hi there I'm Jessica rose welcome to
this short course on Instagram for your
jewelry business so welcome everyone
Instagram is one of my favorite social
media platforms especially for jewelers
because it's such a beautiful visual
platform and jewelry is of course a
beautiful and visual discipline so I'm
going to be talking you through why you
might use Instagram for our jewelry
business covering some top tips and also
looking at how and what to post then
we'll get more into the details of what
you can do to really master Instagram
for your jewelry business so why would
you use Instagram well it's very popular
at the moment I would say it's the most
popular social media platform it
definitely is for our industry so pretty
much every jeweler that I know is on
Instagram or aspires to be on Instagram
as I mentioned it's a very visual
platform and as jewelry is a visual
product it's a beautiful place for us to
be able to show our jewelry through life
style images photographs or models and
general product photography we can also
use videos and all sorts of other
creative ways to get our jewelry out
there it's a great way to connect with
new potential customers as well as the
ones you already have
so whilst we might not want to email our
customers every day or have that regular
contact in that way Instagram is a way
that we can contact with people on a
very regular basis that helped keep our
jewelry in their minds and their hearts
so that when they're ready to make a
purchase you are the first person
they're going to be coming to you it's
wonderful for building community so
whilst all social media platforms claim
to build community in my personal
opinion Instagram is the best for this
you're able to interact with people
comment on their pieces direct message
them and there's just such a beautiful
feeling around the jewelry community on
Instagram so once you get started and
get your teeth into it you're gonna
start making friends making other
connections and of course finding
customers through the platform now all
of that's well and good but why are we
really on Instagram for most of us is to
generate sales in our business so
Instagram it's also a great tool for
this whilst there aren't many places on
Instagram you can have a direct link you
can get one in your profile and they're
just starting to bring out some product
placement links on some versions of the
platform as well there are not lots of
links on Instagram but we can definitely
build that community that desire and
lots of people do their shopping through
Instagram especially creatives I know
tons of people who look on Instagram to
find the latest products they love click
on the link through to the website and
then go ahead to find the piece to buy
another way to connect with customers on
Instagram is through direct messaging so
encouraging people to message you to ask
for Commission's where to get specific
products and what they can find
what page to go to on your website there
you can share more information through
the direct message platform so there's
tons of reasons to be on Instagram it's
a really lovely platform to work with
and I'm hoping that through this course
you'll be able to learn some of the
techniques that we've been working on
that have worked really well to build
our audience and apply them to yours to
build your audience too so building a
following getting sales and thriving on
Instagram doesn't happen overnight like
anything in business it is a commitment
and I like to think of Instagram is
almost like a series of mini blog posts
now that doesn't mean we have to write a
whole essay every time we post but we
post an inspiring image or quote
followed by a nice bit of text sometimes
short sometimes long this helps our
customers to engage with us learn more
about us and connect with us and of
course we write some sales posts that
help sell our jewelry specifically it
takes commitment and showing up
I always encourage people if you want to
build your Instagram or if you're
starting from scratch and you really
want to build a following then I would
absolutely suggest to post every day so
I'm setting you a challenge to have a go
at posting every day now this may not be
sustainable in the long run after six
months however long it is of doing this
you might be thinking I need to focus on
other areas of my business which is
understandable but just know that if you
want to build and grow it this is a
strategy that I would take if you can't
do every day at least do every other day
that regular commitment and contact with
customers it's what's going to help
build your following on the platform
next up of course is essential that we
have beautiful and inspiring images so
if you're not too confident on your
product photography then have a go at
developing that take a course or do some
practice shoots develop your skills
because having some really nice images
is going to make a huge difference to
the interaction you get on the platform
we've noticed that brighter images tend
to do well statistically so unless your
brand is specifically quite a dark
luxurious brand I would absolutely
encourage lots of light into your
product photography and anything that
you post on Instagram so now we know a
little bit about the basics and what we
need to do we have a look into your
ideal customer so of course we can post
up on Instagram and people can follow us
like us and engage with us but unless
it's speaking to your ideal customer
it's a little bit of wasted time so it's
good at the beginning of your account or
wherever you're at now to have a think
about who you're trying to connect with
who is likely to be interested in your
jewelry and go ahead to buy it it's not
about having the most number of
followers it's about having the most
engaged followers people who are really
interested in what you have to offer a
good place to start is your friends and
family they're obviously going to want
to support you and are probably really
interested in getting some of your
jewelry - they're going to start to be
the Bay
is of your loyal following but we do
build on from there afterwards looking
further afield are other people who are
going to be interested in your product
it really helps to have a niche that you
can focus on and we're going to be
talking about hashtags in a little bit
but if you can have hashtags around your
niche that's a good way to show up in
certain search results and make more
connections so some of the basics on
your account that you want to make sure
that you have a handle your Instagram
handle is at my jewelry business or
whatever it is then you also want to
have a completed by AAG which is a few
lines underneath your profile picture
that explains about you now use these
lines well because you only have a few
of them and we want to try and get
across in that short space of time that
you're a jewelry designer the key unique
factor that you bring to your jewelry
business and something about your
personality you also want to make sure
that you have a nice profile picture
whether it be a beautiful image of
yourself of your jewelry or your logo
depending on what style of brand you're
doing but I often like profile pictures
that are of people I find these to be
the most engaging on Instagram embrace
the emoji so whilst I wouldn't
necessarily recommend using emojis in
all different areas of your business
Instagram loves emojis so feel free to
play around with different emojis and
how you use them on your Instagram
account whether it be by commenting on
other people's accounts in your own
descriptions or in your insta stories so
do embrace the emoji
for those of you that are new to
Instagram just to explain some of the
basics you have a grid which you can
post on and each image is posted as a
square those posts they on your account
pretty much forever until you delete
them and your followers will see them or
a percentage of your followers will see
them now the more people that engage
with your posts especially early on we
don't know exactly how long it might be
in the first 10 to 15 minutes after you
post the more people that engage in that
time the higher rated your image is and
the more people it will be shown to
through the Instagram algorithm so our
job is to try and get as many people to
look at our posts as early as we post as
possible now I don't need to stress
about this that we're gonna be talking
through some top tips on how to do that
so alongside your grid there is also the
option to add Instagram stories now
these are not shown on your grid they're
shown at the top you can click on the
profile button which I'll show you a
little bit later and it will show you
the stories stories generally only last
for around 24 hours on Instagram but
there is a way for you to save them so
that you can see them for longer but
generally speaking stories don't have to
be as curated as your Instagram pictures
because they're going to be gone after a
little while they're a nice way to show
your personality and your brand in a
different light
so that's some of the basics of
Instagram you've got your grid
you've got your stories and you've got
your profile which you're setting up you
can also then comment on other people's
posts like them and engage with them
through that way and finally you've got
direct messaging too next I want to talk
about engaging with your customers so
there's a few different ways that you
can encourage your customers to engage
with you on Instagram when you do a post
you can include a question so this could
be a general question asking them how
their day is or what they're up to today
or it could be something more specific
asking for a suggestion I've just
created this new necklace and I want to
give it a name what would you call it or
you might have an option I'm setting a
stone into this ring should I use a ruby
or a sapphire
these are good ways to get engagement
because you're asking a simple easy
question that your followers can answer
now if you've only got a couple of
followers and you're just starting out
we can start by building our account
first before we get on to the questions
but once you've got a bit of a following
asking questions is a really nice way to
get interaction through your account
next we're going to talk about what to
post on your Instagram so we know that
it needs to be related to our ideal
customer something that's going to
inspire them encourage them to buy our
jewelry but also just make them feel
good so you'll have different types of
posts we normally recommend that you
have a three to one ratio of sales posts
to value posts so whilst every post
should give value at least three of them
shouldn't really encourage sales at all
and then the fourth one you can be very
specific about what you want go on to my
website on the link to buy this necklace
for example this is a nice way to make
sure you're adding lots of value but
also including your sales because what
some people do is we focus so much on
Buy
that's all we do and nobody actually
knows what we're selling and where to go
and buy it so we want that nice balance
of value and support that we're giving
to our customers but also direction and
saying if you'd like to purchase this
this is where you need to go the next
thing to think about when you're posting
is how do you want your customers to
feel so I often find that Instagram more
than any other platform is about an
emotional connection with your customers
so posting your images you want them to
feel probably excited and engaged with
what you're doing but it's also nice to
post some quotes I use an app called
word swag to create quote posts which
look really nice and fit in with my
brand I actually find that my quote
posts get the most interaction of all so
if you haven't had a go at experimenting
with quotes then do try that it also
takes the pressure off having to
constantly have product photography if
you're posting every day focus on
connection over products so whilst we
want to share our products with the
world the most important thing about
social media is connections building
your audience building engagement so
that they can't wait to get on your
website and see what you have to offer
now I spoke a little bit before about
posting every day and I'd actually like
to set you a little challenge if you're
up for it we've created a 30 day guide
on what to post for jewelers on
Instagram now of course you don't have
to be strict about this but what it does
is it talks through a whole month's
worth of content 30 days and there's a
suggestion for what you should post on
each day so one day it might be
something about you one day it might be
an image of your jewelry one day it
might be a more lifestyle shot have a
look in the notes and download your copy
so that you can have a go at this
challenge so taking up the challenge is
not only a really good way to build up
your Instagram account but it'll also
make a huge difference with the
connections that you make with other
people on Instagram
let us know how you get on what it does
to your followers what it does to your
engagement and your sales through
Instagram I think you'll be surprised
about what a difference it can make
so now we know how Instagram works and
what we should post I want to talk to
you about a strategy that I use for how
to post so this strategy is not just
known to me it's the general one but I
have developed it over working on two
Instagram accounts one is the London
Jewish school Instagram account which I
worked on for a while a couple of years
ago using a similar strategy to this and
more recently the jeweller's Academy
account which I've been working on over
the past few months and really built up
our following on there using this
strategy we've gone from no followers to
a thousand within a month which is quite
challenging and it does take time and
effort but you can absolutely do the
same if it's something that's important
for your strategy in your business so
the first part of the strategy is to
post every day as I mentioned really
beautiful lifestyle shots quote images
if that's relevant to you and anything
that speaks to your ideal customer I
like to schedule my posts in advance now
by that I don't mean using a scheduling
tool but scheduling it for me
so that I know what I'm going to post
when I always do my posting by hand
naturally organically that way I'm
available to respond to people before
and afterwards I use a tool called plan
early to schedule out my posts this is a
really useful tool because what I can do
is upload my images on to plan early it
shows me what they're going to look like
on an Instagram style account and I can
move them around so that I can set up a
really nice aesthetic visual for my
account so whilst each image we want to
look nice we also want the whole quilt
on our Instagram to look nice
so using finally is a great way to do
this I can also schedule out when I want
to post each piece I try to use a
mixture of photos videos quotes and
stories so I'll show you my account
in a little bit but I like to do a
photograph followed by a quote followed
by a photograph followed by a quote and
I try and post at least one story a week
to engage with my audience some people
in Instagram these days only really look
at stories so if you're not on there you
are missing some of your followers and
some people who may be interested in
what you're doing so this is the
strategy before you post start engaging
with other people on Instagram under
your niche hashtag so finding your niche
hashtag is quite important and there
probably will be a bunch of them so it
might be handmade silver jewelry or
handmade jewelry or something more
specific to what you're creating or your
customers so find a hashtag that relates
to your ideal customer start interacting
with people under that hashtag just a
little bit before you post if you can
then go ahead and put up your post and
then I spend about 10 minutes after I
post engaging with people under those
hashtags I'll like lots of pictures I'll
comment on lots of pictures so for us
it's a little bit different because
we're jeweler's Academy but to give you
an example I'll go under handmade
jewelry and I'll find some jewelers that
I like and I'll give them a compliment
about the piece because I like it I'll
say that's a really nice piece wonderful
work great photography whatever it is
and you need to do that for your ideal
customer try and find them where they're
at speak to them
compliments are always a nice thing to
give what happens is they then come and
look at your account have a look at your
posts and if you have genuine content
that you're posting every day that's
beautiful and engaging then they're
going to want to follow you so this is a
strategy it's not a spammy way of doing
anything it's a way of creating real and
genuine engagement the common mistakes
that lots of people make on Instagram is
that we post our picture and then we go
we look at our likes and feel
disappointed and we don't understand why
other people are getting loads of
followers loads of likes what's so
special about them compared to us and
that
there's nothing the difference is
engagement so it's all about doing that
engagement if you can a little before
but most importantly afterwards and
spend as much time as you can
speaking to people on Instagram now
every time someone comments on your post
I'd highly recommend that you comment
back saying thank you or something
relevant to what they've said again it's
all about building that two-way
engagement this helps build your
following helps build your community and
again try it for the 30 day challenge it
is challenging to do it because it takes
quite a lot of time in all honesty when
I was starting the jeweller's Academy
account I spent nearly an hour every day
on my Instagram to build it up to where
I wanted it to be no I don't do that
anymore I probably spend closer to 15 to
20 minutes but if this is a cool part of
your strategy it's really worth doing
and the thing that I love about
Instagram is if you put the effort in it
does pay back so I'll leave it there for
this video and look forward to seeing
you in the next video soon good luck
with setting up and getting going on
your Instagram account and do download
the notes - have a go at that 30 day
challenge bye for now if you found this
video helpful and we're like ongoing
training and support in your joy may
'king and your jewelry business you may
be interested in joining the jeweler's
Academy membership program through the
membership you'll get access to all of
our video courses learning techniques
like silver smithing stone setting metal
clay wire wrapping and more you'll also
get access to our core business courses
designed to build a profitable
sustainable jewelry business my favorite
part is the monthly master classes on
jewelry business topics with expert
speakers and plenty of times to ask your
questions and get support we also have a
joy photography course specifically
aimed to help you get amazing pictures
of your jewelry from home plus a private
Facebook group and exclusive discounts
for members to find out more and to sign
up today take a look at jeweler's
academy.com
forward slash
and I'll pop a link in your notes see
you on the next video for part 2 of the
Instagram training