Globe Runner has had its fair share of fine jewelry clients, specifically those in the engagement ring business. And boy, marketing diamond sparklers on social media is tough. 

Apart from the competition, there are also the twin challenges of growing your audience on social and driving traffic to the website. We’ve learned by trial and error what works and what doesn’t, and listed below the five most useful lessons we’ve learned from our fine jeweler clients who excel at social media:

1. They make their pictures work harder

Our clients put immense effort into the photography and retouching of ring photos — for good reason. In their world, it’s the eye candy that grabs attention, not clever copy.

But you already knew that. Here’s what you may not know:

Good marketers optimize their photos as they help with visual search. Make sure your photos have keywords; ensure better page load speeds by reducing their sizes. Think of places where your photos could end up and you’ll see that watermarking them (discreetly) or adding a logo or web link (discreetly) adds an extra boost to your social media efforts.

Many Pinterest boards have photos that lead to 404s because the page with the photo was unthinkingly deleted. A web URL on the image would help enormously in leading interested shoppers back to your site.

Vary the solo photo routine every now and then by throwing in themed slide shows. They’re fantastic ways to repurpose existing content and are proven to be a draw. And don’t be afraid to be quirky. This slideshow on Disney-inspired engagement rings was the best performing content about engagement rings in 2015, earning 547,000 shares on Facebook for tech site Chip Chick. Which brings us to the next point …

2. They know Facebook is their best friend

BuzzSumo research on engagement ring content from the last 12 months bears this out. If fine jewelry clients had time and/or resources for only one or two social media platforms, for sure Facebook is there. The proof is in these BuzzSumo charts:

Facebook has more than quadruple the number of shares on Pinterest, the second most used social media channel.

Facebook dwarfs the other platforms when it comes to sharing pretty much any content format for engagement rings.

Why is Facebook such a win in engagement ring marketing? Two reasons:

• Getting engaged counts among one of life’s most significant milestones, and Facebook is The Platform for announcing to one and all life’s updates, whether big or small. If as far back as six years ago women were already discussing how to compose a creative engagement status update on Facebook, it’s only logical for fine jewelry marketers to focus the most attention on this social media network.
• Two-for-one: Although women are the main audience for engagement ring retailers, their fiancés are the buyers. The ability to tag one’s significant other when going into raptures over rings gives marketers more visibility for their product.

Posting times can be critical to Facebook posts’ performance. From our experience, evenings are the best time to schedule a post as brides are busiest scouring social media for inspiration and ideas.

3. They promote engagement (pun intended) by asking questions

Flash a question mark in front of people and they’re prompted to respond — it’s wired into the human brain. Some examples of how engagement ring retailers have applied that philosophy with sterling results to social media posts:

• A collage of recently engaged celebrity engagement rings, accompanied by the question ‘Whose engagement ring style do you like best?’
• A photo of a gorgeous ring with a coy ‘Say yes?’
• A group shot of different diamond cuts, appropriately labeled, with a caption that says ‘Marquise, cushion or halo? Which cut is your dream ring?’

Make sure the questions are of the easy yes/no variety and watch the answers roll in.

4. They don’t think of social media as an end unto itself

The best marketers of engagement rings see social media as part of an intricate ecosystem with many moving parts, and the latter has to be organized for the former to perform at its best. Before posting that perfect picture and caption on social media, you can be sure that these have taken place:

• The landing page linked to from the post has been optimized for desired actions, e.g. extending a visitor’s stay on the site by providing links to other related products; providing a pop-up with a promotional code in exchange for an email address
• The link was generated through Google’s URL builder to measure visitor traffic driven by that post
•  Thought has been given to going beyond organic shares — using promoted or boosted posts, for example, or social media influencer outreach

In short, social media both complements and is enriched by other marketing channels. Getting all the cogs working together for a common objective is key.

Underwater photo of engagement ring by Emily Cline via Flickr. Alicia is director of brand strategy at Globe Runner and a recovered diamond enthusiast.