It’s impossible to deny the power of social media. Today there are countless ways to communicate with friends, family and brands, with countless apps to help you do the things you didn’t even know you needed help with.
International, local, little-known and major fashion houses have all jumped on this knowledge. Those who do with eagerness and bags of shareable content have succeeded in becoming social media savvy - they have used the Digital Age to their advantage and dominated many of the platforms available to them.
An iconic social media marketing platform is a necessity for any fashion house or shopping brand. Facebook is this platform - with 1.11bn monthly active users registered in March, 2013. It makes nothing but good business sense to create a Facebook business page and interact with your target market.
High street chains hold one-off Facebook competitions and regular give-aways such as ‘Freebie Fridays’.
Why?
Because who doesn't love a freebie?! Encouraging their fans and followers (and strangers) to share, RT and follow an item / post / profile means they are reaching a wider audience all for the cost of one prize. The buzz which flurries up around the brand is free marketing in comparison to a £25 dress or £10 scarf. If you look across Facebook and Twitter, it's not unusual for such give-aways to attract 1000s of interactions (the irony being most wouldn't even buy the item on offer).
The top 50 fashion business profiles on Facebook have an average of 1.74 millions likes - it's plain to see why fashion houses and retailers love being on Facebook!
There's a small thing (OK, it's huge) that dominates Twitter one week a year - that's #NYFashionWeek.
Interestingly, it garners so much support and attention for attendees, fashionistas and models alike that Victoria Beckham gained almost 54k followers during it in 2012. As if that wasn't impressive enough, all of the top 5 Twitter fashion accounts tweeted LIVE from the runway in 2012 as well with the hashtag #NYFW.
Which leads me nicely on to talking #hashtags! In 2013, the New York Fashion Week hashtag (#NYFW) had 370,872 mentions and Mercedes Benz Fashion Week (#MBFW) had 43,679 mentions in the Twittersphere. Wowsers, that’s some fashionable chit chat!
Of course, when it comes to fashion nothing says it more than an image. On the network made for photography, video and sharing, Instagram thrives with fashion. The platform is useful for fashion houses who wish to post the latest trends, lines and shows / events.
Although, it doesn't just benefit the huge global brands or national outlets. It has sparked entrepreneurial success for sole traders who have created a profile and sell the latest trends at cheaper prices than you'd find with larger retailers.
Top 5 Instagram fashion accounts to follow:
- Burberry
- Marcjacobsintl
- MichaelKors
- Gucci
- KateSpaceNY
AKA fashion central - 7.7% of all Pinterest boards are used to curate women’s apparel. With Pinterest being somewhere to share (or "pin") images you love - whether they're from your personal collection, online or you're re-pinning others - it's a perfect platform for the fashion labels to share their newest lines. The repinning feature means it benefits their fans and customers who can repin their favourite outfits and create moodboards of their own eclectic styles.
Did you know that 5.4% of all pins in January 2013 related to women’s fashion?
Top 5 Pinterest fashion accounts to follow:- Petersom
- Refinery29
- KateSpade
- LaurenSantoDomingo
- EmilySchuman
When all is said and done, fashion houses, entrepreneurial fashion bloggers and their fans, customers and strangers have made a massive success of social media and fashion. With trends, hashtags and give-aways including: ‘Man Bag Monday’, ‘Want It Wednesday’, ‘Freebie Friday’, ‘Outfit Of The Day’, ‘Get The Look’ and ‘Bag Of The Week’ - so the message from the fashionistas is clear.
Online fashion - both shopping for it and sharing it - is growing in popularity with each hashtag and fashion disaster. I personally wish it will continue to thrive throughout the Digital Age.
