Social media marketing is huge and when it comes to building an organic following online, and as a fashion brand or retailer, you will need to spend time developing a strong social media strategy in order to stand out in a very crowded marketplace in 2018.
With this in mind, here are three innovative ways fashion brands are using social media to get their products in front of the eyes of their customers and ahead of their competitors.
Influence Marketing
Social influence marketing is a fairly new form of digital marketing but is helping to grow and build fashion brands on an international scale. Using certain individuals, famous faces, celebrities and bloggers, influence marketing helps to impact consumer behaviour and boost conversions. The theory itself is basic. If someone famous or popular wears and endorses an item or product, their fans are likely to buy into it. There are plenty of tools online to help identify key influencers for your particular industry or sector such as:
User Generated Content
User generated content is king on Instagram and YouTube and can be thought of as the digital version of a customer recommendation or word of mouth review. Whether it’s a fashion haul video on YouTube with a detailed description of what the user has actually picked up, either online or in store, or a shared Instagram snap of a customer wearing an item of clothing or jewellery, user generated content will be a massive part of social media marketing in 2018. One easy way of adapting this technique to your social media strategy, is to take a screen shot a customer who has published a picture of themselves wearing a product from your brand or company and share this on your brand’s Instagram profile, making sure to credit the customer and thank them for sharing. This strategy is widely used online and helps to build engagement and an organic following as more customers attempt to get featured on the brand or company’s official Instagram page.
Visual Search
As consumers, we are moving rapidly towards voice activated search and visual search, especially when it comes to shopping online. ASOS may be one of the first retailers to launch visual search via their iOS app. The new search function will allow a user to snap a picture of an item they like, wherever they are, and the smart technology will provide the user with similar items available online to buy. This innovative technology could be the key to a successful online marketing strategy in 2018, as a brand could easily steal custom away from competitors by providing an instant result of a similar and potentially cheaper version of what a user would like to buy. Plus, who is to say that the image can’t be a screenshot of a competitor’s Instagram account. The possibilities are really endless when you think of it, so make sure you’re always one step ahead of the competition and investigating visual search in 2018.
Fashion brands and businesses must not make the mistake in 2018 of neglecting their social media strategy as it is becoming increasing more important to conversions, brand awareness and online growth than ever before.
We can help! Give our fashion retail team a call today on, 0800 011 9715 or visit Fashion Digital Marketing.
