The PR Adviser: Turning Staff into Influencers, Part III

this contest, making it clear they must follow Anastasia for a chance to win. She’ll pick the winner of a sparkling, new fill-in-the-blank from her followers.

While you’ll announce the winner on Instagram, also send an email featuring the winner’s Instagram profile so you can instigate FOMO. (That’s fear of missing out, for all my non-millennials.)

(Also, just to let you know, I pick accounts to feature in this column from my Instagram followers. Make sure you’re following me to be on my radar.)

See how easy that was?

Need contest ideas?

How about hosting an “Accessorize Your Style” contest? Followers post pictures of themselves wearing a perfect outfit that could be made even more perfect with something from your store. They tag Anastasia to get her attention, and Anastasia, in turn, re-grams (or re-posts to her account) the picture. Whoever gets the most “likes” wins. Competitive followers will tag friends to encourage likes; those friends will then be inspired to follow you.

Find other jewelry, fashion or style-related accounts with 25,000-plus followers and take a peek at their followers. Now, follow those followers who are aggressive on Instagram. If they’re already fans of, say, Chopard, why wouldn’t they be fans of yours? Following them puts you on their radar and encourages them to follow you back.

One thing that’s absolutely necessary—a link from your website to your Instagram page. Bonus points if your website shows your Instagram feed in real time. Make it easy for customers to follow you without having to leave the “add to cart” button on your website.

Also, be consistent in your posting schedule. If you can’t post every day, commit to at least four days per week. The easiest way to do this? Schedule your posts in advance.

If you’re following me on Instagram (as you should be), you know that every Sunday at 12 p.m., you’ll be voting on your favorite of three different jewelry selections, each chosen from my jewelry show archives. Note: I’m not on Instagram every Sunday at noon, but my followers still show up to vote. Scheduling is your best friend.

Also, absolutely, positively, without fail, reply to every comment with a thoughtful, engaging response. Who doesn’t like being acknowledged for sharing their thoughts? Doing so encourages others to engage with you.

Engagement yields relationships, which breeds new customers. Never forget this.

Don’t worry about how long it takes to reach 50,000 followers. Your followers are arriving organically; they’re authentically interested in what you have to offer.

When the time eventually comes to buy jewelry, they’ll remember how you inspired them, like how these amethyst earrings from Martha Seely are inspiring me to hand Martha my Amex.

Your homework: Grab my new, free e-book, “Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakes, Liars and the Delusional.” I’ve included the original Influencer Marketing Toolkit in the appendix for your convenience.

Get a head start on learning how to identify fraudulent influencers because in my next column, we’ll be discussing the contractual terms of a relationship with outside influencers.

As always, my calendar is here if you need personal attention before then.

Lilian Raji is a strategic communications and public relations adviser who helps companies understand their marketing problems, then designs and executes strategies to solve them. Learn more at LilianRaji.com. Submit questions for Lilian to answer here and connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.