Information Technology Reference
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fashion, luxury, arts and other industries. They are international (only 16 percent
are based full-time in the US), with Europe (Italy, the UK, France and Germany)
having the highest density of members.
This online community embodies the key elements that luxury brands need
to be well-represented in the social web, whether through advertisements,
special events, communications campaigns, market research or client identi-
fication. In contrast with the “big worlds” like Facebook, MySpace, Cyworld
and Miki, the marketing communications initiatives made on A Small World are
viewed as useful and appropriate by members. Most of the members (84 per-
cent) trust the advice they receive from fellow members and more than half of
them view A Small World as the only online community they trust.
This proves that social networks are relevant as much for their qualities and not
only for their numbers. It is clear from A Small World that the wealthy have also
caught the social web bug.
(Twitter), setting goals and accomplishing them (43 Things) and connecting
people who could realize life-long dreams (Ckoitonreve.fr) are also becoming
popular online destinations for their positive experiences and reference points.
What should luxury brands be doing about social
networks?
The social web has confirmed that consumers worldwide not only want attention
from companies but they are also currently demanding to be more engaged in a
way that no longer follows the old top-down marketing dissemination but instead
functions through a bottom-up and lateral collaboration where the consumer is in
charge or at least is well recognized. The mass marketing model of one-formula-
fits-all, which marketers have applied since the industrial revolution, is no longer
appropriate. Consumers are saturated with an over-supply of information and
choices and they have decided to take the reigns of control and they LOVE it.
This is why devices like TiVo that enable people to skip adverts are so success-
ful. Companies are no longer in the position where they disseminate information
into the market to connect consumers with their products and service; they must
now connect with the consumers to be in tune with their tastes and preferences in
order to influence their choices. This means building and nurturing relationships
with clients through penetrating online communities and social networks. The
days of “buy now” and “call now” are over, particularly in the luxury sphere.
The core challenge for companies is how to approach consumer groups in
such a way that they will accept the company and become the propagators of
their message. This is a particularly daunting task for luxury brands as the luxury
segment's approach to client interactions has always been somewhat to maintain
a respectable distance between the client and the brand. In the meantime, the
clients themselves are becoming harder to reach as they are no longer loyal to
