How Can Jewelry Brands Use Influencer Marketing?

Can jewelry brands benefit from influencer marketing?

According to statistics, influencer marketing is expected to grow to $13.8 billion this year. This is the complete opposite of predictions pre-pandemic when concerns about decreasing the influence of influencer marketing had started. Thanks to COVID-19 (NOT!), while many industries, especially travel, have to adapt their marketing strategies to current challenges, others have benefited from the expedited digital shift and transformation.

In 2019, influencer marketing recorded a positive impression regarding ROI. In fact, 89% of polled brands noted that the influencer-generated ROI was very much comparable, if not better, to other marketing channels. With this figure, it comes as less of a surprise why more and more brands are allocating a higher budget for this. In 2020, 17% of polled brands spent more than half of their marketing budget on working with influencers. While it’s a modest number, this figure highlights the significant influence of content creators on select brands.

But…what exactly is influencer marketing?

What is Influencer Marketing?

Fundamentally, influencer marketing is a form of social media marketing that leverages product mentions and endorsements from influencers or content creators. Influencers are those individuals who have developed a following that looks at them as experts in their topic area. The connection between influencers and their followers is founded on trust that any product mentions from them are considered valid social proof.

Types of Influencers

Depending on the approach you want to take, you can choose between different categories of influencers. These categories include the number of followers, the level of influence, and the type of content. You have four options if you choose to go by follower numbers.

1. Mega-influencers are those with more than 1 million followers.
2. Macro-influencers are content creators with followers between 40,000 and 1 million.
3. Micro-influencers are individuals with followers between 1,000 and 40,000. These influencers are usually niche influencers.
4. Nano-influencers are those with fewer than 1000 followers, but these followers are willing to engage with the nano-influencers.

By looking at this classification, you can easily tell the two approaches to influencer marketing. First is the reach approach where the content creators have a massive following, but those followers may follow them for diverse interests. On the other hand, the niche approach involves micro-influencers whom followers considered as experts in their niches. For example, an influencer in the jewelry industry creates content about jewelry and does not wander off of this topic. As such, you can have a guarantee that his/her followers are after jewelry content and nothing more.

Now that you have a foundational knowledge of influencer marketing, let’s see the different ways you can use it to help your brand grow.

6 Ways Jewelry Brands Can Leverage Influencer Marketing

1. First off, find the right influencer for your brand

Before diving into the influencer marketing trend, come up with a brief to ensure that you will realize your vision. Identify your goals, your budget, and the platform you want to target. The last one is critical because some influencers only work on or are only visible on a particular platform. For example, they may only be heavily visible on TikTok but your target buyers are on Instagram.

Goal identification is essential. Do you want to increase brand awareness? Increase your following? or are you looking for more sales? Whatever your goal is, create a way to measure your influencer’s impact on your business and keep track of their tangible outcomes.

2. Collaborate with influencers for an influencer-designed jewelry collection

#LucyWilliamsXMissoma—if this hashtag looks familiar to you, that’s because of the successful collaboration between the British influencer Lucy Williams and the jewelry brand Missoma. The collection designed by the influencer has remained to be the brand’s best-selling coin necklaces.

Designing their own lines is one of the most effective ways to build a long-term connection with the influencer. After all, influencer marketing is not just about offering them money, a product, or exposure to make influencers say nice things about you. It’s about building relationships.

The Missoma collaboration is a good example of what influencer marketing should be. By allowing them to express their creativity through designs, your brand doubles the benefit. The influencer will not only promote your jewelry pieces, but they will also constantly post pictures of them wearing the jewelry on their social media platform. Here, they can show their followers how to style the pieces and what outfit goes well with the design.

This is key when looking for the right influencer to represent your brand. Don’t just go for one-product placements. Seek authenticity. Find an influencer that would truly wear your product.

3. Provide an offer or a giveaway to their followers

Another excellent way to work with influencers is by letting them host a giveaway for you or give them a discount code to offer to their followers.

Giveaways and discount offerings are a surefire way to create a buzz around your brand. They encourage engagement, attract new followers who may be interested in your jewelry product but are still saving up for the purchase and push them to take action either by purchasing or getting to know more about your brand.

The offer doesn’t have to be grand. It can be free shipping, a 10% discount, or a gift.

4. Re-state brand image using influencers

Are you a socially responsible jewelry brand?

Re-state your brand image to your consumers by showing more than by telling. One way of showing this is by using influencers that resonate well with your diverse and niche consumers.

Inclusivity is one of the hottest issues today, especially in advertisements. In fact, one study showed that 61% of Americans consider diversity in advertising as an important concern. Consumers, especially Gen Z and millennials, will no longer sit in the corner as brands they want to engage with, ignore issues that are important to them.

If you support inclusivity, work with a diverse group of influencers so everyone in your community is well-represented. If you cater to the Arab market, find an influencer that best represents them. Take a hint at Bvlgari who worked with style influencers Fatma Hussam and Lama Al Akeel in a campaign that targeted the Arab market.

Always invest in the right influencers and your consumers will financially support your cause.

5. Make influencers the face of your new line or campaign

Build more brand awareness by working with influencers or brand ambassadors who could be the new face of your product line.

Introduce them to your consumers during product launches or new campaign releases. These influencers will help increase awareness of your new product line even before the actual launch date. Such pre-event exposure will also trigger excitement among your consumers and their followers.

Take, for example, social media superstar and influencer Chiara Ferragni who became the ambassador for Pomellato for Women, or David Yurman who once worked with Elle, thereby allowing them to reach not only Elle’s millions of followers but also drew on the following of two influencers who hosted the collaboration.

6. Influencers and the power of gifting

Lastly and perhaps the most common—gifting.

This is very straightforward. You gift a piece of your handmade jewelry to the influencer you want to work with, which then allows them to share photos of themselves wearing your piece on their Instagram account or other social media platforms. Others go beyond just posting photos as they also make an unboxing video, which really gives your brand added star power, especially if you have beautiful jewelry packaging and boxes.

Such an approach, however, is not foolproof, especially if there’s no clear business agreement between you and the influencer, but such is the way to authenticity. For instance, there’s no guarantee that they will do an unboxing video for you or even post a photo acknowledging the product you gave them. It’s worth the risk, however, because when they do, it starts the conversation about your business and sparks interest in your creation.

To avoid the risk, ensure that you only collaborate with influencers with whom you have a good, long-term relationship. Remember that it’s not about quick results, but a steady and slow approach to success.

Get the groundwork done toward lucrative influencer marketing

Overall, it’s best to acknowledge early on that working with influencers is not a shortcut to consumer reach or increased conversion. In fact, it’s a slow game of building trust and connection that requires an ongoing relationship investment. Remember: To win their followers’ hearts, minds, and pockets, you must first win the influencer.

As such, always lay the groundwork before proceeding. Groundwork may include constantly engaging with the influencers on their social media platforms without proposing anything yet. By doing so, you are introducing your brand presence to their followers. Additionally, this constant engagement with them makes you memorable. Influencers receive a ton of messages from people they don’t know; hence, ensuring your standout quality is critical.

So go ahead and get out there. Interact, engage, and win the right influencer over.

Have you worked with any influencers before? Let us know how it impacted your jewelry brand in the comment section below!