Baselworld 2016 is set to generate a social media frenzy when it opens doors this month. Here, in the first of a series, we rank which watch & jewellery brands stayed at the top of their game on Instagram in the year 2015.

While Instagram has already proven its place in a luxury brand’s marketing mix as a way of inspiring and connecting via stunning visuals luxury consumers, all signs point to its growing influence.

According to Simply Measured’s latest State of Social Marketing Report, Instagram adoption was at 85% of top brands in 2015, with that figure poised to increase dramatically in 2016.

“ Instagram is predicted to bring in $2.81 billion in mobile ad revenues worldwide by 2017 ”

In step with this, the mobile-first social network has recently been increasing its suite of advertising options – testing with big brands at first, but now rolling it out to regular brands, as it moves to capitalise on the channel’s appeal amongst consumers.

According to eMarketer’s first-ever Instagram advertising forecast, Instagram’s global mobile ad revenues were predicted to reach an impressive $595 million in mobile ads in 2015, and set to reach $2.81 billion by 201 – which translates to an impressive 400 percent in two years, and would see the channel account for over 10% of parent company Facebook’s global ad revenues.

Foe events such as the upcoming Baselworld 2016, which will see thousands of luxury brands showcasing their wares to customers and media alike, Instagram will again undoubtedly be as used a powerful tool in promoting all the event and its exhibitors has to offer.

“ While the top two brands dominate in numbers, they fall behind the other brands when it comes to engagement ”

With this in mind, Luxury Society has joined forces with its parent company and full service digital agency Digital Luxury Group, to count down the luxury watch brands at the top of their Instagram game.

Leading the game in the Watch brand rankings in terms of fans is Cartier, with 2,259,187 eager Instagramers following its each and every move. The brand constantly updates its Instagram feed and has previously linked in with Instagram sensations – such as Russian photographer Murad Osmann and Nataly Zakharova, stars of the global Follow Me project – to add to its popularity.

Bulgari comes a close second in the watch rankings, on 2,215,561 fans, but has upped Cartier in terms of engagement, clocking 0.07% in terms of interactions, as opposed to Cartier’s 0.04%.

Hublot is third, on 997,293 fans, followed by Chopard, then Audemars Piquet – but, interestingly while the top two brands dominate in numbers, they fall behind the other brands on the list when it comes to engagement, with the average engagement rate steady at just over 1%.

Top 10 Jewellery Brands: Instagram

In the Jewellery rankings, Tiffany & Co. takes the cake – on 3,302,458 Instagram fans, and the highest engagement on the list, at 1.2%. Cartier and Bulgari again come in as close second and third respectively, with Swarovski in fourth place with 781,242 fans and a 0.7% engagement rate.

Chopard is next, and matches Swarovski on engagement rate, with slightly less fans to date (577,831).

Again – as with the Watch brands – while Van Cleef & Arpels comes in sixth place on volume of fans (438,816), the brand seems to be at an advantage when it comes to interactions – delivering the highest engagement rate on the list (1.1%) – barring Tiffany &Co., which beats out al brands in the category on both volume and interactions.