Study ranks Macy’s, Sephora and Michael Kors as Facebook ‘geniuses’

New York -- Macy’s, Sephora, Michael Kors and Lancome were ranked as Facebook “geniuses” in the second annual L2 Facebook IQ Index, developed in partnership with Buddy Media, a social enterprise software firm.



The Index measured the “aptitude” of 100 luxury and prestige brands across beauty, fashion, specialty retail, and watches & jewelry on Facebook. The study—authored by Scott Galloway, New York University Professor of Marketing and experts from his L2 firm (a think tank for digital innovation), and Buddy Media—ranks the brands’ Facebook efforts across four criteria, including size & growth, engagement, programming, and integration. Each brand was scored against more than 350 qualitative and quantitative data points, and assigned a Facebook IQ ranking of Genius, Gifted, Average, Challenged, or Feeble.



“Facebook investors have shifted the measurement stick: from promise to performance,” said Galloway. “Similarly, the marketing and digital professionals at prestige organizations charged with building and engaging communities on the world’s biggest platform, will face heightened expectations and scrutiny.”



Each brand was scored against more than 350 qualitative and quantitative



The L2 Facebook IQ Top 10 remains dominated by retailers and beauty brands that have been adept at facilitating higher rates of engagement via user-generated content and local page posts.

Key findings of the second annual L2 study include:



• While community growth is up, engagement across prestige communities has declined, with the average interaction rate or the percentage of the community liking or commenting on brand posts declining almost 50% year-over-year;



• The move to the Timeline interface in and of itself does not appear to be a growth driver; Prestige brands added 125% more fans in the 50 days prior to the Timeline launch, than they did in the 50 days after the mandatory switch to the new interface;



• More than 20% of prestige brands still do not engage in any two-way conversation and one-third prohibit fan posts on their Facebook walls; and



• 41% of brands now maintain at least one local country page; local Facebook pages have grown at double the rate of Global and U.S. prestige communities and register 50% higher engagement.