Look Book

46 www.thejewelrybook.com Picture of Wealth Jewelers dish on using Instagram to sell more jewelry. Jennifer Heebner In a closed business group discussion on Facebook this spring, jewelers talked about making sales on today's most popular photo and video-sharing social media platform: Instagram. "I sell a lot from Instagram and it's free!" says Andrea Randolph of D'Andrea's Jewelers in Wantage, N.J., to a group of fellow jewelry store owners. "Instagram is a great way to build trust with future customers, and show off pieces and the personality of a store," adds Victoria Leonhardt of Wattsson & Wattsson Jewelers in Marquette, Mich. The moves of these proprietors are perspicacious for mom-and-pop shops. According to a recently conducted poll from digital marketer Manta, 76 percent of small businesses surveyed did not use the social media platform for promotion. This occurs even though Instagram has 600 million monthly active users — of which 31 percent are American women and 24 percent are Yankee men — 1 million active advertisers, and users that "like" 4.2 billion posts daily. Factor in that the app is free to use, and jewelers may realize that they have a robust and under-utilized opportunity to boost their merchandise and services to a vast audience of potential fans. Laura Stanley realized the value of the medium when two female 60-some- thing clients — not millennials, the biggest users — told her they preferred it over Facebook. Stanley, who worked at her family's 80-year-old Stan- ley Jewelers Gemologists in North Little Rock, Ark., until it shuttered in 2016, stepped up efforts for the store, and eventually, to her newly minted @lauradiamondswow handle as a personal jeweler. Right after Christmas, her new business and renewed social media efforts were rewarded. "I posted an Art Deco-style aquamarine and rose gold ring on Dec. 30 for $2,500 and someone in Nashville called me within an hour to buy it," she says. For Jay Hartington, Instagram is a must-use tool to drive sales. The owner of Marissa Collection in Naples, Fla., largely shows full lifestyle looks that include jewelry on his @marissanaples feed, but also likes meaningful playful- ness for jewelry-only posts. For example, when designer Dana Rebecca styled a pink-frosted doughnut with tiny diamond stud earrings, Hartington shared the image to drive interest in an upcoming trunk show with the artist. And when a client spied Irene Neuwirth wearing a heart-shape opal necklace on her own feed, the woman reached out to Hartington about buying a similar $37,0000 version. I N S T A G R A M T E C H TA L K One-of-a-kind mixed stone earrings.

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