For years, the fashion industry has been generating an ever-increasing proportion of its sales through online sales. Unsurprisingly, the various social media platforms also play an important role: they show users the way to the online shops of the fashion brands in a variety of ways. The latest promotions from your favorite brands are shared on Facebook and Co., you get product recommendations from professional creators and follow what friends like.
It is not for nothing that advertising in this environment is already firmly established in the marketing mix of many fashion labels. Meta, in particular, offers companies a highly professional service for this: The platform provides various ad formats, supports the selection of campaign goals and target groups and, with the help of the ad manager, enables ads to be created and controlled centrally on Facebook and Instagram.
Trend 1: More attention on smaller platforms
For brands that want to move a little off the beaten track on social media, it pays to think outside the box. As current studies show, users on “smaller” platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat and Pinterest are more receptive to advertising than on the usual social networks. On the one hand, this is certainly due to the fact that there are (even) fewer ads that could give rise to advertising disenchantment.
On the other hand, when designing their ads, brands are required to orient themselves to the organic content of the respective platform. “Make TikToks, not Ads”, for example, is the video platform’s recipe for success. This approach not only leads to more entertaining and less disruptive advertising, it also results in a more positive perception of the advertising company and, last but not least, a higher conversion rate.
Tip: Even if you only want to become active on one of these platforms later, it can be worth securing an account with the right name now.
Trend 2: Shopping in the social network
Under the heading of social commerce, social networks also offer a direct opportunity to generate sales. With the exception of the checkout, shopping takes place entirely on the social platforms. The pandemic has given this trend a significant boost: According to a study by eMarketer, US retailers saw social media sales grow by 18 percent in 2020 to almost $27 billion.
By 2025, the volume is expected to increase to around 80 billion US dollars. In order to benefit from the enormous potential of this trend, fashion companies should add shopping functions to their social media presence as soon as possible. Almost all social networks already offer brands extensive opportunities and are currently expanding them to meet the increasing demand.
Tip: Test new social commerce features such as virtual fittings using augmented reality (AR). Last year, Snapchat users tried Zenni Optical glasses over 60 million times.
Trend 3: Customer service via WhatsApp
Along with the presentation of the products, customer communication has also shifted to digital channels. A Nielsen study commissioned by Facebook revealed that 64 percent of the survey participants prefer to contact companies via a messaging service than by phone. According to another survey, 71 percent of all companies have not yet invested in a so-called social media customer service or plan to do so.
The implementation is actually quite simple. With “Click-to-WhatsApp Ads”, Facebook and Instagram already offer a messaging contact function in their advertisements. In this way, interested parties can ask their questions about the product offered directly via chat: whether and when which size and color will be available again, how is the fit et cetera – this is how personal advice works today.
Tip: Dare to break new ground: The fashion brand Snocks successfully transferred its e-mail newsletter to the WhatsApp channel. Already with the first campaigns, the opening and conversion rates increased by almost 150 percent.
Trend 4: More relevance through location-based advertising
The use of geo or local targeting also increases the chances of growing sales. The example of Urban Outfitters shows what this looks like in practice. The retailer used mobile location data to target a specific demographic to improve the relevance of its advertising messages. In concrete terms, this means: As part of a campaign, women who visited bars and nightclubs in the USA received push messages advertising cocktail dresses.
Physical stores in particular can benefit greatly from this approach. Because with the help of geo-targeting, it is easy to direct customers to the nearby shop with a suitable message.
Tip: Combine mobile location data with current weather forecasts: your range of rain jackets simply sells better in wet weather.
Trend 5: Hacking the Feed
Last but not least, there are a variety of creative ways to use social media for your own company’s success. A trend that initially seemed rather paradoxical was presented at this year’s OMR Festival. It is called “Hacking the Feed” and includes the idea of getting into the feed of social media users via photos. To this end, brands book huge advertising spaces in heavily frequented locations on which their motifs are displayed. These automatically end up on the photos of the tourists and thus also on social media.
With the same background, the label Tigha announced the change of its name to Young Poets Society in the sky over Cologne in 200×200 meter clouds of letters. In addition to social media, photos of this sensational campaign also ended up in other media.
Tip: Solid basis for success.
In order to be able to achieve 100 percent success in your efforts on social media, a well-maintained brand account is the be-all and end-all. Because as soon as users become aware of your company via ad, video or shared content, they first search on the respective platform for further information. The content of your current campaigns should therefore also be found in the brand account. In addition, it is advisable to continuously publish organic posts that keep the profile alive. This creates trust and turns prospects into customers.
This post was written by Christian Schmidt. He is Chief Creative Officer of the digital agency Interlutions, which he founded together with Eric Meurers in 1999. In this position he developed countless brand appearances and campaigns for national and international customers. Interlutions works in the fashion sector for Tigha, Preach, Ic! Berlin, Ulla Popken, Unique, Laona, MyTheresa and Daniels.