Nicole Wegman is the founder and CEO of Ring Concierge, a jewelry company that’s making luxury accessible to the masses. Ring Concierge is run by women, for women, and it is disrupting the traditionally male-dominated jewelry industry with its all-female team and thriving e-commerce business. Ring Concierge has amassed a large social media following, where Nicole blurs the line between retailer and influencer to provide engaging, accessible content for her customers. 

When I launched Ring Concierge, I knew I wanted to create something entirely different from the systems already in place in the diamond industry. Most jewelry stores market to men, suggesting that jewelry is something that should be gifted to a woman. Not only have we found that most couples shop for engagement rings together, but when it comes to jewelry purchases in general, we know that women don’t want to wait around for someone else to gift it to them.

While I didn’t set out to become an Instagram influencer, the platform made sense for reaching like-minded young women looking for a fresh, forward-thinking way to shop for fine jewelry and engagement rings. As both the business and Ring Concierge’s following grew, I fine-tuned a strategy that provided the right balance of content that promotes, entertains, educates, and converts. Here I’ve outlined my top tips for becoming an influencer of your own brand.

Challenge the status quo

You won’t find success if you just do what’s already being done in your industry. Whatever your field, be a pioneer and take risks. I launched Ring Concierge because I recognized a void in the historically male-dominated diamond industry. Growing a client base through Instagram wasn’t something that was being done, but it was a platform my generation was already using and it made sense to reach other women like me. Blurring the line between retailer and influencer became a natural path as I amassed a following and scaled the business.

Capture a lifestyle

Developing a strong brand identity that resonates is so much more than marketing a product. When creating your content strategy, from visuals to messaging, consider the world that your product lives in. When I created Ring Concierge, I designed and curated a line of fine jewelry and bespoke bridal pieces that I wanted to wear. This naturally lends itself to showing how I would style jewelry in different situations—elevated looks for client meetings, dressing up for date night, or opting for more playful pops of color on vacation. By giving followers a peek into my life, I not only give them content that goes beyond jewelry, but I provide context and inspiration for how to style the pieces themselves. While I give glimpses of my personal life, I always keep it relevant and make sure the brand remains center stage.

Offer more than your product

In the same vein as the previous tip, to create content that resonates with your followers, it’s important to offer more than just beautiful images of your products. Offer expertise in your field to create a healthy dose of informative content. At Ring Concierge, we are constantly creating content that will be useful to our followers—from Instagram Stories with styling tips to providing guidance on exactly what to look for when choosing a diamond. Especially when we feature engagement rings from our bridal line, we’re always aiming to educate clients so they can make the best decision for themselves.

Listen to your audience

I can’t emphasize enough how important engagement is to growing an authentic following and cultivating relationships. But beyond simply liking comments and replying to questions, it’s important to actively listen to your audience. We really mean it when we say that Ring Concierge is “fine jewelry for women, by women.” Countless Ring Concierge products have been developed because of specific requests from our customers. We launched our brand new bridal line VOW by Ring Concierge because so many women expressed that they wanted an engagement ring that has the Ring Concierge look and quality at a more approachable price point. There are no better insights than the feedback our actual clients provide—from new products they want to shop to the content they want to see on our social media channels. We are always listening.

About Nicole Wegman

To Shop some of Nicole’s Favorites: https://ringconcierge.com/collections/best-sellers