The rise of social media has made it possible for people to communicate with others about a company and its products and is also a way for companies to directly speak to their customers (Mangold & Faulds 2010). Sharing content with thousands of followers at once isn’t the only benefit of social media, Social networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Tumblr give fashion brands a way to connect with their audience and can ultimately increase your audience (Mohr 2013). Anybody in the fashion industry should incorporate social media in their marketing strategy if they have not already done so. In this blog I will provide a guide to fashion retailers on the different ways you can market yourself using social media and provide examples of brands that are successfully using each type of social media outlet.
#1 Facebook
With over 1.15 billion monthly users Facebook is currently the largest social networking website which provides an easy way to connect and share with the people that matter most to your company. Having a Facebook page allows your company to be discoverable, lets you connect with your customers and you can reach a huge number of people.
Success stories: Converse
By far one of the best brands on Facebook, shoe retailer Converse has over 37 million likes and is the 11th most liked brand on Facebook. Converse engage their fans on Facebook by mixing up their content, with posts about product, posts about content and questions about topics of the day. Converse really knows their audience and knows what will spark conversation. They don’t just post images of their products they post for example about music, shoes and involve their followers with many images being fan submitted and they also listen and participate with their followers on Facebook.
#2 Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking site and is a form of microblogging which allows users to send and read 140-character messages known as “tweets”. Twitter is a great way to extend a companies reach, generate awareness, create word of mouth marketing, increase sales and connect with customers.
Success stories: Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs has run countless campaigns over Twitter and the majority have been hugely successful. Their success is arguably due to their ability to create excitement around events and products which drives people to become involved. Marc Jacobs’ success is also due to the fact that they reward brand loyalty for example their hashtag #CastMeMarc is a great example. The campaign ran across Instagram and Twitter to find a model for their new line and received over 35,000 applications!
#3 Instagram
Instagram is a online and mobile photo-video sharing and social networking application which allows users to upload, edit, comment and share photos with other users. Instagram is the perfect opportunity for a brand to swiftly communicate with their target audience, reach new customers and generate awareness.
Success stories: Victoria’s secret
Victoria’s Secret is One of the best brands on Instagram that continues to succeed with its Instagram campaigns over and over again because they understand what encourages and drives their followers to participate. Their Instagram pages posts behind the scenes footage which builds a personal connection with their audience and gives followers a sense of exclusivity.
#4 YouTube
YouTube is a video sharing website which allows users to create, upload and view videos free of charge. With 300 hours of video being uploaded to YouTube every minute and over one billion users, YouTube is an accessible way to reach a global audience, build relationships and it allows a company to brand their businesses unique personality.
Success stories: Chanel
With over 400,000 subscribers and over 140 million views Chanel was the top fashion brand channel on YouTube in 2014. Chanel’s success on YouTube is because they have such good understanding and awareness of what kind of content their audience resonates with. They also have a strong paid ad strategy and they have produced an environment where their fans can actually engage.
#5 Tumblr
Tumblr is another micro blogging and social networking site which lets users share text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos. Tumblr has over 231.5 million blogs and 108.5 billion posts. Tumblr is a powerful tool to increase awareness and it’s an easy way for people to discover and share a company’s content. According to a study by comScore, 50 percent of Tumblr users are age 25 or younger. Fashion retailers targeting the younger generation should definitely consider including Tumblr in their marketing strategy.
Success stories: Solestruck
Shoe retailer Solestruck is extremely popular among Tumblr users, with posts getting countless re-blogs and likes. Its success has largely been due to the fact that they don’t just post numerous images of their products but instead they post interesting things which are also relevant to their audience such as funny memes and images like this
Lesson learnt
- Launch engaging social media campaigns that will generate a social buzz and engagement around a brand
- Post interesting images and content not just related to your products but include things like customer experiences and fashion trends
- Engage with your followers by liking, re-tweeting, commenting, replying and sharing fan submitted images.
- Fashion is all about image, be visually appealing
So who is failing miserably at social media and why? Online clothing retailer Black Milk Clothing takes the crown! They have done it all, they’ve posted offensive images, deleted comments, blocked anybody who had anything negative to say about them and refused to apologise to customers. They have even been condescending to customers and when they were caught out for something they did they issued a half hearted apology- blaming customers! Everything they did were big social media marketing no-no’s so make sure you avoid the mistakes they made!
Final thoughts
Social media platforms no doubt offer a multitude of opportunities for companies in marketing (Haenlein & Kaplan 2010) and they are also a form of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) but with this comes disadvantages. Consumers are now able to communicate with each other which limits the amount of control a company has over the information being distributed about them (Mangold & Faulds 2010) and bad e-WOM spreads so quickly it can potentially ‘make or break’ a company (Davidson, 2009). Companies are even going as far as posing as consumers and manipulating the conversation which ruins eWOM’s primary advantage, credibility!
Mishandling social media can also cause irreparable and expensive damage to a brand (Paine, 2009) but like all marketing techniques social media has its risks. Social media marketing when done right is extremely beneficial as it can increase the amount of customers you have, increase traffic and improve awareness about your brand. Furthermore social media is so easy to access and its conversational nature makes it a perfect platform to build customer loyalty and trust, all of which are crucial components of fashion marketing.
References
Davidson, D., 2009. How to…put a price on your social media strategy, Revolution Magazine – The Insider’s Guide to Digital Marketing 2009, November, pp.29-33;
Mangold. W. G., & Faulds, D. J. (2010). Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix. Business horizons, 52(4), 357-365.
Mohr, I. (2013). The Impact of Social Media on the Fashion Industry. Journal of Applied Business and Economics, 15(2), 17-22.
Paine, K.D., 2009. New school of thought – the social media advantage, Communication World, Nov-Dec, pp.20-24;