August 16, 2017
Dior's fall/winter 2017-2018 women's collection is designed in shades of blue. Image credit: Dior
Consumers are becoming more vocal about their affection for the brands they love on social media, according to an analysis by NetBase.
The amount of passion for brands measured by the agency grew 40 percent from last year, with brands such as Gucci and Dior recording significant increases in passionate posts. According to NetBase, the more consumers love a brand, the less likely they are to make their purchase decisions based on price.
“Technology companies continue to dominate as the most loved brands, but what fascinates us are the brands that make their appearance on the list for the first time, like Tesla and Puma,” said Paige Leidig, chief marketing officer at NetBase, San Francisco. “The brands are a good mix of young and mature companies and positive movement can be attributed to brands making strong connections with their customers and launching innovative social campaigns.”
NetBase’s Brand Passion Report 2017: Top 100 Brands Global Love List, now in its third year, finds expressions of strong positive feelings expressed towards brands on social media in English. The technology used sifts through mentions of keywords such as “amazing” and “favorite,” separating mere uses of the words from statements of adoration for brands.
Love list
Tech and online companies comprised the majority of the top 10 most loved brands, showing consumers’ increasingly digital lifestyles.
Facebook topped NetBase’s list, showing the continued power of the social network with more than 2 billion active users.
Amazon, frequently considered a luxury disruptor in the making, comes in right behind Facebook.
Amazon is high on the list of loved brands. Image credit: Amazon
Snap also entered the list for the first time at number five, while other top 10 ranked brands included streaming platform Netflix, Apple and ecommerce sites eBay and Etsy.
Gucci was the top ranked luxury brand on the list, coming in 17th overall. The brand has seen one of the greatest rises in brand love this past year, with a growth of 230 percent.
In luxury fashion, Louis Vuitton and Chanel came in behind Gucci at 36 and 38, respectively. Dior also appears in the rankings at 60.
Louis Vuitton Series 6 ad campaign. Image credit: Louis Vuitton
Tesla, which placed 28, is the top luxury automotive brand on NetBase’s rankings. The automaker, which is a new entry, has seen consumer sentiment grow partly due to the anticipated release of its entry-level Model 3.
BMW and Mercedes follow close behind at 31 and 35, respectively, while Audi, Ferrari and Porsche took spots in the 50s and Lexus placed 95th.
Automotive brands are more apt to see consumers showing their affection for a particular model.
Brand love is not limited to single labels. Beauty retailer Sephora placed at 48th, while retailer Nordstrom made the list at 86.
Social strategy
Instagram has become a prime vehicle for consumers to voice their affection for a particular brand. Tesla, BMW, Ferrari and Dior all saw more than half of their love mentions come through Instagram.
Millennials in particular are driving increased brand love for a number of companies, including Dior and Sephora. Both the couture house and the beauty retailer have seen growth in consumer displays of affection on social media over last year thanks to this generation.
While luxury lifestyle brands are not seeing any setbacks from their lack of empathizing with younger millennials right now, it will not be long before these brands start to see effects as the group ages.
According to a study from Hitwise, brands such as Michael Kors and Ralph Lauren are having trouble identifying with younger consumers, aged 18 to 24, but are not showing concern in this area. However, Gucci is significantly above the pack in attracting millennial consumers, which can poise the brand for long-term success (see story).
While size of love is one thing, the strength of passion is another.
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 recent 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 (see story).
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