Sarah Verity Parham, Sarah Parham. CEO & Founder

Sarah Verity is owed by Sarah Verity Parham, known as the Queen of Rings and is our CEO & Founder

Can you give our readers some background on the main social platforms you use to grow your business?

Instagram is our home, it’s where we mainly hang out, chat, engage and create content. People know to come here for the quickest response and to catch up with what’s happening.

We are also on LinkedIn – never underestimated the power of this platform, business people have time off and are human too – it doesn’t always have to be dry content, we use it to update, share news and aim to use it more in the future.

Email marketing drives sales, builds brand loyalty, fans and trust, it's my favourite platform. This is what we own, it reduces risk if any social media platform suddenly disappears.

We are also on Facebook (our insta content gets pushed out to this platform) TiKTOK, Pintrest YouTube and Twitter – we need to get a lot better at TIK TOK and Pinterest - so if anyone can help, we are all ears.

Can you share a memorable example of how you leveraged social media to achieve significant business growth or a specific marketing objective?

Sure thing. I see our community as the brand, not us. I want them to drive the brand forward, feel involved in making decisions so once a year we all design a ring together using Instagram stories for voting.

It’s easy to do, it’s a chance to educate and gather feedback through the lives and votes. It gives us valuable knowledge and research on everything from price, design, colour and metal. Once they have designed the ring we run a competition where they name it. A winner is chosen at random and they win the first ring created. We then share the story of our artisans making their pieces - it's a way of driving deep emotional connections, that is what jewellery is all about.

This creates engagement, gives our community brand power and gives us great insights. Win, win.

What strategies or tactics have you found successful in building and engaging your social media audience?

Engage, ask questions, make people feel valued and heard. Be honest, open, humble, approachable and transparent, it helps build trust. Trust is everything.

Are there any quick fixes that anyone can make to instantly improve their personal or business social profile?

Don’t try to be perfect, people like real – nothing too slick, people like to see mistakes - it makes us more human. Consistency is key

Is there any one tactic you'd recommend to people who want to grow their business using social media?

I think it is harder to grow organically BUT I wouldn’t pay to begin with, just be consistent and be yourself. Competitions with brands that have a similar audience to yours is a brilliant way to grow.

Are there any accounts you follow to find inspiration for your own content?

I think @muthahood is amazing at social – she is a force to be reckoned with and her growth is mostly organic

Can you share any insights on creating compelling and shareable content on social media that resonates with your target audience?

Always have a story up, reels gets more views and know your audience, they are the ones that will tell their friends and create a community for you. Always respond back, even to and especially negative feedback.

How do you measure the effectiveness of your social media efforts and how often do you do this?

We use insights on Instagram, google analytics, we by the way is changing shortly so make sure you have implemented their new Google Analytics 4 – GA4

Finally, looking ahead, what emerging trends or changes do you foresee in the social media landscape, and how do you plan to adapt your social strategy to meet them?

Overall it's getting harder to grow organically and engage on Instagram and Facebook. The platforms aren't giving enough reach for spend, they are, in my humble opinion, old, greedy and arrogant and are still working on ROI which is an incorrect measure. CAC is more accurate.

Many brands in our sector are moving to Pinterest and TIKTOK for paid and there is a resurgence in traditional printed DM, data reigns king for brands.

Email drives most of our D2C sales. We are starting to see an older audience shift onto TIKTOK and then that leaves room for a new platform for the next generation to hang out.

Brands like Drama give a day and time and place for their community to access their drops and Alcatraz are getting their community to swop their North Face jackets for their limited edition boxfresh puffas, a great way to get your brand out there and cover costs, and drive engagement and excitement. It also means you work on small drops which = less waste. They are great at gathering data too where their websites can only be accessed by putting emails too.

I love this model but it won't work for every brand, it's all about the audience not ever what the brand wants to do. Human economics and understanding where and how your audience live and what they are into is the key to success.

Where should people follow you to find out more about your work?

@sarahverityjewellery