BMW, Clinique, and Audi nabbed the top three spots among a list of 100 prominent luxury brands for exceptional Facebook marketing, according to the newly launched L2 Prestige 100 Facebook IQ index, which ranks the Facebook aptitude of luxury brands.

The index evaluates luxury brands across five product categories (auto, beauty/skincare, fashion, watches/jewelry, and spirits/champagnes), and ranks them across four key criteria:

1. Size, growth, and velocity of Facebook community.
2. Engagement (fan reaction and interaction).
3. Programming (content, responsiveness, and creativity).
4. Integration of brand's Facebook presence with other digital platforms.

Auto and beauty brands led the Prestige 100 ranking overall, comprising the top 7 spots out of the top 15 (table below), registering the highest average IQ's across the four criteria. 

The watch and jewelry industry, which has approached digital with reluctance, according to the report, registered the lowest average Facebook IQ scores.

Below, additional findings from the Facebook IQ study authored by Scott Galloway, clinical professor of marketing at New York University and founder of L2, in partnership with Buddy Media.

Product-Related Wall Posts Generate Highest Interaction

The study also analyzed which types of brand posts generate the most Facebook "likes."

Wall posts about products highlights garnered the highest interaction rates—with with an average of 0.21% of the community "liking" or commenting on such posts—followed by posts about the company itself (0.15%), questions (0.14%), and special events (0.13%).

Wall posts related to contests and promotions registered the lowest interaction rates on average, 0.07% and 0.08%, respectively.

Most Active Brands

The most active Prestige 100 brands—those registering highest average numbers of brand posts per week during April 2011—were led by fashion brands: Oscar de la Renta (43), Dolce & Gabanna (35), Diane von Furstenberg (30), Bobbi Brown (25), and Benefit (24).

Among the least active brands, Patek Phillippe, De Beers, Rolex, Moet & Chandon, Glenfiddich, Dom Perignon, Prada, and Balenciaga, five report outsourcing their Facebook marketing.

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Most Responsive Brands

The ranking of the top 10 most responsive Prestige 100 brands—those most frequently responding to posts from fans—was dominated and led by the beauty and skincare category, including L'Occitane, which responded to 66% of weekly fan posts from March 12 to May 12, 2011. Second-ranked Kiehl's responded to 52% of fan posts during the period: 

Other key findings among the Prestige 100 brands:

• 20% don't allow fans to post on their walls; on average, such brands registered IQ scores of 82, compared with scores of 107 for brands that allow wall posts.
• 40% are "glocal" brands—those that maintain regional pages to target local markets and/or locally targeted posts, whereas 60% anchor efforts around one global Facebook page.
• None of the Prestige 100 now engage in Facebook commerce. 

Read complete index results

About the data: Findings are from the L2 Prestige 100 Facebook IQ index, based on research conducted in the first quarter of 2011. The index evaluates and ranks the Facebook efforts of prestige brands across four criteria: Size and growth, engagement, programming and integration. Each brand was scored against more than 200 qualitative and quantitative data points, and assigned a Facebook IQ ranking of genius, gifted, average, challenged, or feeble.