For years, digital media experts and observers, including those on this website, have held up Burberry as an example of a luxury fashion brand that’s effectively embracing today’s digital world.

Last year, Joanna Shields, Vice President EMEA for Facebook, the world’s largest social network now with more than 700 million registered users, took that one step further. “Burberry is no longer just a fashion company today they are a thriving media enterprise,” she said. “Burberry is now the most widely followed fashion brand on Facebook. It’s successful not just because it makes great clothes but because it understands the importance of sparking interest in the community and using social media to engage and delight their consumers.”

Of course, Facebook has its own reasons for promoting brands who have enthusiastically adopted aOlernKienOP air jordan 2010 xxv black varsity red red Like father its platform, but there is no doubt that with more than 6.5 million Facebook fans and an impressive array of digital initiatives, Burberry’s reputation as one of the world’s most sophisticated digital operators has now become a core part of its brand DNA.

So, I was surprised to receive a pre release email from New York’s L2 thinktank about their new ‘Facebook IQ’ report that ranks Burberry 49th amongst 100 prestige brands, giving them an overall rating of ‘Average’. Only 8 months ago, the same organisation rated Burberry as ‘Genius’ in its annual Digital IQ index.

Is Burberry’s digital prowess really waning?

“One of eight minutes air jordan 8 aqua retro spent on the Internet is on Facebook,” writes L2 founder Scott Galloway in the report’s introduction. “The platform’s velocity of adoption is unprecedented, and as it gets bigger, it grows faster, both in number of users and time spent.” But Galloway goes on to knock prestige brands for “maintaining a monocular focus on the size of their Facebook community,” aOlernKienOP air jordan 14 retro varsity red vibrant yellow black online How To Buy Chea saying “they have failed to embrace the authentic two way communication and marketing activation required to monetize the platform.”

These are fair criticisms of air jordan 4 iv retro white chrome classic green many luxury brands who have been overly focused on the race for fans rather than embracing the radical mindset changes necessitated by the rise of digital and social media. As I wrote back in February, too many brands are focused on the surface of social media as a marketing tool, without thinking more deeply about how to support core business objectives.

L2 told the FT’s Vanessa Friedman, who was also caught by surprise, that Burberry was penalised, amongst other reasons, “because it is one of the 20 percent of brands that does not allow fans to post on its wall, suggesting they aren’t yet ready to abandon command and control, because the brand does not allow fans to upload photos or aOlernKienOP air jordan 13 xiii original og white black true red yard field goal videos to its Facebook page, and because it doesn’t respond to fans or maintain any two way communication.”

That’s a mouthful, and indeed, most of the report’s accounting of Burberry’s behaviour on Facebook is factually correct. The trouble with this kind of checklist methodology, however, is that it takes a one size fits all approach, lumping brands together from across a number of sectors automobiles, beauty, fashion, champagne and assuming that they should all tick the same boxes, regardless of the differences in their underlying business strategies, price points, brand positioning, and product portfolios, which may actually necessitate different kinds of consumer engagement, across different kinds of media.

Despite its undeniable importance, considering Facebook separately from other channels of communication is a questionable way of evaluating success, digital or otherwise. Today, we are living in a multichannel environment where a consumer may first see a product in a magazine, research it online, purchase it in a bricks and mortar store, complain about it on Twitter aOlernKienOP air jordan spizike black red green NCAA Security In Indianapolis Escorted M or Facebook, and ultimately have their issue resolved over the telephone. A brand’s engagement with consumers lives across all of these touchpoints, for which different brands will, by necessity, pursue different strategies.

Take Tory Burch, for example, air jordan 10 venom green black cool grey anthracite venom green which was rated ‘Genius’ by the L2 report, making it the top ranked fashion brand. Positioned as an accessible fashion brand, Tory Burch products typically cost less than $500, making them readily affordable for many consumers, and accessible even to those who are only able to splurge once in a while. Part of what defines the brand is its openness, as personified by its aspirational but accessible founder who tweets from her travels, sharing experiences from her day to day life.

The Tory Burch Facebook page allows consumers to post to its page, even if this does not always shed a positive light on the brand or its products.

“I love your products but the quality is like a cheap aOlernKienOP air jordan 2 iiretro white varsity red black How to Dry Wet Tennis Shoes Wi chinese (sic) knock off,” writes one Facebook user, Yun Kum Collins. Other fan posts on the noisy Discounted Tory Burch Shoes page include an appeal for anti stalking laws, a photograph of a broken Discounted Tory Burch Shoes, and questions about potential Discounted Tory Burch Shoes counterfeit sites. Some, but not all, of these comments are addresseFor years, digital media experts and observers, including those on this website, have held up Burberry as an example of a luxury air jordan 1 retro high black max orange white fashion brand that’s effectively embracing today’s digital world.

Last year, Joanna Shields, Vice President EMEA for Facebook, the world’s largest social network now with more than 700 million registered users, took that one step further. “Burberry is no longer just a fashion company today they are a thriving media enterprise,” she said. “Burberry is now the most widely followed fashion brand on Facebook. It’s successful not just because it makes great clothes but because it understands the importance of sparking interest in the community and using social media to engage and delight their consumers.”

Of course, Facebook air jordan spizike do the right thing has its own reasons for promoting aOlernKienOP air jordan spizike bordeaux 2012 An Ultimate Choice for the Basketball Fans brands who have enthusiastically adopted its platform, but there is no doubt that with more than 6.5 million Facebook fans and an impressive array of digital initiatives, Burberry’s reputation as one of the world’s most sophisticated digital operators has now become a core part of its brand DNA.

So, I was surprised to receive a pre release email from New York’s L2 thinktank about their new ‘Facebook IQ’ report that ranks Burberry 49th amongst 100 prestige brands, giving them an Air Jordan CDP overall rating of ‘Average’. Only 8 months ago, the same organisation rated Burberry as ‘Genius’ in its annual Digital IQ index.

Is Burberry’s digital prowess really waning?

“One of eight minutes spent on the Internet is on Facebook,” writes L2 founder Scott Galloway in the report’s introduction. “The platform’s velocity of adoption is unprecedented, and as it gets bigger, it grows faster, both in number of users and time spent.” But Galloway goes on to knock prestige brands for “maintaining a monocular focus on the size of their Facebook community,” saying “they have failed to embrace the authentic two way communication and marketing activation required to monetize the platform.”

These are fair criticisms of many luxury brands who have been overly focused on the race for fans rather than embracing the radical mindset changes necessitated by the rise of digital and social media. As I wrote back in February, too many brands are focused on the surface of social media as a marketing tool, without thinking more deeply about how to support core business objectives.

L2 told the FT’s Vanessa Friedman, who was also caught by surprise, that Burberry was penalised, amongst other reasons, “because it is one of the aOlernKienOP air jordan 6 white sport blue black Overall and Brammer Real Estate 20 percent of brands that does not allow fans to post on its wall, suggesting they aren’t yet ready to abandon command and control, because the brand does not allow fans to upload photos or videos to its Facebook page, and because it doesn’t respond to fans or maintain any two way communication.”

That’s a mouthful, and indeed, most of the report’s accounting of Burberry’s behaviour on Facebook is factually correct. The trouble with this kind of checklist methodology, however, is that it takes a one size fits all approach, lumping brands together from across a number of sectors automobiles, beauty, fashion, champagne air jordan 1 ko high og chicago and assuming that they should all tick the same boxes, regardless of the differences in their underlying business strategies, price points, brand positioning, and product portfolios, which may actually necessitate different kinds of consumer engagement, across different kinds of media.

Despite its undeniable importance, considering Facebook separately from other channels of communication is a questionable way of evaluating success, digital or otherwise. Today, we are living in a multichannel environment where a consumer may first see a product in a magazine, research it online, purchase it in a bricks and mortar store, complain about it on Twitter or Facebook, and ultimately have their issue resolved over the telephone. A brand’s engagement with consumers lives across all of air jordan viii retro playoffs 8s 2013 these aOlernKienOP air jordan 1 23501 levi denim pack Miu Miu Slingback Red and Blue Wave Leat touchpoints, for which different brands will, by necessity, pursue different strategies.

Take Tory Burch, for example, which was rated ‘Genius’ by the L2 report, making it the top ranked fashion brand. Positioned as an accessible fashion brand, Tory Burch products typically cost less than $500, making them readily affordable for many consumers, and accessible even to those who are only able to splurge once in a while. Part of what defines the brand is its openness, as personified by its aspirational but accessible founder who tweets from her travels, sharing experiences aOlernKienOP air jordan 14 retro white red Got Heel Pain from her day to day life.

The Tory Burch Facebook page allows consumers to post to its page, even if this does not always shed a positive light on the brand or its products.

“I love your products air jordan xx3 black red stealth but the quality is like a cheap chinese (sic) knock off,” writes one Facebook user, Yun Kum Collins. Other fan posts on the noisy Discounted Tory Burch Shoes page include an appeal for anti stalking laws, a photograph of a broken Discounted Tory Burch Shoes, and questions about potential Discounted Tory Burch Shoes counterfeit sites. Some, but not all, of these comments are addressed by referring consumers to a Discounted Tory Burch Shoes email address or providing links where more information can be found.

Burberry is using its Facebook page as a mechanism for creating social objects, to be engaged with, shared, discussed and propagated by its fans, as opposed to using it as a primary customer service channel. In this way it is less about a “two way” conversation between a brand and its fans and more about inspiring engagement and conversation with and amongst the fans themselves.

“Our fans are the benchmark for us,” continued the spokesperson. “The growth indicates they are engaged and sharing with their friends. We also look at how long they spend on the site, how much they spend viewing and commenting with all the different content and then move between our various platforms in a truly cross platform, sharing community.”

This is not to say that effective handling of customer complaints is not important, just that for Burberry, Facebook may not be the best place to do so, especially with its complex hierarchy of air jordan 5 v raging bull defining moments package ii sub brands, product aOlernKienOP air jordan spizike stealth black Comfort You Feet With Anatomic Gel Shoes lines and price points.