Tag: prettysocial

Social media strategies during London Fashion week

London Fashion Week SS16 and AW16 was all about innovation. The major fashion houses created history by using social media platforms to showcase their new collections. With more than 2.5 million impressions  generated by the #LFW, London Fashion Week made its biggest ever social media impact for spring/summer 2016.Fashion giants such as Burberry and Topshop developed innovative social media strategies to increase brand awareness and consumer engagement.

Burberry

Burberry made history by being the first brand in the world to shoot and preview a collection on Snapchat. The fashion house gave a sneak peek of their Spring/Summer 2016 collection, 24 hours before the models walked the runway.This unprecedented event granted Burberry 60,000 interactions on Twitter during London Fashion Week SS16.

https://www.instagram.com/p/9LFew_l_MY/

Burberry continued making history in London Fashion Week AW16 by being the first brand to use Snapchat’s discover option to launch a promotional campaign.The Mr. Burberry campaign claimed to deliver over 100 million impressions. Burberry digital revolution aims to target a younger demographic. The creation of new social media tactics have allowed Burberry to make history in the digital market like no other.

Topshop

Topshop social media strategy for London Fashion Week SS16 focused on teaming up with Pinterest to create “Pinterest Palettes”. This feature scanned users’ Pinterest boards and identified common colors most frequently “pinned”. Then, it matched hues to an online Topshop calendar where prospective costumers could buy from directly. For London Fashion Week AW16, Topshop delivered its collection live on its website. Also, the fashion house partnered up with photographer Nick Knight to provide a unique experience for Topshop’s followers by delivering real time content through Twitter. Topshop social media strategy relies on staying up to date with trends while delivering immediate and relevant content.

Madame Tussauds

Not only fashion houses took advantage of social media during London Fashion Week. The museum Madame Tussauds decided to promote their new wax statues of models Kendall Jenner and Cara Delevingne. With the use of proper hashatags and good timing, Madame Tussauds Instagram page saw an increase on social media engagement. The page reached a wider audience by linking trending personalities to their products.

Takeaways

Social media is changing the horzions of the fashion industry. Maybe your brand does not have an unlimited marketing budget to advertise its products. But thinking outside the box and delivering new social media strategist can help your brand stand out in a pool of competitors. After reviewing the success stories of Burberry, Topshop and Madame Tussauds your brand can implement some of their social media strategies to develop elite content and reach a wider audience.

Featured image via: campaignlive.co.uk

Looking at Aesthetics on Instagram

Fashion houses are not known for there diligence on social media. Therefore when a marketer finds themselves scrolling through the social media pages of a famous house like, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada they can normally point out 10 things they would change right off the bat. Fashion houses normally do not post any curated content, nor do they try and bother with hitting a special number of hashtags per post, or even how often they should post. While I am not at all advocating that you should follow in their steps I think there is a ton to be learned about the visual content posted on their social media sites, particularly on Instagram. These Fashion houses specialize in creating art, and on their different Instagram accounts you can see just how artistic their visuals are.

 

Acne Studios the Aesthetic Champion

I could spend hours scrolling through Acne Studios Instagram because it is so visually enticing. Acne Studios only post their owned content, but a lot of that content is posted exclusively to Instagram and cannot be found anywhere on there own site. The posted video above has so much attention to detail. The music is very progressive with classical notes that seem to compliment the very avant garde fashion in a very classic iconic hotel setting with new contemporary vibes. Scrolling through is incredible to see how the photos go so well with each other and seamlessly transition from photo to photo. They used this donkey as their model for new handbags, which really provokes a lot of thought into the abstract, and the traditional use of handbags. The artistic direction here is unparalleled and may not appeal to everyone, but it definitely creates a fan base that is extremely attentive.

 

Maison Margiela and Technicalities

Margiela is also an aesthetic king of fashion, however on their Instagram they focus more on the nuanced aspects of their garments. For example in this picture that announces there new clothing line to only get to see some streaks of color on a strip of fabric. This allows you to see some of beauty behind their work before you even see it translated into a wearable piece of clothing. They also have quite a few videos like this one showing the care taken in creating their garments. The emphasis on craftsmanship shows their impeccable skill and following in similar footsteps can give your brand added credibility, and will gain you fans. People who appreciate clothes like to see the care and craftsmanship of how they were made, it makes the clothes you own from them even more unique.

 

Stone Island Aestheticism on a Budget

Screen Shot 2016-05-02 at 8.49.56 AM

Stone Island is a smaller brand that really doesn’t have a budget to compare to other high fashion brands. Therefore they have a problem, they have to create content that looks just as good as their competitors, but without money to spend on locations, photographers, and props. The result, a very clean-cut minimalist Instagram that does not lack in good aesthetics. The all white backdrop is very clean and highlights their unique clothes that all have somewhat of a color pop to them. The content flows altogether extremely well, and it is easy to get lost in it before you realize what you’re doing. I think Stone Island did an excellent job in creating an extremely visually pleasing Instagram. It looks to be cost efficient all while competing with top fashion houses.

 

3 takeaways

Reach out passed your normal crowd with your artistic direction. The attention to detail and creative thought behind Acne Studios Instagram reaches well beyond their normal fashion fan base.

Show off your expertise and craftsmanship. Letting people in on some of your technical skilled processes increases your credibility and builds a deeper fan base.

Focusing on the aesthetics of your blog does not have to come at a hefty price. You do not need expensive photoshoots and designers to create a very visually pleasing Instagram. Following simple themes and backdrops can do wonders for the look of your blog.

 

 

 

How to leverage your visual content

The fashion and beauty industry heavily relies on visual content. The increasing presence of fashion houses and beauty influencers on social media have contributed to the shift towards visual content on social media channels.With a large amount of content being published on social media platforms, users are experiencing “content shock”. Therefore, businesses need to implement new tactics to capture users’ attention and ultimately develop great consumer engagement.

The fashion and beauty industry is an incredibly competitive market. With new products and services launching constantly your social media strategy should focus on increasing your business’s social media presence with the use of crisp and creative images/graphics. According to marketer Jeff Bullas, content with images gets 94% more views than content without images. If you want to reach a wider audience and increase engagement, visual content is essential to your posts and campaign.

So how can your visual content standout in a sea of images?

Brainstorm

Brainstorming ideas should always be your first steam this will help increase creativity in your posts. Think of new ways in which your brand’s personality can stand out in a single image. Kate Spade’s visual content strategy on social media, relies on showcasing the brand’s trendiness and glamour by posting pictures with crisp accents and bright lighting.

Your images should incorporate elements that will help your products standout. Natural lighting can help your image appear crisp and clean, which will grab your follower’s attention. Also, using a model showcasing the product will increase your post’s visibility and engagement.

 Isolate you product

Images that showcase your product can increase your brand’s reach. Images are attention grabbing elements. Kate Spade uses neutral backgrounds for their bright products, increasing the visibility of their merchandise. By doing so, the products are able to stand out and look highly appealing to consumers. Creative and crips images are far more likely to generate sales.

Graphics

Increase your brand’s visibility by including text in your images. Enhanced images help get your message across a lot quicker, these are more likely to be shared by your audience. Platforms such as Twitter, where the life span of a tweet is 18 minutes, decrease the chances of your content being seen. Therefore, including captivating images with a short message will increase your content’s opportunity to be seen and shared.

Another form of including text in your images is posting promotional material. Post that include discount or sales have a high number impressions and engagement.

The most important thing when it comes to graphics is being creative. The examples above show the vast amount of creativity Kate Spade has been showcasing in simple but crisp images, which successfully grab follower’s attention. Also, note the consistency the brand maintains among the different platforms. Both of the examples represent the brand’s personality and style by maintaining simple and bright images with accent colors.

 Sneak Peeks

Let your audience feel special by giving them exclusive previews of your new product or services. Sneak peeks can come in the form of behind the scenes material. Behind the scenes images presents many opportunities to build your brand’s buzz and it can also help humanize your brand.

Events

You can also increase your brand’s awareness and consumer engagement by including images on posts that showcase events such as: store openings, product launches, fashion shows etc. Kate Spade does a great job including images of events they have hosted and linking them to other social media channels. Linking images to other channels will help increase your brand’s visibility on social media.

Partner with influencers

Increase your reach and brand awareness by partnering up with fashion influencers. Influencers can be part of your visual content strategy by providing new ways of showcasing your products.

Repost content

Take a look at your social media analytics. If you have a post that has an increasing amount of shares and views, promote it again. You can also pick one key element of that post and reconfigure it into a new one.

Achieving popularity through visual content is crucial in order to stand out from your competitors. It is important to use original content and cross promote throughout all your social media channels. These will help you increase overall traffic and encourage engagement. Becoming a strong fashion and beauty social media page is challenging and time consuming but if you follow these few steps your brand is taking a step in the right direction.

If you are starting a new visual content strategy you can use a free visual content tool such as: Canva to develop graphics. This is a good starting tool that will help you leverage your visual content.

 

Image via: prcouture.com

I __influence__ in #mycalvins

When Calvin Klein launched their 2014 marketing campaign #mycalvins, their main focus was to reacher a younger demographic for their iconic labeled cotton underwear. How did they do this? By using big influencers, across a wide range of industries, as well as, reposting content from followers using the provided hashtag via the platform of Instagram.

What did they do?

Calvin Klein pretty much owes all of their success to their hashtag “#mycalvins“. It’s hard to measure the reaction that the world would have had if they did not base their entire campaign around the use of a “fill-in-the-blank” phrase to understand what exactly people do in their Calvins.

By using influencers, this brand was able to attain access to millions of followers through various social media platforms and gain the trust and awareness that comes with each post. Of course, there is strategy behind who a company chooses to, in a sense, to be the face of their brand. In other words, an influencer can really make or break a campaign.

Dan Shewan’s blog post The 8 Rules of Influencer Marketing: How to Find Influencers (& Become One Yourself), dives deeper into what it takes to be an influencer and the rules that companies should take under advisement when they are conducting their influencer search. Therefore, after reading his tips and tricks, it’s obvious that Calvin Klein’s marketing department spent days huddled around a conference table finding the perfect candidates for their campaign.

Kicking off the campaign

A majority of the population might have been somewhat annoyed when they saw another ad debut featuring Justin Bieber. However, as a marketer you’ve got to hand it to him in that he knows how to influence people. With a whopping 1.7 million likes and 200+ thousands comments (either good or bad), he really got the world talking with one simple post. Justin was chosen to be displayed in a variety of ads that Calvin Klein covered billboards, magazine pages, and posters with. They added their hashtag #mycalvins and their logo and called it a wrap.

Moving Forward

Calvin Klein gained a vast amount of attention after the launch of their campaign, but what came next in terms of their marketing strategy would set record highs with number of likes, comments, and reposting.

This company encouraged celebrities to set the tone by filling in the blank of what they do in their Calvins and posting a corresponding image. They then encouraged the public to get involved and do the same. Pretty soon, Instagram was full of in-home selfies featuring your “average Jo” in their Calvin Klein products. This idea not only added allowed the celebrities to be seen in a relatable light, but it inspired a global phenomenon for everyone to get involved.

Below Kendall Jenner and Kendrick Lamar are seen in their Calvins:

View this post on Instagram

💤 @calvinklein #ad

A post shared by Kendall (@kendalljenner) on

https://www.instagram.com/p/BBBTFyalebs/?taken-by=kendricklamar

What does this mean?

It’s obvious that the influencers involved in this campaign had a huge impact on its success. However, at the end of the day consumers like to see other consumers using said products in order to create realness. This isn’t meant to undermine the effect that influencers can play, they certainly get the ball rolling for brand awareness, but it is ultimately up to the people to keep the momentum going.

Below are two accounts that have chosen to participate in the campaign as well:

View this post on Instagram

Sundays in #mycalvins ✌🏼

A post shared by regan kenny (@reganekenny) on

https://www.instagram.com/p/BE3gCLYHcb7/?tagged=mycalvins&hl=en

What can you take away from this?

In sum, influencers are HUGE. They can generate product knowledge and awareness in seconds, if posted to the right audience. What we can learn from Calvin Klein is that picking exactly who to be our brand influencers is important. You want someone that represents the same persona and values that your campaign is trying to promote. Also you need to keep in mind that the number of followers, aka the number of people that will be exposed to the content that is posted, is vital as well. However, for smaller companies that may not be true depending on the variables.

Lastly, if you can create a marketing campaign that gets the influencer and influencee involved, you are golden, and this is just what the “I _____ in #mycalvins” set out to do.

Obviously, every marketing campaign is different and there are pros and cons to each. Feel free to leave us comments on your opinions towards Calvin Klein’s most recent movement.

What Marketers Can Learn from Beyonce’s Ivy Park Launch

If you’ve been on social media recently, you know that Queen Bey is back. While the entire internet is buzzing about her new visual album, the pop star also recently made another successful venture into the fashion world with her new ‘athleisure’ line Ivy Park. Sold in stores such as Topshop and Nordstrom, the line features chic and understated clothing that can be worn on and off the field. Sources say that Beyonce was instrumental in every aspect of developing the line, including it’s marketing efforts. And as usual, she slayed at it. Here are four takeaways for social media marketers looking to promote a new fashion line.

1 Leverage video


Beyonce released an edgy promotional video for the new line that immediately got fans and news outlets talking. She then continued to release 15 second clips until the release, building excitement and showing more and more of the brand. The video also did an excellent job of capturing the brand image and style, letting potential customers know what to expect from Ivy Park. Videos and visuals are the perfect way to introduce new fashion items and demonstrate the voice, look, and feel of your brand.

2. Use a recognizable name

The video and all promotional materials surrounding Ivy Park heavily featured Beyonce herself. As a style icon and role model to many women, having her name and image so closely linked to the brand gave it instant credibility. While you may not be able to get Beyonce as the face of your brand, using a well-known influencer can attract a wider audience to your brand and strengthen your brand image through association with an influencer who embodies those characteristics and values.

3. Build buzz early

Seven days to go. Arriving 14 April 2016 #IVYPARK

A photo posted by IVY PARK (@weareivypark) on Apr 7, 2016 at 2:17am PDT

//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js

Mashable noted that Ivy Park had already received unprecedented levels of engagement on Instagram much before the line was launched and even before fans had even seen any of the pieces. By releasing the video early and building a strong social media following, Ivy Park had people engaged with the brand before they had even bought from it. If you’re launching a new line or product, your marketing efforts should start long before the product hits shelves.

4. Build a launch website

The website for Ivy Park was also released months in advance and featured essential details about the brand and exclusive content. The website was also used to collect emails. While social media promotions are an essential to marketing your brand, it’s important to have your own channels for content as well. It allows you to develop leads through email collection, boosts your ranking in search engines, and drives traffic to your domain.

While successfully leveraged by Ivy Park, these four practices are not unique to the brand. They’re hallmarks of any good content marketing campaign. By applying these, you can create the same amount of excitement about your new product or line.

Title image via Elle

3 innovative social media campaigns

Social media platforms can be a great place to post your brands campaign, and the bolder and more interesting your campaign is, the better chance there is that it will be shared and liked by viewers. Successful campaigns can do wonders for increasing revenue and building brand relationships, so when starting a marketing campaign it is very important to be innovative and to show people the best that you have to offer.

 

Topshop and Google+

Screen Shot 2016-05-01 at 9.06.07 AM

In 2013 Topshop decided for its A/W collection that it would do a digital campaign in partnership with Google+ to give viewers an experience that they had never seen before. Not only were they going to live stream the runway show, but they also offered special camera views that gave you the same perspective the model had walking down the runway. All of the models that participated in the show also each had a Google+ account that could be followed, which had lots of behind the scenes content to show the viewer how some of the technical aspects of a show function. Topshop was really smart to do this as it shows they are very much so masters of technology that appeals to a younger crowd much like their products. This collaboration offered the opportunity for lots of sharing, Furthermore with all the participating models in the campaign they really broadened their outreach to different audiences who may have been following the different models for different reasons. Another unique feature this campaign had was that they were also posting the different articles of clothing displayed in the runway show, so that viewers could start creating their own outfits in real time and share them with there friends who also may be watching the show. Topshop really hit it out of the park with this campaign, and there is lots of inspiration to draw from it.

 

Valentino gets really really really ridiculously good looking

Screen Shot 2016-05-01 at 9.09.06 AM

Valentino paired up with Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller to kick off its 2016 A/W campaign. Zoolander 2 would be coming out in the next couple of months, and Valentino really seized the moment getting them on board to help them launch their new clothing line. The two actors featured in the runway show as the closing act and received a lot applaud while strutting their stuff. This video actually went viral shortly after, and received over a million views. Valentino then proceeded to put Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson in there Rome storefront displayed as models to all passing by. As you can imagine it garnered huge crowds of people posted outside gazing in on the Hollywood A – listers. I think this was a great use of influencers in a marketing campaign that unveiled Valentino’s new clothing line. Owen and Ben, both have a large social media following that shared their wonderful mix of comedy and high fashion.

 

Burberry looking snappy

Burberry-Snapchat

This year Burberry tried something new in unveiling their new 2016 A/W collection that appealed particularly to a younger audience. They let Snapchat in on the whole process. It started with bringing Mario Testino into photograph the 2016 lookbook for the collection, and as he did that he also photographed for Burberry’s Snapchat account. Burberry is not only using this great photographer as an influencer, but they are also giving him the keys to their Snapchat platform to drive traffic. Then they featured the entire runway show on Snapchat where people in attendance could post clips they shot while the show was happening. This being a fashion show meant there were going to be celebrities there, so by tuning into the Burberry’s Snapchat people also had the opportunity to check out content that their favorite stars were posting live at the event. Right now its hard for outsiders to see measurable indicators that show that people were active on Burberry’s Snapchat, but they have since comeback on Snapchat to launch there most recent marketing campaign for their new fragrance Mr. Burberry, which indicates Snapchat has been successful for them.

 

Some inspiration’s to draw from these campaigns

Don’t be afraid to be the first to enter social media platforms. No Fashion brand had really been on Google+ or Snapchat before, but I think these partnerships were very innovative and marketing oriented.

 

Be bold with your campaign. Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller looked ridiculous in Valentinos storefront windows, as well as on the runway. Comedy, however seemed to triumph in the end as it attracted huge crowds, and tons of online sharing and engagement.

Snapchat changing the frontiers of the fashion industry

Snapchat is considered one of the newest additions of the social media marketing mix. Snapchat allows users to send pictures and interactive videos for up to 10 seconds. Depending on how long the user send the photo or video, these files disappear after user sees the “Snap”. Users are also able to send text and drawings through Snapchat. One of the most used features on this app is the “Snapchat Story” where users and brands are able to post a picture or video that will remain posted for 24 hours. This is the new face of video streaming and a new way where fashion brands are able to leverage their brand awareness by providing sneak peeks of new products and clothing lines.

Fashion relies on strong visuals in order to promote brand awareness. The industry is known for its fast paced environment where brands need to maintain a strong image while dealing with the constantly shifting trends. This is what makes Snapchat a suitable marketing tool for fashion brands. The quick turnover of images allow brands to interact with it followers in an immediate and intimate way. For this reason fashion houses have taken their new collections to Snapchat to appeal an increasing generation: Millenials, the largest generation of America.

Burberry debuted its Spring/Summer 2016 Collection on Snapchat

During London fashion week 2015 the iconic British brand, Burberry previewed their Spring/Summer 2016 collection on Snapchat; 24 hours before the models walked the runway. This unprecedented event allowed Burberry to increased its brands awareness worldwide. Even if users were not following Burberry on Snapchat, Burberry was featured on Snapchat stories worldwide. On this single event Burberry received more than 100 million impressions.

On April. 2016, Burberry made history again by being the first fashion luxury brand that promotes a campaign on “Snapchat Discover”. Snapchat Discover is a feature where top publishers broadcast their content for 24 hours. The fashion house used its dedicated “channel” on Snapchat to debut a video on the Mr. Burberry collection.

Aside from these breakthrough events, Burberry has incorporated unique Snapchat QR codes on fragrances and grooming products. The codes allowed user to view exclusive content of the brand.

How can your fashion brand incorporate Snapchat?

After reading Burberry’s success story, your brand is able to use Snapchat as an effective marketing tool by:

Delivering exclusive content

While using Snpachat your brand should focus on recording content that will be unique to your followers. For example: sneak peeks of collections, backstage footage, behind the scene material on photo-shoots or pictures/videos when restocking a highly demanded product. By providing exclusive content to your audience, you are increasing brand loyalty, consumer engagement and brand awareness.

Feature Live Events

Snapchat is the perfect social media outlet to provide your audience with real-time updates of your brand. You can broadcast fashion show or products launches and give your audience an exclusive view of the new things your brand has to offer. This will help you brand to increase its reach and build a more loyal follower base.

Partner with influencers

Partnering with influencers that have a strong Snapchat presence can help your brand enhance its brand voice and reach a wider demographic. It is extremely important to integrate all your social media platforms and promote your brand’s Snapchat channel. Snapchat Story option only allows your content to be posted for a maximum of 24 hours. Alerting your followers of this new content will help them stay tuned on the latest news and promotions of your brand.

Snapchat is a genuine platform that can impact your followers through real-time marketing. In the fast paced world that we live today and the increasing millennial generation that is reconfiguring the way marketers reach an audience, it is extremely important to understand your followers. Staying on top of trends and using new technological approaches will help your fashion brand increase its brand awareness and consumer engagement. With ongoing creativity your brand can reach a wider audience and maybe create history by finding a new approach for Snapchat as a marketing tool.

 

Image via: Burberry

4 Things to Do When Livestreaming a Fashion Show

Livestreaming has been dubbed the major social media marketing trend of 2016 by many experts, and with good reason. Nearly a quarter of brands have amped up their budgets for livestreaming this year. Periscope and Meerkat have already amassed a large following and Facebook recently entered the ring with Facebook Live, the platform’s own livestreaming service. While fashion brand have been utilizing livestreaming for runway shows for years, these new apps and services offer greater video quality and ease of use. They also allow audiences to watch directly from their social media feeds. But like any social platform, there are do’s and dont’s for marketers. If your brand is considering livestreaming your next fashion show, follow these tips to make the biggest impact.

Make it a two way conversation.

Image via Twitter

Engage audiences by offering them more than a one way broadcast. Including a special hashtag, encouraging viewers to comment or tweet at you, and responding to these viewers will create a conversation about your content and brand. As seen above, Kenneth Cole had a live twitter feed layered over their stream. This allows viewers to feel like they are at the show themselves, talking to other attendees and brand representatives. Ultimately, you want to use livestreaming to make your audience feel like they are a part of the brand experience.

Offer behind the scenes access.

Image via Marie Claire

Make viewers feel like they’re doing more than just watching model after model on the runway—after all, they could see this content from countless Snapchats and pictures posted online. By offering behind the scenes exclusives, viewers will get an intimate look at your brand and feel like they have VIP access to your show.

Leverage viewer feedback for your marketing plans.

As mentioned before, you should allow audiences to have a conversation about your show and react in real time. In addition to better engaging your viewers, this provides your brand with valuable data. You can use viewer feedback to measure sentiment about your collection and find out which pieces and trends received the most buzz. Designer Rebecca Minkoff recently weighed in on the value of social media conversations surrounding live streamed shows.

“We had a pair of trousers that buyers initially didn’t want. I showed them the social reaction — how many bloggers wrote about them, how well they performed on Twitter, how much fanfare they had. They took the feedback and decided to stock them for major department stores.”

Let customers go directly from viewing to buying.

Image via Macy’s

We’ve all seen a gorgeous dress being modeled on the runway and wished we could buy it right there and then. Thanks to livestreaming and other social media advances, now you can! Racked notes that brands like Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein allow livestreamers to buy similar pieces through a “shop now” button.  This is a great way to turn your livestreaming and social media efforts directly into sales.

Livestreaming a fashion show is just one way that fashion and beauty brands can use this new and trendy tool to amp up their social media efforts. You can also stream special announcements, exclusive interviews, and product demos, just to name a few examples. By using these tips, you can make sure you get the most out of your livestreaming efforts.

Title image via The Future of Luxury

Archiving for the future

Archives have become increasingly important in the fashion world, and many companies are digging up their old wardrobes for different purposes. I selected a few different examples to show how archiving can be a great way for your social media marketing.

Screen Shot 2016-04-30 at 9.30.32 AM

Alexa Chung Digging Through The Archives for M&S

M&S came out with a new (or old) fashion line that was curated from their archives by Alexa Chung. I previously did an article on Alexa Chung’s work at Vogue, which really highlights why her talents would be particularly exceptional for this job. M&S did a ton of promotion for this special campaign, and created a lot of exceptional content. Looking at the page for this special campaign we see lots of visuals and small video clips tied into this vintage theme of the archives. Alexa also features in a //rhino.adjustyourset.tv/lightbox/embed.js

“>short video explaining a bit about her work that draws you in with her fun quirky personality. Using her for this collection was a brilliant idea, because not only were they able to apprehend someone who is very fashionable, but she has a huge fan base on Instagram and Twitter that all of this content was shared with as the project was coming together. As you scroll further down there are also a couple vintage clips of old M&S advertisements to really bring back the feel of the time when the clothes were created. Hats off to M&S for choosing a great influencer, and leveraging the past to push themselves into the future in this successful campaign.

 

A Private Tour With Carlo Rivetti

Stone Island is notorious for being an extremely unique technical fabric brand that does everything in house. Rivetti takes great pride in the fact that he can control the entire manufacturing process in his warehouse, and for the first time last year he opened the doors to his vast archives as well as some of his very special dying processes. Stone Island is known for its exquisite colors so the brand capitalized on creating some great content by allowing Highsnobeity to take a tour. Highsnobeity has a massive following in the menswear world and with collaborations between Stone Island and streetwear brand Supreme to debut soon this was a perfect way to get everyone hyped up about the coming release. The video really is an ode to all who love some of the technical aspects of fashion. Anyone trying to get a further look into this process can watch part 2 of this series here.

 

A.P.C. Journal

Screen Shot 2016-04-30 at 9.49.56 AM

Another great way to utilize the archives can be as simple as creating content for your company’s blog. The A.P.C. Journal is a blog headed by the company that publishes most of the companies owned content. The blog features many different posts from the current collection as well as excerpts on different pieces from the creative director, Jean Touitou. One of their weekly blog posts is From Our Vault and will display an item from their archives. This is a great way to draw lineage between what the brand is doing and what the brand has done showing how they have evolved overtime, but the essence and quality has remained the same. It seemingly gives your brand a bit more credibility to show you can reference pieces from different times, even if the collection was only two years ago.

Why Do We Like Archiving Again?

It is a great way to bring an influencer in to take a dig through and create some content around.

Show off a bit. Your brand is great and you take pride in it, so go ahead and show off some of your unique techniques and the process behind creating your products. It’s a great way to make fans and bring people in.

Blog about it. Even if your company hasn’t been around for countless years bringing back some of your old pieces can show your credibility, and earn you respect. It is also a great way to just pump out more content on a weekly basis to try and reach more people.

 

 

 

 

 

Why having only one social media platform presence is soooo last season

I suppose the title of this article should be something like “why NOT having every social media platform for your brand is so last season”, because in this day and age that is the reality. It’s rare to find brands, especially ones that are mostly centered around physical goods, like the fashion and beauty industry, that are not utilizing all available forms of social media that are available.

Psssst *spoiler alert* below

Social media in general can be an intimidating thing, especially for marketers that did not grow up with exposure to it since their birth, like many millennials have. In general, however, once you get the hang of how these platforms function, they are very user friendly. But keep in mind these three tips when you begin creating your social media accounts.

1. Know your brand:

– Understand your brand voice and what language, tone, persona, and purpose you are portraying

– Learn your products or services and their details and features

– Interpret your company’s mission and incorporate that throughout

2. Know your audience:

– Recognize what demographic your target market represents and make posts appropriate and catered towards them

3. Know your platform:

– Realize when the best time to post is

– Utilizing platform specific features

– Distinguish what posts belong on which platform

Time to break down the top five platforms

In the rest of this article we will break down some key components of the top five social media platforms, give you insight on what they can provide for you, and of course some examples to follow.

1. Facebook

– Everyone is on this platform, no matter what the age group or demographic

– Creates an easy targets for many markets through advertising

– Provides a platform for customer service and consumer engagement

Lush does a good job on Facebook in terms of providing insight about their products through valuable descriptions and pictures. They even attach hyperlinks out to their websites straight to the shopping cart. Posts like these administer a place for consumers to comment and interact with the items they are featuring, as well as comment questions or opinions they may have.

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Flushcosmetics%2Fposts%2F10153143394094058&width=500

2. Twitter

– Provides constant updates with news/sales/promotions

– Can allow brand voice to be heard

– Customer service, but unique in that consumers can @ you (aka directly speak to you)

Vogue Mag is able to have their brand voice shine through in collage pictures like the following on Twitter. It’s somewhat of a witty and creative tweet for a well respective and established magazine in the industry. They may not be able to post elsewhere on their social media presences visuals like this, however Twitter allows them to do so.

3. Instagram

– Photos are worth 1000 words

– High visual content videos/images/series of three images (new feature called Carousel Ads)

– Sponsored ads to reach audiences

– Creative platform/ brand expression

Kiko Milano is an Italian brand of cosmetics, make up and skin care products that has created a very visually appealing presence on their Instagram account. Many images like the one below, give the viewer a chance to see promotions and advertisements in such a light that has lots of information, but also is creative and memorable.

4. Pinterest

– Many Fashion and Beauty brands offer seasonal or event specific boards

– Feature many products in different lights

– How to’s and DYI with products and services

Antropologie uses their Pinterest account to create boards that are relevant to certain looks and lines that they currently have in stores and online. Their most current blog focuses around the Spring seasonal items and is more of an inspirational and “Lookbook” type idea other than a print or online catalog.

Source: Pinterest/antropologie
Source: Pinterest/antropologie.com

5. YouTube

– Tutorials and how to’s for products or services

– Place to post advertisements

– Increase SEO (search engine optimization) because its owned my Google

Neutogena uses their Youtube account to interact with their consumers and create a better brand awareness. In the following video, they have used a big influencer, actor Kerry Washington, to explain the launch of their new liquid makeup shades for all skin colors. These are ads that are most likely not aired on typical television networks but allow the company to take their advertising a step further with longer video announcements.

Wrap up

If you do not have much experience with social media then you are probably feeling like an overload of information was just thrown at you. However, even the most experienced social media marketers can hopefully learn something new in regards to the Fashion and Beauty Industry. All in all, social media platforms are suppose to be a way for brands to express themselves creatively aside from the traditional ways they used to in the past. It will certainly be interesting to see what the future holds in terms of the online world of advertising and the impact that will have on print media.

As always, feel free to comment or leave feedback below with your thoughts on “the big five” platforms!