A Guide to Instagramming Your Pearls in 2020

Instagram remains my favourite social media channel to admire pearls and pearl jewelry. The fact that it is such a visual platform makes it the best, in my opinion, to showcase pearls. But even within Instagram, there are choices. Would you rather see a post on your feed or a story about the pearl jewelry designer? And what about IGTV? I believe all three have their merits.

Instagram Posts

Instagram Posts give me more options to engage with the designer and express my own ideas and opinions about the jewelry piece. In addition, posts allow the jewelry designer to have a more consistent image and message of their brand. Because Instagram is so visual, just looking at the profile of different pearl jewelry designers or scrolling through their most recent ten or fifteen images gives me a good idea about their brand aesthetic. Nevertheless, over processed photographs where the pearls start to look almost artificial, really put me off. In a sense, less is more as far as pearl photo editing is concerned. Natural light and natural looking lustre are the best! Also, while consistency is crucial in posting, if my feed is overrun with many posts of the same or similar photograph, I tend to get bored and slightly irritated!

Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories, however, seem to be a more fun way for jewelry designers to express themselves. I enjoy seeing different personalities and unique perspectives shine through in stories. Adding hashtags, stickers and other filters make stories so much more than just the photo or video upload. The interactive features of Instagram Stories can be very entertaining- polls, question stickers, emoji sliders and external links are some features I really love. Plus, there is no best time to post stories because they stay uploaded for 24 hours. Finally, the ideal number of stories to upload at any one time is 7, but honestly anything more than 4, and you have lost my attention!

IGTV

As far as IGTV is concerned, I have not seen many pearl jewelry designers using it to talk about their pearls, but I find it to be both interesting and engaging. Using it as a substitute for YouTube, it allows users to upload longer videos and can be a good way to communicate with pearl jewelry lovers. I find IGTV to be the next step up from Instagram Stories and a great way to express a brand’s voice and personality.

Best Instagram Trends for 2020

So, what do I predict to be the best trends for pearl jewelry designers on Instagram in 2020?

1. Authentic written captions will be the winners. They don’t have to be lengthy, just enough to give a context to the piece of pearl jewelry.
2. Instagram Shopping will become even more popular. The Instagram Shopping platform has really improved over the past year, with so many new features. Moreover, pearls jewelry pieces can easily be tagged on posts as well as stories, to make access to checking out even easier.
3. Instagram Stories will continue to get more audience and viewers. Regularly updating stories will keep pearl jewelry lovers totally engaged and the new multiple photo layout feature of Instagram Stories will make it possible to show different views of the same pearl or pearl jewelry piece form different angles in the same story.
4. IGTV will start to be used by many more people. The new updates to IGTV have made it more user friendly. Creating an IGTV series about pearls, pearl jewelry or a behind-the-scenes look at events may be a great way to engage the audience.

These are the reasons why I love Instagram for pearls and pearl jewelry designers, and what I believe will be best trends on Instagram. Which trend are you most excited about?