Most of the jewellers I speak to don't enjoy social media. They know they need to do it, but they're tired of posting and seeing very little come back. Susannah King has grown an international jewellery business mostly through TikTok, and when she came on the GoldDust podcast I wanted to know how she'd done it without any kind of plan.
Susannah makes colourful, sculptural fine jewellery and she's known for alternative engagement rings and unusual materials. TikTok has become the biggest source of customers for her business.
She filmed herself working
Susannah started posting videos of herself making jewellery, talking to the camera and showing people around her workshop. They weren't polished and she didn't plan them in advance. Some were watched millions of times, and those views turned into orders and bespoke commissions.
She didn't set out to become a content creator, she just showed people what her normal working day looks like. In the episode we talk about what jewellers can take from that, especially if the idea of filming yourself makes you want to hide.
Her work looks like hers
Part of the reason the videos did so well is that Susannah's jewellery doesn't look like anyone else's. She grew up in a family of jewellers, so she had good technical training, and she also really wanted to do her own thing. She carves her settings in wax and chooses stones for their colour and how they make people feel, rather than what's traditional. One of the materials she uses is LuAG, a bright green material that was first made for lasers. She calls it the joy payoff.
When your work is recognisable, people start to know it's yours before they see your name, and each video helps the next one. If your pieces look like lots of other brands' pieces, posting more often probably won't change much.
Being open about materials
Susannah uses lab grown stones and other alternative materials, and she tells her customers exactly what they're buying. She thinks being honest about it matters much more than whether a stone came out of the ground or out of a lab.
Opening a shop
After building her audience online, she opened her first shop in London. She talks about how nervous she was before opening, and how hard it was to make a physical space feel like her brand. Meeting customers in person has become one of her favourite parts of the business.
Her advice for jewellers who are nervous about posting is to get on with it, trust your instincts, and say yes to things before you feel completely ready. I'd add one thing. Before you post, ask yourself whether someone scrolling past would know the piece was yours without reading the caption. If they wouldn't, I'd start there.
Listen to the full episode with Susannah King on the GoldDust podcast.
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