to see themselves in the brand they are promoting. Storytelling can also be used to communicate a retailer’s story directly to potential and existing consumers.
Another advantage of partnering with an influencer is that they are able to communicate with potential buyers in real-time. Consumers who are highly engaged with the story and the brand are more likely to purchase on the spot.
The Power of Partnerships
To develop an organic and successful partnership with an Instagram influencer, jewellery retailers should target a personality whose lifestyle (and the aspirational lifestyle of their followers) mirrors their own target demographic.
Bear in mind that the size of your business will dictate which influencers might be willing to partner with your brand. Influencers with huge followings will only be interested in partnering with huge brands, so if you are a small business, you will need to scale your ambitions accordingly.
Of course, it is necessary to carry out some extensive research before approaching potential influencers. There are several influencer marketing platforms that can help with this. Once you have a shortlist of potential influencers, you will also need to craft a persuasive pitch before approaching them.
The Power of Information
As well as inspiring followers through influencers, Instagram is proving to be a very powerful platform for educating and informing prospective customers. For example, shoppers on Instagram are becoming increasingly aware of the financial and ethical reasons for considering lab-grown diamonds over mined diamonds, thus increasing sales of engagement rings featuring lab-grown diamonds.
The more educated consumer is also more likely to turn to custom design and high-end brands.
Summing Up:
- Ensure that your social media campaigns are set up to inspire, inform, and engage;
- Invest in some stunning photography of your jewellery;
- Partner with a suitable influencer to enhance your brand through their lifestyle;
- Tell the story of your business and your brand;
- Educate your followers about the latest news and trends in the jewellery industry.
Following these steps should supercharge your online sales, so give your marketing strategy a revamp, and get ready to launch that successful new Instagram campaign!
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