Findings show that material should be edited in order to make it an integrated part of the luxury brand universe and enhance the luxury values. This could be done by reinstituting a traditional journalistic filter such as an online editorial filter that ensures that content
reinforces the luxury brand identity. Therefore a challenge is to create Facebook material and not just copy-‐paste traditional media material onto Facebook, as Facebook’s functions offer a way to create deeper and more complex stories about the luxury brand than traditional media.
We have looked upon three potential ways of communicating the luxury brand identity on Facebook namely closeness to the arts, using celebrities, and inviting the user backstage. These methods can be regarded as representative examples of communication tools that can function as ways of strategically creating a handcrafted experience on Facebook that enhances the luxury brand identity. The opportunity of creating a luxury brand experience on Facebook is to educate the users in the luxury brand by creating complex stories while making them feel connected. The challenge is to balance the level of self-‐disclosure to maintain the luxury brand identity on Facebook, i.e. how much personal brand information can be revealed while staying elevated? The elevation, aspirational, and superior characteristics are arguably what makes the luxury brand worth dreaming about.
Facebook offers a vast amount of tools to convey the online luxury brand identity and can function as a favourable luxury brand extension. The challenge is to create a communication strategy that communicates the luxury brand identity on Facebook.
Brand user relationships
Convert Facebook users into valuable luxury brand assets by activating them as engaged brand ambassadors
Luxury brands face challenges when creating an engagement strategy on Facebook. It seems to be a difficult area for luxury brands on Facebook due to the equality that comes with two-‐way communication. Luxury brands are forced to accept that an action has reactions on Facebook and the power of the online user, reinforced by a communication loop in the IMC process model. This emphasises the importance of creating an engagement strategy that fits the luxury
brand and its identity. One of the challenges when creating an engagement strategy is to figure out how to segment the online users. Who are the users, what engages them and how can they add value to the luxury brand? The communication loop and reversed power structures on Facebook may pose a challenge for luxury brands when creating relationships on Facebook.
This may for some luxury brands underline the need for creating boundaries in terms what content the luxury brand will moderate or remove from their Facebook brand page. Integrating boundaries in the engagement strategy should be carefully considered, as they should be of relevance to the luxury brand identity in order to come across as credible, which is an
important element of generating WOM. Social media seeks to remove barriers to participate.
However, luxury brands can try to maintain their exclusivity by reinforcing barriers to participate through semiotic codes or technical functions of Facebook. This would arguably benefit the savvy consumer by allowing him or her to feel connected in an exclusive universe.
On the other hand luxury brands should keep in mind to communicate the dream to the many, so it becomes valuable for the ‘few’.
One might say that a luxury brand should understand how to activate their users as valuable assets to the luxury brand in order to exploit the communication loop. This can be done by creating material that complies with user needs and thereby seek to create favourable reactions for the luxury brand, such as WOM, UGC, likes, shares, comment. The reaction can speak in favour of both the user in terms getting online needs covered, and for the luxury brands in terms of promoting the luxury brand. One might say that that in order to create brand ambassadors who generates favourable WOM it is relevant that users perceive the Facebook community as credible and that they can connect and feel belonging. Our findings show that co-‐creation can cover the need for feeling belonging in a community. From a luxury brand management perspective co-‐creation should arguably not be an endless world of possibilities e.g. the luxury brand can create a co-‐creation strategy that only allows the user to chose between A and B. The potential need for controlling two-‐way communication on
Facebook does not only count for co-‐creation. Findings show that staging an illusion of two-‐way communication speaks in favour of PSI, which arguably covers online user needs while
maintaining the luxury brand values. The challenge is to stage this tool of control in a believable manner in order for the luxury brand to maintain credibility on Facebook.
Facebook can arguably be a favourable social media platform for creating relationships for luxury brands if they can control its message by creating boundaries, barriers and understand which users add value to the luxury brand identity in terms of e.g. generating WOM.
Product awareness
Deepen the users’ understanding of the luxury brand identity through iconic product stories, exposure and experiences, creating a more educated and therefore engaged brand
ambassador
Findings show that when creating product awareness for luxury brands on Facebook it is relevant to establish representative elements from the luxury brand identity, and incorporate these in the product awareness strategy to create coherence. Our findings show four dominant strategies of creating product awareness on Facebook among luxury brands namely a product story strategy, a sensorial strategy, a sales generator strategy, and an after-‐purchase strategy.
The method of the strategies differs but the aim can be generalised to be a way of deepening the users’ understanding of the luxury brand identity. By editing the material and creating iconic stories, product exposures, and experiences, the luxury brand can educate the users and makes them worthy brand ambassadors. Luxury brands should make use of these strategies to create product stories that reinforce the luxury brand’s exclusivity on an accessible channel as Facebook. The importance of creating a coherent product awareness strategy is emphasised by the communication glitch fantasised identity, the brand image trap and the product attribution fixation trap. Moreover luxury brands should seek to comply with the user needs e.g.
information, belonging, connecting, and self-‐expression and build synergies to the criteria mentioned in the engagement strategy that seeks to create beneficial relationships and luxury brand ambassadors.
Product awareness through Facebook seems to show that success is to a large extent dependent on the communication strategy seeking to convey the luxury brand identity on Facebook and the engagement strategy seeking to create relationships to users on Facebook.
Thereby the synergies of activities on Facebook are important for luxury brands to use Facebook as a platform to create product awareness.
In conclusion, when taking a luxury brand online and into the community of Facebook it is important to determine how the luxury brand strategy can be converted into an interactive and luxurious social media community experience that not only expands the total luxury brand universe for the users, but also engages them as educated and active brand ambassadors