“A | Marketing m2 LUXURY BRANDS AND SOCIAL MEDIA Before you read ‘Do you use soclal media lke Facebook? Why? / Why not? Reading ead the article from the Financil Times by David Gelles and do the exercises that follow. Tarnish the brand or build an aspirational following? David Gelles 1 takes some gumption to walk ito 4 Guec! store. One must be sll Ponsessed, confident cng to moot the gaze of the shopkeepers, and presumably wealthy enough 0 Borda $4000 handbag. No such Confidence is needed on the Web. ‘Anyone can visita company's web- site, no matter how rarefied the brand: But ifthe Web has racked invited everyone into a brand's ‘yrtaalbougee 2 Through Facebook fan pages, “Twitter accounts and private sci setworks, luury brands are nag ing online communities of tens Of ‘thousands of fans. Many of them are eager to engage, yet ony a small portion may be actual customers. iis most debritely a tenure tionship,” remarks Sami Balai, fn Internet marketing strategist. “Luxury means inaccessibility uniqueness And social media means the opponite. Everyone can talk oat everyone ca pas iround “The calculation for brands, the. 4s whether increased awareness on the Web can generate additional tales without tarnishing the brand ‘about ding he balance where ‘you don't lose your bran lle bat ull are able to reach the core Consumers.” says Mr Balai. To this end, the Facebook pages of Gucci, Chanel and Coach are no haphazard jomble. They are sleek, image-rich and. meticulously ‘curated. Despite Facebook's egal: larian ethos, there is lite ‘rod sourced content from fans.on Facebook is the #00-pound sola in the room.” says Reggie Bradford, Chiet Executive Vite social media management company. "Time spent is dominant. ‘That's where people are connecting to the Intemct. That has tobe the centre point of your social media ‘stegy The resus classic word ‘f-mout marketing ~ 78 per cea of ‘consumers bay products based upon ‘recommendation from a peet or fiend," says Mr Bradford. Luxury brands should be thinking about “how can we create a dalogue and get consumers connecting wih out a ‘When Gucci, for example, has 737000 fan on Facebook, it all ‘bat impossible to kick them out of the viral boutique. And even if ‘every tweet and Facebook post is ‘Giving immediate sales, "is wort 5a? says Mr Balwan "You wot only reach your consumers, but asp tonal consumers. Getting. the ‘consumer eal) on is really where {the win sin the long tem: (© Pearson Education Limited 2011 PwoTOCoPIABLE1. Decide whether these statements using ‘expressions in italic from paragraphs 1 and 2 are true or false. " 2) you have the gumption todo something, you have the courage and determination to doit. 1) youare set possessed, ou have good selF UNIT 7 theres ite crowd sourced content fom fans fn Facebook brand pages. 8) material writen by advertisers 1) material written by the brand owners ©) material writen by social website users 8 the messaging, themes and promotions are tently n syne withthe brand’ atest seasonal campaign 1) Inharmony with ») inconfct with ©) intiing with 4. Correct these statements with appropriate forms of expressions from paragraphs 4 and 5. 2) Avery good example of something is a classical, example oft 1) tfyou start communication with someone, you fabricate acialogue wththem. People who ae not actual customers for ‘produc, but who would ike tobe, are Inspirational People with a similar age, background, et. to you ate your pers ©) Something that brings sles dit them. 1) Themost important aspect of something is the cone that is domineering. {8 The mostimportant patot somethings its hub point. 1) When people buy thingsbecause of personal recommendation, this fsmouth-o-ear marketing 1D You can refer to something very bi, that you cant ignore, asthe 400-tilo ape at the door. 5 Choose the best summary (a, bor ¢) for the whole article. Lunury brands should £2) not allow access to their websites by people who never buy their products 1) carefully manage their ses and links with social ‘media, even if sales ate sot immediate. allow anyone who wantsto contribute to their sites to doso, Over to you 1 Would you become a “tien of brand on Facebook? Win? Why not? Over to you 2 Research onthe Internet the social media strategy ofa welthnown brand and producea short report about it