All that glitters isn’t ALWAYS gold, at least not in terms of social media engagement.
Is Anyone Actually Reading This?
Social Media is no doubt on the rise as an extremely effective tool for businesses around the world. Technology only continues to advance and the growth of social media has changed our world to one of fast information, fast communication, and fast access. But how are businesses utilizing this tool? Technology gives companies the opportunity to have fast contact with their consumers, acquire quick feedback on new products, and represent their brand in a creative way. But it can also be seen as a threat. The internet and social media make the market a more competitive place. Consumers have the ability to influence others with the use of comments,likes,shares, review posts, blogs, etc. More power finds its way into the hands of the people.
With the control that social media and the internet give to consumers, it becomes important for businesses to utilize those tools as a way to engage their followers and set themselves apart from the competition. A business who is not taking advantage of the internet, or is not doing so in an engaging way, becomes noise.
In the chart to the left, my classmates and I listed three companies (Tiffany, Cartier, and BVLGARI) and how many followers they had on various social media platforms. From this chart, you can see that all three companies have the most followers on their Facebook accounts. I took a closer look at the way these three companies are utilizing their Facebook following.
Tiffany & Co
With the largest following among all three brands, Tiffany boasts 7.7 million Facebook followers. WAY more than I have. The brand also seems to post frequently, at least every 3 days. The surprising realization is the lack of follower participation. Of the most recent 10 posts the post that received the most attention was this:
20,670 likes. I can’t say I’ve ever gotten that much attention for one of my posts, but I also don’t have 7.7 million followers. This means that 0.0027% of Tiffany’s followers liked that post. Tiffany has more than double the Facebook following of the two brands. This is a competitive edge they have yet to expand on.
Cartier
Coming in a little less hot is Cartier with 3.5 million followers. Of their more recent posts, the most popular was this:
Following the fashion, Cartier brought in 1,350 likes. Only 0.00039% of Cartier’s Facebook following is choosing to engage in their posts.
BVLGARI
Last but not least, BVLGARI. The brand does not post as frequently as the previous two, but the posts they do make have a much more consistent follower engagement. Their most popular of the more recent posts is this:
12,809 likes. Not as large as Tiffany’s 20,000 likes, but it offers a much more friendly percentage. This means that 0.0036% of BVLGARI’s followers liked this post. It is not by any means a large percentage, but it is larger than a company that has more than double the amount of followers. On top of that, BVLGARI also receives some sort of interaction on almost every single post as far back as I was willing to scroll.
So what is BVLGARI doing to engage? Though their percentage is still probably not where they would want it to be, they still seem to be doing better than the competition. Why?
I do think there are other things to take into account. For example, popularity within different global markets. One brand might receive more attention on Facebook because they are popular in the US, and more US citizens have Facebook. To be fair, that is a generalization I just made up, but it does show how there are various factors that could affect this Facebook study. There is also a possibility that a brand may have more than one official Facebook page with access limited to the country you are using the internet in. Who’s to say there isn’t a different Facebook page for each country that each brand is located in. Not me. But I can say that judging by the Facebook accounts I did see, there is an opportunity for these Jewelry companies to reach their audience and create a more engaging social media atmosphere.
-CA
This post was created as part of the Global Luxury Management Program at the NC State Poole School of Management. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
