Social media provides brands with an opportunity to reach and interact with existing customers and followers. Learning who they are, where they hang out and what they want becomes a crucial component when developing and executing social media campaigns. When these initiatives / campaigns by brands are deployed correctly it can result in remarkable successes – awareness and buzz around a brand’s products… and positive impact to the bottom line.

Luxury brand, Burberry has been an early adopter of various social media platforms out there – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest – executing social media marketing campaigns that are innovative and that set them apart from other luxury brands.

With the power-duo Angela Ahrendts (CEO) and Christopher Bailey (Chief Creative Director) both embracing the opportunities that social media can offer Burberry, it can only mean the execution of innovative social media initiatives that continue to elevate the brands presence – positioning Burberry as a top luxury brand within the social media space. A luxury brand that has seen success from its initiatives and one that other brands can certainly learn from.

All of the social media initiatives to date have ultimately lead to an improved relationship with Burberry’s customers / followers.  Always providing them with value-add (and in some cases exclusive) content and other incentives that keep fans engaged with the brand and its products.

By understanding who their followers are, what they want and what drives them to engage, to share and talk about their brand, Burberry was able to (and continues to) raise awareness and buzz around their women and men collections… and ultimately getting fans / customers to spend more over time. A success, Burberry should be proud of. The numbers below and what they share on their main Burberry website (shared later in this post) are proof of this.

• Facebook – 13, 217, 258 likes
• Twitter – 1,169,824 followers
• YouTube – 39,119 subscribers, 15,316,654 video views
• Pinterest –8,333 followers
• Instagram – 46,9492 followers

Three of their campaigns have not only set the bar high for what social media marketing campaigns should be, but have created the buzz and awareness they were striving for and helped to achieve some impressive results.

AUTUMN/WINTER 2012 CAMPAIGN

For the most part, many luxury brands have made a presence for themselves on various social networks, using one or more as part of these platforms for their social media marketing efforts. Leave it to Burberry, though, to launch a multi-platform campaign for its Autumn/Winter 2012 collection.

The campaign was rolled out across 10 different social platforms in total – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+, plus on 4 Chinese social media properties – all of it, showcasing the Burberry story / brand by way of social media platforms.

The campaign, a predominately cinematic black and white campaign, that stars British actress Gabriella Wilde and British musician Roo Panes, was launched across multiple social media platforms with photos and videos from the collection and campaign shared across several networks, as well as their own website, throughout the campaign.

“Celebrating our brand and London through imagery, film, music, weather and the Burberry iconic outerwear, all in a very poetic and British way.” ~ Mario Testino

Leveraging the power of videos, Burberry released videos are more like short films that have been shot in a very classic Hollywood style… absolutely gorgeous! Burberry elevated the online commerce experience by integrating social and commerce right into the videos developed. Essentially allowing users to share products on Facebook and purchase directly from within the video gallery… again, brilliant!

Burberry, like many other brands have made a presence for themselves on one of the fastest rising social networks, Pinterest. For Burberry, here was a platform they leveraged to provide their followers with behind-the-scenes, exclusive photos as a way to provide them with value-add content they will want to engage with – like, pin and share with friends.

Burberry, clearly understands the different social media platforms it participates in, the specific audience and what makes most sense in terms of content and engagement for each. As a result, you have a campaign that successfully showcases the brands essence and their iconic outerwear via content that people want to share: photos, videos (short-films and music)… all of it, further reinforcing that Burberry is a brand that completely embraces social media and has a clear understanding of where their customers / followers are, what it is they want and how to engage while still reaching their own goals.

TWEETWALK CAMPAIGN

In 2011, again amazes with the launch of ‘tweetwalk’ (#tweetwalk) in partnership with Twitter that enabled followers to see images of their fashion collection first, before the models and collection even hit the runway.

Photos were taken backstage and shared with the luxury brand’s followers on Twitter– enabling the followers to see the collection first, before anyone else, even press. What a fantastic and smart way to give your followers and exclusive view of the Spring/ Summer 2012 collection.

Not surprisingly, this social media initiative generated a lot of interest on Twitter, so much so that #Burberry was trending worldwide on Twitter for a period of time.

THE ART OF THE TRENCH

A campaign that was launched in the latter part of 2009, that involved the launch of a website that encouraged people to upload pictures of themselves wearing a Burberry trench coat. Art of the Trench, a photo-sharing website that is dedicated to images of people sporting the Burberry trench coat. Photos are a mix of professional photographers and those taken by the general public.

Visitors submit photos of their own, and can select their favorites from the selection already uploaded, as well, they can comment and share individual photos with others… all of this made possible via Facebook Connect- a user must sign in with Facebook first before they can fully engage with the site.

Launching effective social media initiatives is something this luxury brand seems to excel at each time. Not only are they innovative and newsworthy, but it is evident that a lot of thought has been put into each initiatives – leveraging great content to incorporate the brand values and tell the brand story, connecting with their customers and followers, understanding who their audiences are, what they would want to see and on what platforms to roll-out the respective content (images, videos) on… all of it resulting in increased engagement, awareness and buzz for the brand… and their bottom line.

• Burberry continues to advance its leading position on social media in the luxury sector
• Launching initiatives that more than doubled the Facebook fans and YouTube views, while tripling its followers on Twitter.
• Visits to the Art of The Trench social media site increased by more than 60%
• Announced a 21% rise in fourth-quarter sales, after spending the past year growing a social media strategy that leads the retail sector.

When it comes to luxury brands in social media, many are doing a lot of great things, however, only a few have truly grasped and understand the benefits of social media and have applied them correctly and seen positive impacts as a result of it. Burberry is definitely one of these brands. They are one of the top luxury brands in my opinion that continue to push the envelope when it comes to social media … looking forward to what they will do next.
(Source: Burberry.com and their online social properties)
Di Gallo is the Director, Social Media Partnerships at Rogers and a contributor to the Social Media Week Global Editorial Team based in Canada. The opinions expressed here are her own. Follow her on twitter @digallo. Learn more about her at about.me/digallo.