This is an interview of Danish-based DailyWatch Aps CEO and Co-Founder, Nick Meijer, whose company operates a large network of social media channels whose goal is to entertain and inspire the global watch community with easily consumable, watch-related content.

At 2.5 million followers, your company’s main account @DailyWatch has the largest following of any watch-related Instagram channel in the world — even bigger than WatchAnish or Hodinkee. That’s impressive, how did you and your team achieve this?

The DailyWatch Instagram account was founded in late 2012 when Instagram was still in its infancy. The account very quickly became the biggest account, by very consistently posting attractive content for watch fans on a daily basis.

What are you doing to maintain such a following?

Since 2016 we have built an infrastructure around DailyWatch. On a daily basis, we create unique content, select the best content on Instagram and serve the interests of the big watch brands, many of them being our customers. We run several sub-channels such as @dailywristwatch and @dailywatch_inside and have built our social commerce platform @dailywatch.co. Our mission is to bring watch fans and brands together on a daily basis.

How have you branched into TikTok?

Yes, we are active on TikTok and our account is growing. It’s an important channel to experiment with the right tone of voice to get the younger generation interested in horology.

What is your business background?

I am active as an entrepreneur in the online industry for more than 20 years. I used to work in (online) finance but 5 years ago I combined my business experience with my passion for watches. One of the best decisions I ever made.

Was Alexandar Rosenbaek the original founder of the @dailywatch IG account?

Yes. Alex started DailyWatch on Christmas eve 2012 with the idea to bring inspiration and passion to watch fans. It grew quickly and in 2016 we built the organization we have today around this channel and this idea.

You’ve featured our images occasionally, and it always gives us significant engagement, as well as generating tens of thousands of likes on your post (at least back when we could see the count). It’s pretty impressive to see these super high like counts. How do watch clients like this? And does it turn into actual conversions or is it more beneficial for branding purposes?

Our clients experience the same value and they like it. We generate an enormous reach and awareness on Instagram. With our platform dailywatch.co we turn that big reach and short interaction on Instagram into a more substantial interaction. One-click or swipe on a story brings you to an article, a podcast, or a quiz. That is the ideal setting to turn the social trust we have into more commercial trust. The platform facilitates both conversion and branding in one. We call it “Social Commerce.”

Instagram does not look like it’s going away anytime soon, but what would you do if IG went away or the popularity waned the way Facebook has?

Instagram is the number one place to position and promote luxury watches, and not only us but also the watch brands heavily rely on that. I don’t see Instagram moving in Facebook’s direction, as they understand how important the role of (organic) influencing is. They basically invented influencing. But of course, we’re not putting all our eggs in one basket, we are getting more and more traction on other platforms like YouTube and TikTok, doing podcasts, and run our own platform which is growing as well.

How much effort do you devote to Facebook versus Instagram?

We use Facebook for advertising, but Instagram is it for organic reach and to maintain our editorial postings. Instagram is the main focus.

Do you use Twitter at all?

No.

What has changed most for social media because of the pandemic?

A Lot. The pandemic caused a lockdown that didn’t allow physical watch fairs, meetings, and traveling, something that used to be essential in the planning of the whole industry. As a result, watch fairs turned digital, meetings turned digital and brands quickly realized that being present online was of the utmost importance, both for branding and for distribution. As DailyWatch we benefit from that, and our business is growing like never before.