TOM FORD BLACK ORCHID: Social Media Monitoring Part 2

Many luxury brands struggle to create accounts on social media because it can cheapen the prestige and perception, brands may lose their exclusiveness, and what is more, negative comments can destroy a long established reputation. The Information Age has erased the boundaries, people from around the world can say out loud what they want to say, and other likeminded people can leave a comment, share, support etc. “Luxury Brands Must Innovate or Die in the Digital Age” (Ana Andjelic). If they want to stay afloat and if they want to be in demand among the digital generation, they have to accept without a question the rules of the game.

The first part of Tom Ford Black Orchid social media monitoring was dedicated mostly to the presence on social media and the main trends. In this part I would like to pay attention to the current statistics, social metrics and the target audience. I’ve learned that Tom Ford hasn’t always been so optimistic about social media. Let’s check his before and after quotes on social media.

In the past

“Tweeting? It's one of the silliest things ever”

-Tom Ford

Now

 “Something new is happening that I'm just clueing into now—this probably won't go down well—but customers don't care any more about reviews or hard-copy publications. They care what picture Rihanna just Instagrammed while she's naked in bed, what new shoes she has on, how she's talking about them. That's what they respond to”

-Tom Ford

 

1. Current  Metrics

1.1 Google Trends

The search item “tom ford black orchid” on Google Trends is a very vivid example how popular can be the Black Orchid perfume during the winter months. In this graph we can see the increase in popularity every December.

If we check the related posts in December 2006-2014, we’ll find a lot of articles that describe the best “affordable luxury” gifts at a competitive price. For instance, I found the post “55 beauty gifts under $150” and the Black Orchid was in that list.

In the first picture I've decided to compare the users' interest in Tom Ford "Black Orchid", Guerlain "Shalimar", Yves Saint Laurent "Cinema", and Dior "Poison" (according to the website fragrantica.com, people who like Black Orchid may also like these fragrances). The second picture represents the interest in Tom Ford, Yves Saint Lauren, Chanel and Dior perfume in general (without choosing a certain scent).

The results are the following:

1) Dior "Poison" is the most competitive scent among the selected ones. Over the past few years, the Black Orchid has increased the level of peoples' awareness, so the potential customers want to learn more about this perfume and to evaluate it by means of detailed reviews, positive and negative comments etc.

2) Chanel perfume has a long history and always sounds familiar, so it will be difficult to break this record.

3) The "December" trend holds, people are getting interested in perfume search before the holidays.

1.2 Social Mention

The Social Mention tool has shown the majority (199 neutral against 19 positive and 4 negative) of neutral sentiment.

1) the ratio of mentions that are generally positive to those that are generally negative is 5:1;

2) some passionate advocates post about Tom Ford Black Orchid repeatedly (45 % of passion, 111 unique authors);

4) it's a pretty high likelihood that Tom Ford Black Orchid is being discussed on social media.

1.3  Social Searcher

The Social Searcher tool has shown the same neutral sentiment but it's been divided into more specific groups (Facebook, Twitter and Google+). Google+ users show mostly the positive sentiment, Twitter and Facebook users are more neutral.

Comments on Facebook are mostly text-oriented, the Twitter comments reveal as a combination of a picture, a link, and a text.

2. Target Audience

According to the data from Alexa.com, we can see that the tomford.com visitors spend about 3 minutes daily, and the percentage of single page sessions is increasing. In comparison, people spend 3.5 minutes on Chanel.com, 4 minutes on Gucci.com, Armani.com, and Burberry.com. The audience demographics proves that website visitors are educated females who have a job. As far as the website is available in English, the site's visitors are located in the USA, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, and Italy.

3. Comments and responses

I’ve checked a lot of comments on Tom Ford Facebook page, Tom Ford Twitter, Tom Ford Instagram and haven’t found any response on behalf of the company.

Comments on Black Orchid campaign are numerous and most of them seem to be rather gratifying. However, there are some statements where people are criticizing the excessive provocative act of Tom Ford's perfume campaigns. A group of female customers will not be disappointed if Tom Ford creates less "naked" campaign because they value an exceptional quality of the product, whereas, in contrast, some male customers are really appreciate the chosen campaign style and ask the company to follow this direction in the future.

All in all, social media accounts are lively, people are responding to each other. But one important detail catches the eye: the company prefers to keep silent below its posts.

Unisex perfume?

It's been a question for years. For a long time Tom Ford Black Orchid has been marketed as a female scent. Probably, it's finally being accepted as a unisex fragrance, and it can be proved by its presence in the men's fragrance counters at cosmetic stores. As one of the customers said "Made for a woman, perfected on a man".

 Questions

And there is still no answer.

Conclusion

The Digital Age has affected all spheres of our lives, and everything you say can be shared immediately.  And luxury brands are not the exception. The smart phone gives a great power and to customers who want to make right and thoughtful product choices. "Social media has become the preferred tool in many instances to create and share experiences as well as knowledge".

Recommendations:

1) To admit the importance of responding to customers on social media.  As practice shows, Tom Ford doesn't want to respond to his customers no matter if it's a question, a positive or a negative comment. But if a company created an account on social media and stall wishes the prosperity, it has to follow this simple social media rule. Customers want to be heard and want the company to be supportive.

2) To focus on diverse visual content. Tom Ford's team creates a very intriguing and high priced visual content. It's very interesting to look at, to enjoy its aesthetic qualities.  But it doesn't mean that the same content has to be multiplied every social media. As a customer, I expect a valuable and unpredictable content. In addition, the diversity in content is becoming a competitive necessity, users want to read something new and relevant.

3) To create a sense of exclusivity online. "Brands need to prove their worth online". Luxury brands are afraid of losing the sense of desirability and in order to prevent it they have to find the golden mean to stay prestigious while adopting a social media mindset and embracing the groundswell.