Most people think innovation as a quality only new businesses or new products require. However, one entrepreneur showed that innovation is important of all areas of business. Amanda Thomas, founder of the Luv AJ Jewelry Line, demonstrated innovation not only in her product but in how she marketed it.
Thomas created her jewelry line in 2005 when she was 16 years old, her after school obsession becoming a profitable business with unique accessories. While at Fred Segal, she randomly met a buyer who wanted her jewelry in all of their stores around the country. That was the first step for Luv AJ on the road of becoming a global empire. A student under famous designers such as Rachel Pally, Christina Ehrlich, and Estee Stanley, Thomas learned how to best create unique jewelry that appeals to lots of different crowds. Now, Luv AJ has boutiques all over the country and the jewelry is popular with a lot of celebrities. People like Beyoncé, Bella Hadid, Kylie Jenner, Emily Ratajkowski, and Emma Roberts all praise Luv AJ and the unique heavy chains and spikes unique to that line.
While Luv AJ demonstrates tons of unique innovation, it’s Thomas’ intense marketing work 
that really shows an entrepreneurial mind. Forbes describes Thomas as a “digital native”, manipulating social media trends to bring her designs and products to the forefront of the market. From the start, Thomas used Instagram to immerse her brand in the world. She uses her talent for design to create an amazing Instagram page for her products that visual appealing. “Our Instagram grid is a mix of close up shots of ears, necks, and hands, lookbook and campaign imagery, photos of influencers and celebrities wearing the jewelry, and flat lays,” she says.
Thomas knows what an amazing platform social media is for marketing. Her unique photos and advertisements have vastly increased Luv AJ’s marketing reach. However, Thomas doesn’t stop there. She has worked hard to use different influential people to promote her product online, like models, singers, actresses, and so on. To best describe her innovative method of advertisement, she says, “Each season, we work with over 200 girls with a wide range of followers, and we gift them jewelry in exchange for a post and tag. With their tags, we get our product in front of new audiences with every single post.” Thomas isn’t picky about the number of followers or how popular the influencer is. She believes that someone with 50k followers opens up markets the same amount as one with 500k followers.
Thomas’ innovation with social media marketing and networking has paid off, big time. Yet she doesn’t rest on her success. She continues to build new relationships to increase her reach. Sometimes she directly messages influences to build a relationship, sometimes she gets referrals from others she’s worked with. Either way, she strives to create partnerships with new people to open up new markets. With products at $100 or lower, her line is spiking in popularity.
Thomas continues to innovate with her online presence to make buying even easier. “First, every single image we post is tagged to a product that is directly synced to our Shopify store. You can click-to-buy on a post and checkout on your mobile device. The second way is through the “Link in Bio” which leads you to our SHOP ALL collection. The third way you is through the app Four Sixty which makes our Instagram feed shoppable on our e-commerce store. Other tools we use that add efficiency are Planoly, VSCO, and Repost,” she says. Clearly these tools are working, as Luv AJ’s global empire expands and Thomas brings her unique jewelry to more markets. That’s true innovation: not only creating a new product but new ways of selling it.
Luv AJ is a great example of how the digital world has changed the marketing game. Amanda’s recognition of the changing world of marketing allowed her to make a regular jewelry company into a profitable business. Through social media she has been able to market her products to a vast array of people for little cost. Additionally, her successful use of social media has gained her a presence with celebrities. Her innovation in marketing is exemplary.