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Among all social media, Twitter quickly became an essential digital tool for luxury brands. They not only joined their customers on one of the most popular social network in the word, they also used it as a way to expand their values and convey conversation around their brand or product.
Our latest study, which focused on how luxury brands have made the most of marketing investments via Twitter, provided some truly valuable insights and statistics. We gathered Twitter data over six months from 29 of the world’s highest-quality luxury fashion brands, ranging from Armani, Burberry and Christian Louboutin to Roland Mouret and Versace. This insight can help luxury brands streamline and expand their own social media following. Here is the complete list of brands we analysed for this study:
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On Twitter, Small is Beautiful
As shown on the graph below, famous luxury companies with a strong brand image such as Chanel or Dior are followed by millions of people on Twitter. Consequently these are the brands that have the largest community.
The research points out that smaller luxury brands are by far outperforming big brands on Twitter. From our sample, the top three best performers were Tom Ford, Stuart Weitzman and John Varvatos. Although Tom Ford is a larger brand, the community interacted as though it was dealing with a small, private label.
We attribute the significantly higher engagement rate for smaller brands to the motivational energy of tight, loyal communities. Indeed, we noticed that big brands such as Chanel, Dior or Burberry usually own a really large community based on their fame and brand image, but these communities seldom interact with the brand’s content.
Focusing on the successful Tom Ford, it is easy to notice that their most effective tweets are usually composed of mentions of brand ambassadors & celebrities as shown below. Tom Ford capitalizes on the 52 Millions of followers of Lady Gaga to reach a broader audience. Such practices help the brand benefit from a high level of impressions while earning engagement from both its followers and Lady Gaga’s ones.
.@ladygaga #TFWSS16 #TOMFORD #IWantYourLove. View Now: http://t.co/QdHamsRCh8 pic.twitter.com/vsLsPOPz9m
— TOM FORD (@TOMFORD) October 3, 2015
Therefore, smaller brands must take advantage of how social networks level the marketing playing field. Conversely, larger brands can use these insights to further develop community-building as part of their marketing strategy.
Publishing hours: focus on customer’s agenda
Gathering all tweets published from the 29 studied brands for the past 6 months, we correlated engagements on the posts to the date & time of publication. Our goal was to identify the optimal time slots to tweet in the Luxury industry. The graph below displays the results:
The time of day in which a content is posted can make a significant difference in how the brand messaging is received by the target audience. We found that posts published early in the morning have the greatest impact. This time of day is relatively quiet, so brands can achieve better engagement and longer exposure within the news feeds.
TGIF!
It is well know among B2C industries that the week end and especially Fridays are good times for getting people’s attention.
Our research found that users favor publication during the middle of the week, especially on Friday. Twitter tends to be used quite often during working hours and prefers luxury posts in the 6 to 8 p.m. time period. Friday brings the greatest surge in engagement, which then leads into the weekend for enhanced exposure.
Top of the Line and Top of the Mind
Luxury brands are interacting with key audience segments on social media in a way that is impossible through any other channel. It’s important to realize you may be at risk of losing business to more dedicated market players if you don’t devote enough resources in this area. Desirability depends on staying on the top of the consumers’ minds. In an increasingly crowded market full of distractions, adding social to your marketing mix is the best way to stay on top.
The paradox of luxury marketing has always been to reach as many people as possible while maintaining exclusive messaging. More than any other retailer, luxury brands must be careful not to compromise their core brand images through their choice of marketing channels.
In the world of digital marketing, Burberry was among the first to effectively balance brand reach with exclusivity by inviting followers to interact on social media during fashion shows. Burberry fans who couldn’t be present at the event were still able to share in the excitement as it occurred. Creative campaigns like this aren’t possible except through social channels.
Some luxury brands have delayed their social media involvement, but those days are over. True luxury brands have gone social, and now, the only question is how to engage with your audience in the best possible way.
