At the inception of luxury in the mid 1800s, the business of pioneering brands like Louis Vuitton and Goyard were driven by the power of exclusivity. Top tier price points and affluent lifestyles have allowed luxury brands to keep this up-market allure alive today, amidst economic downturn. However, while we are situated in an ever-changing landscape, attributable to technological advances, brands at every price point have the opportunity to become social. Brands in the luxury market have jumped in on the conversation with consumers and have experimented on social networks, in ways we never would have imagined just a year ago. Luxury retailers are becoming as transparent as adverse mass marketed brands. In turn, the luxury industry has expanded its accommodations and has become all the more inclusive, rather than relying on the penchant for exclusivity, that much like fine leather, can get worn and tattered with excessive use.
Every single day, we can tune into luxury brands sharing their marketing, creative and publicity teams’ every move across various platforms. From behind the scenes videos of campaign shootings on Vimeo, to photos of fittings before fashion shows on Instagram, to outcomes of new partnerships on Twitter, and even down to after-work happenings on Foursquare. Enthused audiences are fervently plugged into branded content on social networks, just waiting for that next juicy tidbit of information to pop up on mobile devices and desktop dashboards. Despite the vast benefits of sharing the spirit of luxury brands, does there come a point where engaging on social networks propels brands into a space of TMI, over-share, or even worse, overexposure? And furthermore, when we’re all a part of the mad dash to the finish line of highly engaged audiences and results in sales, does the idea of overexposure even exist any longer?
Many social media strategies for luxury brands have been created from the ground up, while others have been adopted or borrowed, with some aspects still left to be desired. There is still a thin line that separates the creation of too much noise in social media and crafting just the right amount of chatter. “It’s not about too much information, rather it’s about sending out the wrong information,” Jey Van-Sharp, the Creative Director at consulting group MyUberLife, shares. Social networks make publishing content so effortless, that we can often forget that if we are going to be social, we have to do it properly. Yes, audiences would love to see the latest submissions of your recent photo contest on your Facebook app, but do we really need to view another photo of a branded napkin? Van Sharp says, “It’s not an aristocracy either. It’s about what the tribe wants. People forget that social media is a tool that is not separate from marketing. Understand the audience and that understanding will help guide the framework on what and how much information you should disseminate.”
The danger of brand omnipresence is disintegrating, while the concept of overexposure may be a thing of the past. Listening to our audiences will not only help us create the content and conversation needed to build and grow our tribes, but will launch the brand identity into new heights.
Photo Credits: Digital Vision
