Last week, Jamie Waugh Luke, a columnist for Luxury Daily, posted an article about two well-known giants in the luxury retailing industry (Chanel and Bergdorf Goodman) and their different strategies on Twitter. The article, titled “Chanel vs. Bergdorf Goodman: Twitter personas and the perception of luxury,” examined both company’s Twitter pages and came to some conclusions about using Twitter in the luxury fashion industry. In this blog, I’m going to dissect the article and give specific examples to some of the conclusions that Luke came to.
First of all, the author believes that Bergdorf Goodman could take some pointers from Chanel’s social media strategy.
“Though it is inherently risky to compare brand to retailer, and though Bergdorf’s tweets read like a wink and a toast at best, it is nevertheless revealing of how the luxury retailer could learn from the writing and the strategy behind Chanel’s tweets.”
1) Chanel follows no one
Luke believes that following people on Twitter is one of the key ingredients in building an engaged audience; however, this is not the case for Chanel.
“Listening does not appear to be Chanel’s bag, and I would bet the followers do not care. They do not love Chanel because it is chatty: They love Chanel because associating with the brand offers rich club membership”
2) Bergdorf Goodman utilizes a “Twitter Persona”
Bergdorf tweets from a persona, a fun and fashionable girl, who tweets about her daily life and fashion.
“The problem with Bergdorf ’s tweets: you are often forgetting you are reading about Bergdorf… Instead, it offers the reader retweeted conversations with ordinary strangers out there who do not particularly have much to say.”
The Bergdorf Goodman Twitter has also been utilizing the hashtag #GetScattered, to promote a new documentary about the retailer debuting May 3rd.
“And the brand retweets fashionista after fashionista excited that the Bergdorf documentary is coming. The fact that Bergdorf is giddy that it is giddy casts a shadow on Bergdorf’s aura.”
3) Chanel uses a simplistic style when composing their tweets
Chanel uses simple tweets and lets the products do all talking
“The content keeps the Chanel aficionado informed of the glamorous intrigue they want to know… I f the reader has not bought Chanel yet, there is enough emotive content here to make her ready to leap at the first chance.”
Luke believes that Bergdorf Goodman is not completely failing. The “elevated” and “polite humor” that BG uses in its tweets is relatable to the 175 thousand+ followers.
However, brand voice is still the central idea that all fashion PR specialists should keep at the front of the brain when managing a brand or retailer’s social media outlets.
“THERE IS something to be said for using social media to integrate a brand into a person’s lifestyle. But when that means forgetting about the brand’s life itself, the message gets lost –and perhaps customers do as well.”
