It is apparent that the rise in technology, and thus social media, over the last decade has impacted the way fashion brands advertise, promote, communicate and engage with its consumers. Social media is second nature to people these days, so it allows for fashion brands to reach a larger audience 24/7 compared to traditional media techniques such as billboards and magazines.
By using social media platforms, brands can post their own content as a type of marketing, engage with their customers through likes, comments and shares and partner with influencers. Customers can repost items they have bought and create discussions which could go viral. It works at a much quicker pace than traditional media
The use of TikTok and Instagram
Tiktok particularly grew popular in the first Covid lockdown. The app became popular for setting trends, creating engagement and creating creativity so it soon became a popular tool in the fashion industry. It is a useful app to be seen by as it is easy to go viral on compared to other social media platforms so is used in many different ways:
- Customers creating their own content and tagging the brand
- Brands seeking out models and influencers for their brand
- Record lives of fashion events
- Setting fashion trends
Instagram is now used as a marketing tool for brands to use. It isn’t just for posting pictures, brands can post their own content, promote their new ranges and engage with their target audience through comments. It can also be used to reply to poor feedback or criticisms from the public. Brand can use Instagram by tagging the link to the particular product, taking the customer straight to it rather than them searching. A great tool to increase sales.
Social Media and Influencers
Partnering with influencers, or influencer marketing, is a way of reaching a larger target audience for their brand. A fashion brand would partner with an influencer who has the same target audience as themselves, gift them a product or pay them to promote their product on their own social media platforms. This in turn will drive their target audience to their brand as the followers of the influencer essentially ‘trust’ their opinion, thus creating more sales.
On the flip side, influencers can now partner with companies by creating their own campaigns and collaborations with the brand. The influencer usually posts about the campaign over their social media and tags the brand. Again, as their own followers are ‘loyal’ and ‘trust’ the influencer they are more inclined to click the links over to the fashion brands website. Then, the influencer may make multiple campaigns with the same brand, showing their followers that the brand is reputable.
In The Style is a fashion brand which collaborates with the same influencers repeatedly, bringing out different campaigns with them.
Social Media and Trends
The turn around on social media is quick, by the time you have caught up on one scandal, there is something else trending and being discussed. The same goes for clothes. By the time you have caught up to date with the newest and latest trends, another trend has gone viral. This doesn’t help in the aspect of fast fashion, but content can go viral in a matter of minutes these days, so fashion brands must be able to keep up.
Not only do brands create trends, with the use of Tiktok and Instagram, consumers and now the ones that start trends for fashion brands to recreate. It is one of the ways that people become types of influencers. They begin by posting content on their social media platforms showing off their clothing outfits and trends, which people like, engage with and fashion brands adopt.
So how has Social Media affected the Fashion Industry?
Everything is at a much quicker pace, from posting content, to engagement and turn around of new trends. It makes the customer feel like they are apart of the brand, they have a position and do affect it. Things are much more accessible from clicking a quick link to the product to watching a live fashion event at the click of another button. Social media as a PR and marketing tool will therefore continue to grow in the fashion industry.
Emily x
PR Fashion Label 
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