Tiffany cultivates the most passion among social media users: NetBase

Luxury brands should continue to push their social media strategies to combat the pervasiveness of Amazon, as it maintains the highest mentioned brand passion, according to a report by NetBase.

While Amazon is the most talked about, U.S. jeweler Tiffany & Co. sees the strongest brand loyalty with users taking to social platforms to discuss their passion for the marketer. The findings suggest that even though big brands such as Amazon and department stores see the highest volume, smaller targeted brands see more enthusiasm, which can be more beneficial in the long run.

“Diamonds are a girl's best friend, or so Marilyn Monroe tells us,” said Paige Leidig, chief marketing officer at NetBase. “And social seems to agree.

“Luxury retail is beloved by consumers, boasting the highest overall net sentiment of all categories,” he said. “Tiffany & Co. in particular shined the brightest, ranking in the top spot in our Brand Passion Index Rank.

“And though love might be in the air, consumers are still vetting their favorite brands. Chanel, Prada and Burberry fans are not just interested in bags or particular product lines - they are also interested in the ‘authentic’ products, as evidenced by the word clouds below.

"While much of authenticity conversation is driven by second hand sales, it does not change that fans are interested in the real deal.”

Social media rankings
Connecting and engaging with consumers on social media is a real way for brands to build positive experiences with users to create positive brand sentiment. Luxury retailers are seeing real results with this, as the sector sees 80 percent positive brand sentiment.

NetBase graph regarding brand reach and awareness

The luxury retail sector sees the most positive passion posts, ahead of ecommerce and discount retailers whose positive sentiment posts make up 75 and 68 percent, respectively. When comparing negative content and passion to determine whether or not a brand is hated, luxury retail is still in the lead with a favorability of 61 percent, ahead of discount at 60 percent.

Amazon, Nike and Best Buy are leading the way for retail brands on social media, but Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Burberry, Tiffany and Prada are not far behind, and are by far the leaders of luxury brands. Louis Vuitton is ranked as the fourth top retail brand on social media, with Chanel directly behind at spot number five.

NetBase's brand rankings

Luxury retail has seen 4,223,327 mentions on social media with a reach of 2.7 billion and awareness of 16 billion. While Tiffany won in terms of passion, Burberry saw success as well with many social media users discussing favorable feedback regarding in-store experience and product selection.

Brand examples
Tiffany’s strong performance in passion on social media was not solidified without a clear strategy. The jewelry brand has launched several initiatives to corner this market and appeal to a younger consumer generation. Tiffany achieved this most recently through a social media push for its Return to Tiffany Love collection.

With accessible price points and millennial-aged models sporting the collection on the brand’s posts, Tiffany worked to show younger consumers that it offers more than just high-jewelry. Recently, Tiffany worked towards embracing different facets of its product category and casting celebrity faces as ambassadors in a bid to rejuvenate consumer interest and grow profit margins (see more).

Chanel also employs a bevy of social pushes to cultivate special moments. For instance, the fashion house gave consumers an inside look at its founder’s spirit animal and inspiration, the lion, with a short social video.

The video, which showed a live lion, was chapter 10 in the brand’s Inside Chanel Series, and examined different aspects of the label’s heritage. The video looks at a more personal muse than previous films from Chanel, examining why Coco Chanel felt a kinship with lions, leading her to use them in her work (see more).

“The key takeaway is that luxury brands are well loved and ranked well in the overall report with five of the top 20 brands being in luxury – including Louis Vuitton #4, Chanel #5, Burberry #6, Tiffany #14, Prada #16, Coach #20,” Mr. Leidig said. “From a luxury perspective - Louis Vuitton leads in luxury conversation, edging out Chanel by one spot.

“Tiffany & Co. was the most passionately and positively discussed brand according to our Brand Passion Index Rank, which just goes to show that conversation about an aspirational purchase contributes to positive brand image and reputation,” he said.

“Burberry performed well in net sentiment in the categories of store feedback and selection.”