WHY FASHION AND INSTAGRAM ARE #THENEWBLACK?

The fashion industry is in a state of flux. Department stores are suffering. So are mid-tier clothing retailers. Fast fashion and social media are speeding up the entire industry.

Today nearly one-third of the global population uses a social media channel - and the majority of people who work in the fashion industry use them all! Fashion and social media are entwined; from stylists and photographers, to brands and designers, models and It Girls, to customers and consumers, we all share images of our favourite shoots on Instagram and tweet our opinions on the latest fashion news. The fashion industry uses social media to promote brands, our work, or simply our opinions. Instagram especially, the most visual of social networks, has tapped into the fashion world's ecosystem and become an integral part of the conversation. And because it's so integral, social media has become totally necessary for any brand who want to promote themselves.

The 2016 Victoria’s secret Fashion Show was taped on November 30 in Paris, but was air on TV Monday, December 5. Hashtag "#VSFashionShow" was trending number one in the United States during the broadcast on TV and in the hours after.

Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Boosts Consumer Engagement on Social Media: On December 6, there were more than 362,000 mentions of Victoria’s Secret across Facebook and Twitter

New research shows that if you follow a brand on Instagram you are - finances permitting - 53% more likely to shop with them. Marketing mumbo jumbo perhaps, but it makes sense that an engaged social media following leads to increased brand loyalty. After all, the ways in which a brand presents itself on its social networks enables you, as a consumer, to quickly decipher whether it speaks to you or not. If there's a mutual understanding, naturally you want to invest in it and wear the clothes, and if there's not, well that's simple you just click "unfollow".

Instagram is the social media engagement winner

Across the board, B2C brands see the high engagement on Instagram. Following that trend, Instagram is the most effective channel for fashion brands, with an average engagement ratio of nearly 14 average interactions per post per 1,000 followers. In fashion marketing, LinkedIn is the second most effective channel with an average of over 1 interactions per post per 1,000 followers.

Outerwear brands know how to engage audiences on Instagram

Outerwear and outdoors brands are top performers on Instagram (25 average interactions per post per 1,000 followers), two times the engagement ratio of casual clothing (14 interactions), footwear (13), and high fashion (12) brands on average.

The Instagram post with the highest engagement ratio for the fashion industry last year was a photo of a mountain by Arc’teryx that received 105 interactions per 1,000 followers.

Arc'teryx is a Canadian outdoor clothing and sporting goods company founded in North Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1989.

Fast-growing channel

Online sales in 2014 accounted for just 6% of the $250bn global market for luxury goods, but they're growing at a much faster rate than shop sales. Latest research, based on analysis of 7,000 shoppers, found that three out of four luxury purchases, even if they still take place in shops, are influenced by what consumers see, do and hear online.

As more designers embrace the see-now, buy-now runway show, social media has taken on a central role as the way to turn watchers into shoppers. Runway shows last about minutes, and models walk briskly, making for moments that pass by fast. Social media’s power is that it spreads the buzz exponentially, as people share with their followers, who share with their own audiences and so on.

Rather than play favorites among different networks, many influencers and brands flood the zone. They have detailed social-media strategies and digital teams firing on all devices. Their audience is demanding, with zero tolerance for blurry Instagrams. Many people follow a personality or brand across multiple channels and prefer not to see the same picture twice.

Does it pay-off?

Only about 2% of online sales in 2016 can be attributed to social media, even if 75% of shoppers discover products there. Brands therefore consider Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat as media and advertising plays, with the hope that they will be well positioned when retail on social platforms becomes common practice. But will this ever really happen? Right now, users do not shop at scale on social media. And even if a user does want to make a purchase, the process is often clunky, requiring input of shipping and payment information each time. In turn, platforms are keen to preserve the content-driven, community-led experience that made them popular in the first place. A recent survey by Instagram showed the average European Instagrammer interested in high street fashion checks their feed 15 times a day and posts three times more often than the average user.

Instagram, which was acquired by Facebook in 2012 for $1 billion, and has 600 million monthly active users, has launched several shopping-friendly features in the past year to facilitate the process. As of December 14, users can save posts to private feeds that look like visual shopping lists, and in November it introduced ‘tap to view’ tags that allow users to learn more about products from 20 brands. Customers can use an in-app browser to view the brands’ e-commerce sites. But while it may become easier to shop through social media, will consumers want to do it?

What are your experiences so far using Instagram? Please share it!

Testimonial

Finally, I close with a short Testimonial for the ones of you who are not as familiar with the topic. Marysia Swim delivers a full experience on Instagram and shows how a small brand can present itself seamlessly. Marysia Swim is a high fashion brand producing designer swim and resort wear. These gorgeous pieces, created by designer Maria Dobrzanska Reeves, are known especially for their trademark scallop detailing.

When your brand is built around something as singular and seasonal as bathing suits, it can be a challenge to formulate a social media strategy that doesn’t come across as broadcasting — especially in the winter months, when a majority of your customers are likely to respond to the sight of a bikini with an angry sigh. However, Marysia Swim’s social team has built out their Instagram to more than 152,000 followers with a strategy that similar brands can learn from.

When you think about it, a bathing suit is just one part of the experience someone has when they visit a beach or go on vacation. Marysia Swim’s Instagram reflects this: their posts appeal to their audience’s love of this much larger experience, including beach shots, healthy food, and family pictures.

Because the majority of the items on their Instagram feed aren’t pushy or sales-related, when Marysia Swim posts their own products or promotions, the feedback is overwhelmingly positive and since Maria herself and her family appears on the posts the credibility and authenticity shines through.

If you’re struggling to promote your brand on Instagram specifically, think about how your products fit into a larger “experience.” If you sell athletic shoes, it might make sense to focus on a larger athletic lifestyle, including health food and exercise; if you sell high heels, focus on coordinating clothing, jewelry, or other aspects of fashion.

If you are interested to learn more about the topic, I urge you to check-out the following video how Instagram changed the New York Fashion Week. Screens, whether on phones or pads, have become ubiquitous in the front row at New York Fashion Week, especially since Instagram's launch in 2010. Faced with a wall of screens at every show, Racked journeyed to Hilfiger's NYFW 'InstaMeet', went backstage at Kenneth Cole and spoke with industry longtimer Mickey Boardman of Paper Magazine to see how the industry is reacting to the glut of social media, and how sharing sites might be changing fashion week for the better.

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If you liked this article you might enjoy my other articles, below:

• WHY CONSUMERS DON'T BUY MORE SUSTAINABLE FASHION?
• WHY BLOCKCHAIN IS DISRUPTING FASHION?
• WHY ROBOTS TAKE OVER THE APPAREL PRODUCTION?
• WHY CLOTHES WILL BE SMART?
• WHY WE WILL 3D PRINT OUR OWN CLOTHES?

Interested in more thought provoking sustainability news relevant to the fashion, apparel, and textile industries? #BeyondSustainableFashion