With an influx of emerging social media platforms vying for consumer attention, it can be difficult for fashion brands to keep up.
Though they are experimenting with new offerings like Facebook Live, many fashion and beauty companies are remaining loyal to Instagram and Snapchat, using their ability to share curated photos and behind-the-scenes glimpses at events and product launches. These platforms allow brands to exude authenticity — something that may feel a bit more contrived on Facebook and Twitter, and connect with consumers in more engaging ways designed to glean insight and foster dialogue.
We asked industry experts which social media platforms they are prioritizing most, and how these platforms are enhancing their brands.
Ali Weiss, vp of growth, Glossier
Instagram is definitely the platform that we’re most focused on, no question. It’s the place where we can have a conversation with our consumers and where we can get customer insight by seeing what questions people are asking, what they are most excited about, and what products they are requesting. It’s the place where we’re seeing the most reach coupled with the most engagement. We’re able to explore Glossier not only through the brand’s angle, but in pictures that we’re tagged in and then see who’s tagging us and make connections from that.
Nina Alexander Hurst, vp of customer experience, Baublebar
We’re focusing on Snapchat and Instagram Stories because they give customers a behind the scenes look into our office and we can engage in a way that is so much more authentic. The videos and the photos that we can put up right away don’t need the same production value and the perfect look and feel that they would need in an regular photo. I think customers want to know who they’re interacting with, and who are these people behind the brands.
Nilukshi De Silva, manager of global social marketing, Estée Lauder
Instagram and Snapchat are our two priority platforms, it’s clearly where our millennial audience is and where a lot of our brands come to life. With Snapchat, it’s a much more fun and engaging approach, where you can play with the lenses, you can geotag, all that stuff. We actually have a new brand, Estée Edit, the sister brand to the Estée Lauder brand, that’s definitely for more of our younger demographic. It’s young and playful and we do a lot of influencer outreach. It’s a fun brand that plays a lot on Snapchat specifically.
Melissa Yap, social media marketing manager, Perry Ellis
Our priority is Instagram at the moment, that’s probably the most strategic priority across all the platforms that we’re on. It tells a cohesive story about the brand — we set into place content pillars that help us create a content calendar and tell our story. We do things like Wednesday Wisdom, which speaks to the wittiness and playfulness of the Perry Ellis brand, and Throwback Thursday where we dig into the brand’s archives and talk about the man behind the brand because that’s really important to us.
Jonathan Paul, vp of marketing, Bloomingdale’s
There’s a lot of moving parts on Instagram — organic, paid and now Stories. Likely these Stories will become monetized in the near future. Currently Bloomingdale’s is syndicating our Snapchat stories onto Instagram Stories so that we’re getting the most reach that we can for our content. We haven’t started creating original programming for Instagram stories but that’s something that we may do.
