Introduction: Just the Basic Stuff

Quick Facts About Instagram for Jewelers

Hello and thank you for visiting this page!

While there are many guides out there on using Instagram for business, none of them focuses on the jewelry industry.

With little information available, jewelers often hit a very low ceiling, very early when building their social media presence. Jewelers, like all other businesses, find it extremely challenging to stand out and engage with over 1.4 billion active users each month. This figure is expected to grow to 1.44 billion monthly active users by 2025.

The challenge is compounded by the fact that creating content on jewelry is extremely difficult. Jewelers not only need to be innovative in their visual aesthetics, but they also need to produce relevant and high-quality jewelry images and videos, not to forget being trendy, authentic rather than curated, and relatable are also major factors.

You’re probably asking, “so what ideas can help me attract and engage with my audience?

Well then, you’re in luck! We built this guide to give you fresh, new ideas that will invigorate your stagnant Instagram page for you to start gaining traction.

Read on!

Your Instagram Feed: The Lifeblood of Your Online Presence

Your Instagram Feed is a great way to communicate with your target audience. You can quickly show and tell them what your business is about using only product photos and videos. Here, you can build a targeted following using #hashtags as through them, users looking for the same products you’re selling can easily find you.

Are #hashtags still relevant?

Yes! Although hashtags have been the subject of debate, they remain one of the most effective tools to be discovered on the platform. But keep it to a minimum, preferably between three to five. Use the right hashtags and keywords to rack up engagement and following, which may convert into customers later on.

Another thing to note is the type of product images and videos you use. The jewelry photos on your website may not have to be the same photo you use on Instagram. The latter allows more creative freedom and expression while the former demands a more professional and formal appearance and feel. As such, Instagram is a surefire way to connect with your targeted audience on a personal level, especially when you allow your creative juices to flow through your product photos and videos.

Do you know that the more authentic, genuine, and open you are to your audience, the more they engage with your content? We know you want to make a good impression on your potential customers.

With only 2 to 8 seconds of a window of opportunity to engage with Instagram users, what you post on your feed determines whether they stay or go. The next section details the best practices our customers use for attracting and converting followers!

Ideas to Attract and Convert: Let the Creative Juices Flow!

Combining your products. No one likes spam.

Avoid annoying your Instagram followers by spamming them! Over-posting, which in this case, means your brand appears on your followers’ feed post-after-post, is one of the quickest ways to lose your audience.

If you’re too excited to get your new creations out to the public and you find it hard to stick with three posts a day, why not create a thrill by photographing your new items in a single photo. Arrange it creatively, and the interested and intrigued audience will likely interact with it by liking, commenting, or reposting.

If you’d like to post constant content on your Instagram page, consider using Instagram Story. The great thing about this feature is that:

“You can share as much as you want throughout the day— with as much creativity as you want. You can bring your story to life in new ways with texts, music, and drawing tools. The photos and videos will disappear after 24 hours and won’t appear on your profile grid or feed. However, you can collate these stories by adding them to your Highlights.”

Highlights are a collection of Instagram stories you curate. They are located at the top of your personal or business profile, represented through tappable circles. Highlights are also an excellent way to categorize your Instagram stories.

Instagram stories make converting sales much easier by giving your audience the chance to privately message you directly on any story or interact with you by adding an emoji reaction sticker to every story. Having the right mix of posts and stories each day will maximize your chances of attracting new followers and converting them.

Do not take stickers for granted. They are the simplest way to increase engagement and brand awareness as they are fun, versatile, and encourage instant interaction. Some stickers you may want to check out are Questions, Poll, Add Yours, and Link to name a few.

Recognize your customers. They like to be noticed.

Instagram users love to take photos of the brands they love! You can recognize them by reposting their photos of your brand or creating a unique hashtag they can use when they post a photo of your product or services.

Having your own #hashtag helps grow your brand’s SEO(search engine optimization). Hashtags allow users to find your brand more easily, meaning your posts will likely pop up in the“Explore” function where curious users can discover your content.

Having your customers tag your username and use your hashtags in their posts also ensures that you will have plenty of user-generated content for the years to come! Alternatively, you can instantly re-share their posts on your feed to maximize the exposure.

In the image below, Benjamin Hart jeweler used the GemLightbox to photograph their jewelry. This photo was then reposted by the latter on the GemLightbox Instagram account. Meanwhile, the second photo showed one of the clients, jewelers Keith & Molly, with the GemLightbox in action.

Show the creative process. There’s a story behind every piece.

Do you know that stories can change people’s attitudes and behaviors?

People are naturally drawn to stories. A story that appeals to one’s emotions captivates our brain by releasing oxytocin– this peptide hormone and chemical messenger is the one responsible for stimulating some positive emotions like kindness, happiness, and empathy, and motivates cooperation. If you have a good story for your audience, let it out as it sustains attention and eventually, wins their hearts.

Following up on Idea #1, combining a post on the creative process with Instagram’s story feature adds that one extra layer to connect with your audience!

In the sample image below, Cerrone jewelers managed to tell a story by letting their audience peek through their creative process. They also used text to communicate why they do what they do.

A user who reads this will immediately create the impression that the brand pays excellent attention to every piece, which differentiates them from other mass-produced jewelry brands. It makes them memorable and persuasive!

Share your experiences. Don’t be shy.

Have you been to any event lately? Take your audience with you by showing videos or photos of the event. Followers want experiences, and if they can’t be there with you, they’d be glad to be kept updated about the happenings. It helps in brand visualization and establishes a genuine appearance for your brand.

On the next page, we share a post of actual footage from the Hong Kong International Jewellery Show. We brought our followers in all of the madness and action Hong Kong had to offer, and they loved it!

Your followers also want to see the behind-the-scenes. Humanizing your brand by sharing non-product-related posts allows you to connect much more easily with your followers. Once again, use Instagram’s story feature to share your experiences in a non-spammy way. Don’t be a robot!

Utilizing Instagram’s in-built editing options for location, font, emojis, and new poll feature makes your account appear super fun and vibrant! No one likes boring accounts. Use eye-catching visuals to capture the attention of your followers then convert them using a call-to-action (CTA). A CTA can be as simple asverbs in the form of texts and graphics. “Visit The Link”, “Claim Your Prize” or “Find Out More” are examples of effective CTAs.

Simplicity is key. Avoid confusion.

As mentioned at the outset, Instagram has 800 million active users monthly. Hence, it is a perfect platform for your promotional activities, games, giveaways, sales, and other promos.

The fact that you can make such announcements or launch whatever promotional activities you’re having through product images makes it more appealing to your target audience.

It’s the most sensible approach given that Instagram is a popular platform for all things visual. This isn’t a place for your audience to read lengthy captions. Remember, the sooner you get their attention, the better for your bottom line.

If you want to bring your followers to a page, where they can find more information about your latest products, consider using a call to action (CTA). Having the right CTAs will significantly improve engagement and conversion but remember to experiment to see what works!

In the sample below, Picup Media combines simplicity in a different approach by presenting its Free Trial offer through a giant square grid. Spreading out larger images that might not look right when cropped to fit within a single post will help improve the overall design of your Instagram page.

Use product videos. The upload video button is there for a reason.

Over 80% of traffic online is video traffic. In fact, in the fourth quarter of 2023, online videos had an audience reach of around 92% among internet users globally. So if you’re not on board yet, we have two ideas that you can implement fairly quickly.

• Video idea 1

Reveal all the fantastic details of your jewelry pieces by shooting a 360-degree video! Showing the jewelry from all angles can help the audience answer many of your potential customers’ questions as they don’t have to guess how the piece looks from other angles.

Buyers are 144% more likely to add an item to their cart if they’ve seen a product video while others have claimed a 30% and 32% increase in sales and time spent on their websites, respectively.

For 360 videos, a simple battery or solar-powered turntable you can purchase from eBay will work just fine. Shooting 360 videos will require a phone stand/tripod and the right lighting and can be quite tricky, however, we’ve written up a beginner’s guide on how to shoot 360 white background video here.

See the video below on how we captured 360 videos using the latest GemLightbox Pro.

• Video Idea 2

Offer videos of the piece or provide them with a quick tutorial related to the product showing how your jewelry looks in real life.

Create added value for your customers by providing them with video content that displays your jewelry, so they know how it looks in real life or when it gets delivered to them after a purchase. This is important especially with jewelry, as it is considered high-value items.

You can also add informative videos. For instance, show them how to take care of their jewelry pieces or other tutorials that are beneficial to them.

Instagrammers are motivated by the effects and are more likely to watch the whole video, tag friends in the comments, or follow the page!

Don’t forget to optimize.

Optimize for greater results. Post. Monitor. Optimize. Repeat!

Now that you’ve got the best posting ideas for Instagram, don’t let your efforts go to waste!

Before we start, the most important thing to do is ensure that your Instagram account is updated to a business account. Having a business account provides you with basic analytics so that you can monitor, analyze, and optimize your posts.

Now that you’ve activated the business account, take note of the following points:

1. Use a tracked link in your profile bio. This can be as simple as using a shortened bit.ly link. By tracking your traffic, you can attribute how many visitors and customers were converted from Instagram.
2. Create noticeably different Instagram bios and test by measuring which variation will bring the most website clicks for the same number of followers over the same time frame.
3. Optimize your website for mobile devices. Instagram users predominantly run the app on mobile devices. Ensuring a smooth mobile experience reduces bounce rates and increases the chance for potential customers to look at your products.
4. Invest in the right Instagram analytics tools. You will not be able to determine whether your Instagram strategies are working without having the right data available. While Instagram’s insights will give you some analytics on the performance of your page, solutions such as Hootsuite will provide more in-depth analytics that will help you better understand your target audience.

The key metrics you should keep an eye out for are the following:

• Follower growth rate
• Engagement as a percentage of followers (total interactions/followers)
• Engagement per post (total interactions/period)
• Website clicks

We suggest measuring these metrics weekly so you can make changes to your social media strategy as required.

5. Use your data to optimize the best times to post and which tags to use. It will take a lot of trial and error before you see any results but remember, consistency is key!

Conclusion: Hard work and Consistency

You’ll get there eventually!

Successful Instagram profiles were not built in a day.

It will take countless months and years of posting, monitoring, and optimizing before you see any results.

However, implementing the ideas mentioned in this e-book could just set you apart from your competitors and boost your followers and engagement at a much faster rate.

There may be times when you feel that you’ve hit a brick wall. Read further as we discuss the potential problems and solutions.

Not Getting the Results?

It could be the quality of your images.

Did you know that 85% of sales are lost due to poor images? Your images are a reflection of your business and brand. Poor-quality images don’t give lasting impressions to your customers. Do not fall into this blunder.

Fortunately, there are two solutions available to jewelers who just couldn’t get their images and videos right.

Solution 1: Use better equipment

Most jewelers get trapped in the idea that using better camera equipment will yield better results. In most cases, jewelers achieve a higher resolution of a poor image.

The correct solution is to use a lighting setup made just for jewelry. In this case, GemLightbox will be the perfect solution for your business if you want to create high-quality jewelry images and social-media-ready videos using just your smartphone.

Solution 2: Digitally enhance your jewelry photos

Many jewelers resort to this method as they have given up on or simply are misguided by the result of false expectations. This was exactly how Picup Media was born – through solving the problems of the jeweler at a very early stage.

Digital enhancement includes using graphic design software to correct colors, remove blemishes, and crop backgrounds. You can see on the next page where we shoot a ring in the ¾ angle shot using the GemLightbox and retouch it to perfection.

Congratulations on reading this far!

Should you have any ideas or suggestions about jewelry photography, feel free to comment below.