Walking into an Hermès store delights the senses. Time slows, the fragrance of Un Jardin Sur Le Toit mixes with buttery leather, vibrant silk scarves flutter through the windows, and sales associates quietly offer their assistance.
Following Hermès on Instagram inspires entirely different emotions.
They’re silent for weeks, then flood my feed with photos of unsmiling models. Captions inform me of what I’m seeing, but don’t explain why I should care. When I try to converse with the brand through likes or comments, I am ignored. Hermès clearly has no interest in developing relationships with consumers; they only follow two of their one million fans, both of which are Hermès-owned handles.
The experience I have with the brand differs drastically from platform to platform.
I don’t intend to single out Hermès — most of their feed is filled with playful content that leaves me smiling. But my experiences with Hermès and @hermes illustrate a larger problem within the luxury category.
Luxury brands use social media as a distribution platform, not an experience platform. All efforts surrounding social are put into making content that advertises new collections. Minimal effort is put into delighting consumers. The luxury category fails to provide social consumers with a premium experience.
Last year, social media influenced $3.3 billion worth of online retail purchases — up 26% from 2013. While this is still a small percentage of U.S. online retail purchases ($304.91 billion), it is indicative of larger category trends:
A store visit does not guarantee a sale, just as a follower does not always lead to a conversion; but both of these interactions are opportunities to influence a future purchase. Potential customers should be delighted during every interaction with a luxury brand. There should be no experiential distinction between online and offline; a retail store or a social account.
Like a face-to-face interaction, social conversations should make consumers feel welcome, inspired, and valued. Paying attention to community behaviors allows luxury brands to gain insights and anticipate consumer needs. For example:
Interest in branded content is increasingly being sparked through social streams. Today’s consumers don’t want to ‘learn more’ on a branded website. They want to encounter, understand, and share the story on the social platform where they are engaging.
Engaging with a brand online does not happen in a clean brand-to-con3umer feedback loop. Rather, potential customers engage based on recommendations from friends, mentions by style bloggers, and trending #tags. Luxury brands should encourage fan-created content by:
Luxury brands should embrace the opportunity for getting to know their social community. Today’s social fan may be tomorrow’s in-store customer (and vice versa). Luxury brands should create responsive and exceptional social experiences to maintain market relevance.
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