Make Content Your Runway: 4 Ways to Mirror Luxury Fashion Brands Content
From haute couture to the mass market, fashion has been at the forefront of inspiring the way people look, think and feel for generations. Fashion designers have a unique ability to make marks on our society, creating the most iconic trends of the last 100 years.
But the impact of fashion isn’t contained to the catwalk. Fashion designs have influenced film, TV, and cultural trends – they’ve even helped to revolutionize social roles, i.e. women’s fashion moving away from skirts to pants. Now, fashion is transforming the way we see social media content.
VCA’s theme for September is “Content is Your Runway”. All throughout this month, we’re shining a spotlight on the designer fashion brands using social media content to persevere in the pandemic – crafting engaging videos, virtual experiences, product features & online sales to boost their businesses during COVID-19.
Advances in social media tools and techniques have gradually been shifting the industry in new directions for some time. Lockdown has been a catalyst for the fashion industry, however, making it a necessity to connect with consumers and promote products in a whole new way.
So, it’s time to get your content out on the runway! Here are 4 ways you can adapt the social media lockdown strategies of the fashion world into your own content plans.
Below, we are showing you the ways you can integrate visual content to mirror the strategy used by the fashion industry.
@gucci
Follow the Gucci moves
♬ original sound – Gucci
When adapting their social media for lockdown, many designer fashion brands flocked to TikTok to promote their new collections. TikTok is the current rising star of social media, popular with ‘Gen Z’ (early teens to early twenties) who enjoy the mix of creative content and music. A recent survey by YPulse found that amongst Gen Z respondents, use of the platform had risen by nearly 20% since February 2020.
The fashion industry’s business model has always kept customers at a distance – consumers would be able to see the designs at fashion shows, then the products would not be on the market for several months.
This put designer brands at a disadvantage to the world of e-commerce, particularly during lockdown. E-commerce brands can easily maintain a constant online connection with customers and sell at a fast pace.
TikTok has enabled fashion brands to interact on a whole new level. Gucci, in particular, has embraced the possibilities of the platform, creating the ‘Gucci Moves’ series, which features non-models dancing in their designs.
They’ve also utilized user-generated content, with the #guccimodelchallenge. This challenge wasn’t affiliated in any way with the brand and was created by TikTok users to parody Gucci’s distinctive style.
Gucci adapted the challenge into their own campaign, embracing the joke and sharing many videos from the hashtag to their official TikTok page – letting fans create their lockdown content for them.
2. Livestream to show off your products and services
It’s no secret that customers like to be able to see what a product is like before they buy it. TV shopping channels like QVC have a long history of enabling consumers to look at a product from the comfort of their homes.
As generations move forward, more people are choosing to shop online, but poor optimization on social media apps can mean fewer purchases are made, and a sense of distance between product and consumer remains.
Many firms focusing on the Asian market have begun running livestreams to advertise their products. Although customers can’t try on fashion items as they would in a physical store, a higher level of trust is still built with the brand and product, as consumers can see exactly what they’re getting.
Many brands are hoping to bring shopping livestreams to the West. This would also make shopping technology more accessible, so that the minimum amount of clicks are required to make a purchase.
3. Hold exclusive virtual tours
Why not take interactivity a step further? As museums were forced to close due to the coronavirus lockdown, many took the initiative to sustain interest in their exhibitions by creating virtual tours.
The Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams exhibit went online through a nearly hour-long virtual tour video, which followed the exhibits being set up at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.
Other museums enabled tours via Google Earth’s Street View, which allowed audiences to ‘walk’ through the exhibits in more detail. The Kyoto Costume Institute, featured a virtual tour, as well as detailed descriptions of the history of exhibits and photo galleries.
Many brands are now providing 360 degree views of their shops, so that customers can build a connection with the store before visiting. If there’s something you need to show your customers, why not show them virtually?
4. e-Commerce makes mainstream fashion “socially” acceptable
Since the beginning of lockdown, more and more people are shopping online than ever before, and this trend looks set to continue. eCommerce creates whole new ways to shop, with social media building trust between customers and business.
Whilst physical retail stores are still important, fashion brands are discovering that social media content isn’t just for lockdown. These tools create unique opportunities to promote and sell products in ways that aren’t possible offline.
Across Asia, companies are utilising apps that blend their ecommerce and social media, creating content campaigns that seamlessly lead to purchases. E-commerce is making fast fashion go global, and there are aims to bring this technology to the West.
September Hashtag Holidays
Here’s a list of August holidays & hashtag dates to share content you care about:
Why not use these hashtags and put your content on the social media runway?
- New York Fashion Week – 9/16-9/19
- #LaborDay – 9/7/2020
- #NationalCeliacDiseaseAwarenessDay – 9/13/2020
- #NationalGuacamoleDay – 9/16/2020
- #FirstDayofFall – 9/23/2020
- #InternationalCoffeeDay – 9/29/2020
- #InternationalPodcastDay – 9/30/2020
Need help crafting messaging or coming up with content for your social feed? We are offering a free 30-minute consultation with our team until September 30th, 2020. Click here to set-up a call now.
