Retailer uses Instagram to find brands, boost social strategy

National Jeweler spoke with one retailer about what attracted him to a new brand he discovered on Instagram and later added to his store offering.

Brecken Branstrator brecken.branstrator@nationaljeweler.com

Lighthouse Point, Fla.--Sean Dunn was scrolling through Instagram when he first noticed a brand that would later be added to his jewelry store’s lineup, intrigued by the interaction it was getting from followers.

Sean Dunn of J.R. Dunn Jewelers said that he liked the way SevenFriday posted “experiential” photos to bring watches to life and how engaged the brand is with its customers on social media.

He had found his way to Watch Anish, a luxury watch and menswear blog with an Instagram account boasting more than 1 million followers. From there, he saw a few “re-grams” of posts originally from Swiss watch brand SevenFriday, and liked what he saw.

Dunn, vice president at J.R. Dunn Jewelers in Florida, said that one of the things that first attracted him to SevenFriday was the type of photos they were posting to Instagram--rather than the “sterile” product shots most users are used to seeing, its posts were experiential, bringing watches to life.

Dunn said that he couldn’t believe the interaction that the brand was getting from its customers. It wasn’t just the “likes” and “follows,” but actual comments and discussions that blew him away.

“It was amazing to see this huge response to a watch brand that I hadn’t heard of before,” Dunn said.

Followers were using the platform to talk about how much they love their SevenFriday watches or asking where they could purchase them, both of which are good indicators of a brand’s future success, Dunn added.

“SevenFriday’s Instagram page shows how the timepieces are an integral part of the fabric of their wearers’ lives via images,” Dunn said. “Self-expressive people share photographs of their daily lives, and the company comments to engage them in an open dialogue. They don’t just own a watch; they are part of an online network and unique community.”

J.R. Dunn Jewelers has since picked up the line, adding SevenFriday to its watch offerings in the store and online. Dunn said that he was brought to that decision not only because of the brand’s social presence but also because it fit a price point he had yet to fill in his store; the SevenFriday watches that J.R. Dunn offers range in price from about $1,190 to $1,690.

“It should be interesting to see whether it actually translates into strong sales for us or not,” Dunn said.

SevenFriday also has inspired the

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company to take a look at its own social media strategy, and as a result, this is “really a time of re-invention” for the retailer, Dunn said. Learning from what the top brands are doing can really help a store assess what it’s doing well and what could be done better.

Dunn recommends starting this assessment by following a brand a store already carries to see what they’re doing, and learn from it.

“See what people are really responding to,” Dunn said, adding that it’s necessary for jewelers to have an “explorer’s mentality” to take the time to find who’s doing well and what strategies they’re using.

He also noted that it might be a better idea to pick a few social media platforms and invest the time and strategy to execute those accounts well, rather than spreading employee time too thin by trying to tackle too much.

Brecken Branstratoris the senior editor, gemstones at National Jeweler, covering sourcing, pricing and other developments in the colored stone sector.