How did Karlie Kloss show the world — or at least her 7.5
million Instagram followers — the huge cushion-cut diamond with which Joshua
Kushner proposed last month? The 26-year-old model and entrepreneur offered a
good shot of her bling — with its diamond pavé band — on the social media
platform’s Stories feature as she was having her hair done for a photo shoot.
Casual and classy at the same time.
If there’s one platform every jeweler in the engagement-ring
business needs to be on, Instagram is it. It offers the best opportunities for
visual storytelling.
Take, for instance, Nicole Wegman, owner and designer of
Ring Concierge — an appointment-only engagement-ring supplier with 150,000
Instagram followers. The New-York based consultant told an audience during a
panel discussion at JCK Las Vegas this year how she started her online
business, attributing her success to Instagram.
What’s her winning recipe for converting followers into
sales and loyal customers? Beautiful images of diamond rings on impeccably
manicured hands against pleasant backdrops ranging from urban landscapes to
exotic beaches. During the JCK event, she explained that she mixed entry-level
diamond rings with seriously expensive pieces and could never predict which
would get an inquiry and a buyer. It’s her polished aesthetics and decision to
feature real couples getting engaged that have hit the right note with
customers who love stunning photography and authenticity.
The benefit of working with real people — the more
attractive, the better — hasn’t been lost on the likes of De Beers and the
Diamond Producers Association (DPA). With its Women of Forever series, the
former shows clients sharing the story behind their engagement rings — and more
importantly, their love for diamonds and trust in the De Beers brand.
As for the DPA, its marketing arm, under the banner “Real is
Rare. Real is a Diamond,” is capitalizing on working with camera-friendly
individuals who are not household names but command large followings on social
media.
Its latest campaign, which runs through August 15, features
the bubbly Chelsey White of Chelsweets, a self-taught baker with more than
570,000 followers on Instagram, over 217,000 on Facebook and just under 100,000
on YouTube.
The newly engaged New Yorker documented her special moment
on her channels, and her clip for the DPA shows her baking a cake that
symbolizes the key milestones of her relationship — and of course, showing off
her gorgeous diamond engagement ring.
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - August 2018. To subscribe click here.