The mission of its founders Rachael Taylor and Andrew Martyniuk is to expose talented designers, educate and excite buyers, make connections and create experiences where all jewellery lovers can meet. Now in its second year, The Jewellery Cut hosted its third bi-annual edition of live events in London this September. The show offered to its visitors to discover jewellery designers and listen to a series of talks focused on the industry, one of which was my vision on how jewellers can master their Instagram accounts.
As part of the many public speaking engagements that I participate in, I spoke to Rachael Taylor, the globally renowned jewellery journalist, about the important things to consider if one wants to get the most of their Instagram account. This talk was the first out of three events I spoke at this September, closely followed by the TrendVision panel discussion about jewellery trends at VicenzaOro exhibition and my own London seminar on ‘How to Make Sales on Instagram’.
Public speaking is one of the most enjoyable aspects of my job as it allows me to communicate with designers, brand representatives and jewellery aficionados offline. Some of which are my followers, and I finally get to meet them face to face as well as showcase my love for sharing the knowledge I have gained over the years on social media. Here in this article I want to share a few basic rules of Instagram success I spoke about with Rachael.
Rachael Taylor: How important it is for a designer to have their persona presence on Instagram?
Katerina Perez: People are interested in big brand names, but they definitely want to feel a personal connection, know a human behind an Instagram account. I believe I am successful in what I do as my followers have a direct contact (and connection) with me, they engage and invest their time in me, they believe in my taste and my passion for the jewellery I showcase.
RT: So what should designers showcase on their Instagram apart from jewellery to be more personal?
KP: Instagram is your visual story and it gives you the power of taking your followers ‘behind the scenes’, showing them something they would have not seen if they didn’t follow you. It is also a great tool to educate your audience and show your expertise, so there is so much more one can do with Instagram than just creating a jewellery catalogue. Show your sketches, jewellery-making process, designs inspirations, educate about various gemstones and jewellery-making techniques… Show jewellery as a still – life image, being worn, in different context – that all contributed to creating a variety of content.
RT: Instagram has democratised jewellery in terms of people being able to get the story of jewellery across, rather than it simply being commodity lead. How important is Instagram? Is it here to stay? Because it’s a huge investment in time...
KP: Yes, it is, and not just time, but money as well. To unearth jewels that I showcase, I have to pay for travelling, accommodation, for photography and retouching, invest my time that also costs money into creating captions, researching hashtags and communicating with my audience. But it is the right investment as Instagram is here to stay. I believe it’s very helpful for designers and brands to hire a social media specialist who can dedicate themselves to growing this channel as it is a full-time job.
RT: What are your thoughts on using Instagram as a selling tool?
KP: There is actually a technique behind creating Instagram accounts that sell and it includes content curation that consists of 3 types of posts: informative, entertaining and selling ones, there should be a good balance between them all. It’s also important to bear in mind that not every sale is direct – Instagram is as much of a sales tool as a marketing and communication tool.
RT: Have there been any trends or changes that you feel are working well?
KP: As I mentioned before, using all new features of the app is what the algorithm rewards - and though it’s not a trend - posting regularity is what Instagram loves most. Using micro-bloggers that have real engagement as opposed to only those with huge followings is also a way to genuine connections between brands and consumers. That’s the biggest trend: it’s about quality not quantity.
