According to a survey conducted by the Luxury Interactive conference’s research team, 78% of digital marketing executives for luxury brands reported an increase in social media spend for 2012, while 73% of those surveyed said they will increase social media spend again in 2013.

The survey was distributed to top marketing executives at luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Cartier and Mandarin Oriental, among others, and will be distributed again at the live conference event in October. The Luxury Interactive team worked with ShopIgniter, the company behind social product promotion and commerce for many leading brands, to craft the questionnaire, which covered topics like social media spend, product promotion, mobile commerce and customer retention. The goal of the survey is to establish an industry benchmark for digital marketers at luxury companies. Results will determine spending trends and marketing successes, as well as areas in need of further development and investigation in the luxury market.

In addition to revealing statistics about social media spend, the survey also uncovers trends in mobile commerce, overall marketing spend and more. A highlight of the findings thus far includes the following:

– 81% of luxury brands surveyed increased their digital marketing spend in 2012 over 2011
– 53% of luxury marketers surveyed reserve between 20% and 60% of their overall media spend for digital marketing
– 83% of luxury marketers surveyed said if their business was forced to choose only one social media account to manage, they would choose Facebook
– 75% of luxury brands surveyed said they are using video to engage fans and followers

The survey will be distributed again to the more than 100 luxury brands attending the Luxury Interactive conference in October. After the event, the Luxury Interactive research team will compile the final results by adding responses from onsite attendees to the responses from the first round of the survey. Those results will be used to produce a benchmarking report that will be available before the close of 2012.

If you are a qualified luxury brand and would like to take part in this important survey (and have a chance at winning a $200 Amex card!) visit the survey here.