Social media for luxury brands

Following the Jimmy Choo treasure hunt on Foursquare, the topic of social networking for luxury brands is starting to get discussed more and more. We can certainly say that it’s an emerging area ; adoption of social network technologies for luxury brands is slow and that’s completely understandable. Luxury brands are built around the premise of being aspirational and exclusive, hardly words that you would immediately associate with social media. So what are the opportunities online like for luxury brands and who’s paving the way?

Case study – Tiffany & Co

Tiffany’s is a great example of a luxury brand going from strength to strength in social media. Their Facebook page boasts over 410,000 fans, but aside from the numbers there is an active community on there regularly commenting and updating the wall, without detracting from the luxury nature of the brand. There are a few spam comments on there, but the majority of posts are people discussing how much they love Tiffany’s, sharing articles and importanly, pictures of their own Tiffany products. They’ve managed to sustain a community on there that is completely in line with the brand values and core messages of Tiffany & Co.

As well as their Facebook page though, they’re also branching out into other media, having recently launched their Engagement Ring iPhone app and produce videos to share online that showcase their new products. This video is an example of their new jewellery range that is shared through their Facebook page. Now it may not be the most thrilling of videos but importantly, it is the sort of thing you would expect from a luxury brand.

What Tiffany & Co are doing particularly well, and is a good opportunity for many other luxury brands, is sharing photos of celebrities wearing their products. This represents the ultimate in aspiration, particularly for the female audience and adds a level to their social media presence that encourages conversation without losing the exclusivity. The potential for this spreads outside of Facebook and would be a perfect fit for a blog for a luxury brand, creating engaging content that all the while focuses on the luxury and elegance of the product. This would work particularly well for luxury hotels.

Maintaining Aspiration

You may find it odd that I mentioned ‘exclusivity’ above, in a post about social media! Some of you may disagree with this and think that luxury brands should completely open themselves up online. They absolutely should, but it’s exclusivity and aspiration that keeps a luxury brand exactly that and I don’t think that’s something that should be lost through social media. Instead, I think luxury brands should use the very tools available to them through social media to create aspirational communities. I’m talking here about an ‘invite-only’ community for example, that unlocks even more content and perks such as invites to preview-sales. The added extras for the true fans. The potential here is huge and I think it’s something you’ll see more and more higher-end brands adopting.

One of the first examples we saw of this was the social network  ‘A Small World’, which, although not aligned to a particular brand, was a closed community for the rich and powerful. This was more aligned to the business community and focused on shared connections. What the site did however, was present an opportunity for those brands that wanted to reach the decision makers and trend-setters, through incredibly targeted advertising. Now this is obviously an elitist community and not one I’m particularly a fan of (and no, I’ve never been invited!) because it’s basis is just on being powerful and connected. But if this were aligned to a particular brand, then it becomes a different story. Then you’re a fan because of a shared connection and love of a particular service or product. Then it starts to get a bit of substance.

While the market for luxury brands is ultimately different than mainstream brands, many of the same rules still apply. As companies are forced to come online because that’s where their customers are going and talking about them, this still applies for higher end brands. Perhaps even more so. Luxury brands need to know what their key influencers and stakeholders are saying about them online, because they really are setting trends. They need to carry out media monitoring just like any other and really need to assess the influence and relevance of the individuals that are talking about them online. Luxury brands thrive on the premise of trend-setters – you want the product because someone very important, or ultimately enviable has it. And this rule still applies online, with the influence that fashion blogs can have for example.

This year I think we will see more and more high-end brands coming online and starting to do exciting things. Trend-setters like Tiffany & Co. and Jimmy Choo have shown that not only this is possible, but that great things can be achieved without having to lose the values that your brand survives on.