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Luxury Brands UHNWIs Social Media

How luxury brands can engage followers on social in 2023

By Lily Power, Social media specialist

Relevance

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The Drum Network article

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April 17, 2023 | 9 min read

Lily Power of digital agency Relevance gives the low-down on how luxury brands can leverage the latest social media trends and features to entice and engage their followers.

Person holding phone with open social media app

Monetizing content can give luxury brands an exclusive edge / Image courtesy of Relevance

The maxim that ‘the only certainty is change’ is pertinent, particularly – and not surprisingly – to social media. It is constantly evolving; as are the ways in which luxury brands use it.

For luxury brands, social media is a key way to engage and communicate with their audience. It’s important to monitor and stay up to date with the latest trends and use data and analytics to learn how to drive engagement and craft more effective and personalized marketing campaigns.

In 2022, revenue in the luxury goods market averaged more than $312 bn and was predicted to grow more than 5% annually. With the luxury market increasing in size, it’s crucial for luxury brands to differentiate themselves effectively and authentically.

Last year, short-form video content and genuinfluencers dominated our feeds. Luxury brands pushed short-form videos, particularly on TikTok and Instagram, and these platforms quickly evolved into search engines.

So, what can we expect to perform well in 2023?

Think less copy and paste; more authentic storytelling

Last year, hopping on trends was vital for growing audiences on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.

To be successful on TikTok and Instagram in 2023, luxury brands and creators must adopt more original content in their overall strategy and embrace the era of ‘authenticity’. Brands cannot hide anything from their customers or clients, meaning it’s important to be transparent – and this is especially important for luxury brands.

To be different, brands and creators must focus on longer-form blogs, native conversations on niche topics, and shift video content towards native off-the-cuff storytelling. In a world hungry for instant gratification, videos that engage consumers with visuals and audio that pack information in a short period of time will continue to perform.

This year, brands will leave behind copy and past trends and, conversely, focus on using trending sounds with their unique spin.

Turn to ‘customer influencers’

There is no denying that influencer marketing is lucrative, but brands are increasingly sharing user-generated content (UGC) in a push to become more authentic. Apple's #ShotOniPhone and Calvin Klein’s #MyCalvins campaigns are fantastic examples.

UGC is a blanket term for customer-generated or employee-generated images, videos, social posts and blog posts. The content doesn’t come from a professional market but from social media users.

It’s expected that more brands will turn to ‘customer influencers’ in 2023. User-generated content (UGC) has produced impressive analytical results for various brands in recent years. It allows customers to transition from participators to spectators.

A key example of this is the luxury travel industry’s incorporation of UGC: a select group of high-end hotels and travel agencies, including Conrad Hotels and Travel Edge, have started to push authentic and organic content to add more creativity to their campaigns.

Another example is luxury fashion brands, such as Christian Louboutin’s #somethingrouge campaign that asked customers to post photos of themselves wearing Louboutin shoes – the brand then selected the best photos and reposted them on their Instagram page.

It could be time to monetize your exclusive content

Gated content is online content with an electronic ‘gate’ that blocks users from viewing until they have provided personal information, such as their email address or phone number.

In luxury marketing, gated content offers something valuable in exchange for information from your prospects and is a way for brands to build trust and gather information. Examples of gated content include Instagram’s subscription feature, contests, eBooks, white papers, and webinars.

Last year, Gucci used the increasingly popular web3 tool, ‘token-gating’ which limits access to certain spaces to blockchain token-holders, enabling them to offer exclusive perks to select customers.

Consider artificial intelligence (AI)

AI tools are predicted to influence the spectrum of online communications and continue to revolutionize social media. For instance, it can gather data from social media audiences to drive sales in a number of ways, including learning what keywords, headlines, and images resonate with your audience, discovering new audiences and trends using analytics, and predicting potential buyers.

However, luxury brands should approach this with caution; while AI can help creators to write blogs, articles, and social media posts, they can only repurpose existing information, which can be detrimental to SEO and adds little value to the audience who are seeking something new.

Turn your attention to social search

Users seek an exploratory experience with curated takes and personal experiences, such as TikTok storytelling and honest reviews on Trustpilot. If you want your content to get discovered, turn your attention to TikTok and Instagram and start including the keywords you want to rank for in your social media content.

TikTok offers many opportunities for luxury brands, including a focus on behind-the-scenes content, influencer collaborations, paid advertisement, and live streaming.

YouTube Shorts

YouTube Shorts are averaging over 30bn daily views, offering opportunities for brands to increase their social engagement in 2023.

What sets YouTube apart from other video-centric platforms is that its wide selection of categories attracts users from all walks of life. In fact, the most prevalent age of UHNWIs is 68 years old, so while a luxury brand might struggle to reach its target audience on TikTok, it’s might have more luck connecting with the 55+ market on YouTube.

Education will explode

In 2022, brands in the fintech space found that sharing thoughtful, save-worthy content engaged their audience; short-form videos, Instagram carousels, and story highlights offer the perfect framework for educating your audience.

Sharing relevant and informative content will keep your audience interested and engaged, and is important for luxury brands because UHNWIs seek content that fulfills their needs beyond a product or service.

LinkedIn finds new relevance

It’s predicted that Twitter’s user base will supposedly drop to 353.9 million users in 2023 due to growing concerns about recent changes to the platform.

Experts predict that users will migrate from Twitter to LinkedIn, leading the channel to evolve and become more humanized. We'll see people sharing more personal experiences that define leadership and be more open about challenges in the workplace. Luxury brands should leverage this to help humanize their companies and build stronger connections with potential customers and clients.

Luxury Brands UHNWIs Social Media

Content by The Drum Network member:

Relevance

Relevance is a strategic and creative digital marketing agency specialising in profiling and targeting Ultra-High-Net-Worth-Individuals for the world's most exclusive...

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