By The Abrams Research Team
In early March, Abrams Research released a comprehensive social media guide for luxury brands. The guide was intended as a resource for luxury brands and included statistics, guidance, and real-world case studies that highlighted the social media practices that have been most (or least) effective for luxury brands. We praised brands like Four Seasons and Burberry for their usage of social media, and offered constructive criticism for the luxury brands that were not using social media well.
Fortunately, most of the luxury brands that we gave the “thumbs down” to had no problem with our evaluation and saw the suggestions for what they were, an opportunity to improve their social media strategy. In fact, only one brand took offense to the guide, Marc Jacobs.
In our case study of Marc Jacobs social media use, we praised their corporate Twitter handle as one of the best accounts for a luxury fashion brand. However, CEO Robert Duffy’s Twitter handle was another matter entirely. Duffy posted racy, inappropriate pictures from Marc Jacobs after-parties on his personal Twitter account. The pictures sparked a wave of criticism and Duffy responded by shutting down his account. This was included in the guide as an example of what senior executives at a luxury brand should not do.
In March, Marc Jacobs again found itself in the middle of a social media controversy. On March 23, an anonymous intern charged with overseeing the Marc Jacobs Intl handle tweeted his frustrations with company from the corporate account, calling Duffy a “tyrant” and discouraging others to work for him.
The tweets went out to over 116,000 followers and created a firestorm of media interest and bad press. We mentioned the controversy (like we had for a similar issue for Chrysler weeks earlier) via the Abrams Research Twitter handle, a platform we use to keep followers updated on the news in social media. Those behind the Marc Jacobs Intl corporate Twitter handle apparently took offense to our link, and shot back with a disparaging remark about our inclusion of Marc Jacobs in our social media guide:
With this tweet, Marc Jacobs committed their third social media faux paus. A tweet attacking a social media agency from the corporate Twitter handle is not a smart social media strategy. Instead, tweets should be dedicated to the brand’s ethos (Marc Jacobs is a luxury fashion brand, after all) and interacting with fans. As we noted in our social media guide, luxury brands are inherently held to a higher standard. The petty remarks and constant controversy that are associated with Marc Jacobs on Twitter reflect poorly on the otherwise classy brand.
Social media allows the employees behind a brand’s social media accounts to speak for the brand, often without any sort of approval process. In our guide, we suggested that Marc Jacobs establish a clear set of rules and guidelines for employees with regards to social media. There is a baseline of conduct for brands of every industry, and measures must be taken to ensure a brand’s social media presence aligns with its offline one. We urge companies to stress caution when it comes to employee usage of social media in order to prevent controversy. And if you need a little more guidance, Abrams Research is always here to help.
