Custom jewelry manufacturing

Is Technology Killing Fine Jewelry?

by with No Comment Innovation & TechLifestyle & Culture

I had a dream to take over my dad’s jewelry business and it was something truly serious for me. I used to spend my summer vacations in his Los Angeles office taking orders, weighing shiny loose diamonds, bejeweled rings in quite large sizes etc. in fact, I was always being reminded that if I want to reach the success I should work hard in this sphere. This was back in the ’90s, and a lot has changed since then. The demand for luxurious jewelry was really on its top when I was young but today everything is different. And I start thinking “what’s the reason people give less attention to jewelry”.

One dealing with the luxury jewelry industry would definitely agree with the idea that this is the road where you will have highs and lows for many years until you reach something valuable. However, nowadays many worry about the business of jewelry, sometimes even blaming the new technologies. What used to be the main lover’s gift on birthdays and anniversaries, iPhones are the new way to say I love you.

Experienced custom jewelry maker

THE SHIFT IN ECONOMICS, AFFLUENT MILLENNIALS AND FINE JEWELRY

The sheer proliferation of technological gadgets available on the marketplace — yes, some even at the same cost as fine jewelry — further dilutes the spending pool. As Stanford lecturer and entrepreneur Nir Eyal sees it, this represents a simple shift in economics. “Just the fact that these things are now available has changed the market. Of course [technology is] going to pick up an increasing share of wallet,” Eyal says. “It’s not a conscious trend of displacing money from here to there, but it’s more of an economic imperative.” A 2014 Unity Marketing study that spoke to 1,335 millennials with an income above $100,000, supports this assertion. The study found that, as a group, these “affluent millennials” enjoyed technology purchases far more than jewelry; 46 percent said technology purchases gave them “great pleasure,” compared to just 25 percent for jewelry.

Personalized 3D jewelry

And these technologies are functional. Millennials spend $170 billion in purchases per year, and, according to an October study by digital ad agency Moosylvania, three out of their five favorite brands are tech gadget companies. (Apple, Samsung, and Sony, in case you’re wondering.) Tablets, laptops, gaming systems, televisions, and smartphones all offer a very real purpose to the owner. If a generation favors performance above aesthetics, what does jewelry offer?

Jewelry start up business

BRICK AND MORTAR HAS A HUGE PROBLEM

By now, you can see how the jewelry industry’s growth is intertwined with newer technology trends. As it happens, what jewelers have left is quickly moving online. Blue Nile, the largest online marketplace for both loose diamonds and finished jewelry, is quickly displacing all those mom and pop jewelry stores, especially as jewelry continues to become a one-off purchase for many buyers. As one New York jeweler is quick to note, “Blue Nile has over 50 percent of the market share for fine jewelry. Brick and mortar has a huge problem. They have expenses the Internet does not: payroll, insurance, and the like. [Online retailers have ruined the diamond industry as far as a jeweler is concerned, by selling directly to the consumer.”

Jewelry-social-media-fans-770x493

Why fake fans are a huge problem for jewelers

by with No Comment Innovation & TechJewelry Business

How much is a social media follower worth?

This question continues to confound many jewelers, especially those who are scrambling to find the magical formula to measure the value of social media to their businesses.

Some businesses get nervous watching competitors’ social media followings grow while their platforms stay stagnant. Instead of putting the energy and resources into social media campaigns, however, these entrepreneurs look to “fake fans” to inflate their social media profiles.

The problem is that fake fans can do more harm than good to a business.

These fake fans come from “click farms,” located around the world, mostly in Asia. These businesses hire hundreds of workers for minimal pay and provide them the tools to “follow” brands on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media accounts throughout the day. And jewelers’ fake followers are on the rise.

If you conduct a quick online search for fake fans, you will find numerous websites that offer social media fans available for purchase, sometimes as cheap as $2 for 1,000.

Some offers for fake fans even come with a warranty!

Regardless of the reason, adding fake fans can hurt your brand. Here are three potentially harmful effects they can have on your company.

LOSS OF INTEGRITY AND REPUTATION

Customer engagement is a critical part of a successful and sustainable social media strategy. Regularly engaging with your fans, sometimes on an individual level, is what consumers expect these days.

When your social media accounts are filled with fake fans, it is incredibly difficult to genuinely engage with your real fans through all the noise.

Jewelry startup social media

Celebrities, athletes, pundits and politicians have millions of fake followers.

FAKE FANS DILUTE THE VALUE OF YOUR MARKETING DATA

The search algorithms at Google and Facebook are super smart. They monitor the online interactions you are having with everyone. And these algorithms also monitor the interactions everyone is having with you.

If the majority of your followers on social media are fake, then the marketing data your business generates will be skewed and irrelevant. And your decisions are only as good as the data they are based on.

YOU’LL GET FOUND OUT

Unless you are Kim Kardashian, The Rock, or another high-profile celebrity or business, it is unlikely that you should have tens of thousands of fans. This is especially true if you are a startup or a young and relatively unknown company.

Social media users these days are savvy, and they can spot a brand with fake followers easily. Also, websites such as Fake Check can conduct a quick search on an Instagram profile and tell you the number of fake users you have.

You do not want to be the brand that gives the impression that you buy popularity.

The bottom line is that it is important to cultivate and nurture your fan base online to better understand your audience and regularly engage them. The only real means of effectively doing this is to put the time, energy and resources into building it. Doing so will ultimately create a more meaningful and, dare I say, measurable value to your brand.