There has been an increasing trend of people shopping for clothes, shoes and accessories online, especially since the pandemic outbreak. To succeed in today’s world, you need to be present online. That means both having a website and being active on social media. As the whole world uses social media, it is one of the surest ways to reach your target audience. You just need to know the right way to do that.
We’ve compiled this short guide to help all the fashion store owners get a grip on using social media to advertise their business. To start with, you should be familiar with the social media platforms and how to use them. You should choose the right ones, according to your target audience. Then, you should use social media and the online shops they offer. Moreover, when it comes to posting content, you should be consistent with it. A great form of marketing that works really well is influencer marketing. Also, what you should do is be active on social media, respond to comments and queries and repost customer content. Furthermore, you should use suitable hashtags, create collections and style guides, and optimize your website for mobile phones, among other things.
- Choose the right platforms
It’s important to know that every social media platform has potential customers in it. However, some are simply more conducive to sales. The two best platforms for selling fashion clothes are definitely Facebook and Instagram. What makes things easier is that you can run a marketing campaign for both platforms from Facebook Ads Manager. Facebook is definitely a great platform for discovering fashion inspiration, engaging a new audience and building brand loyalty. According to statistics, you can easily reach the target fashion buyers from 18 to 34. Then, for Instagram, what works best is content in form of ads. You can also use other platforms such as Youtube, Snapchat, Pinterest and TikTok.
- Create online shops using social media
Besides using the platforms to promote products or share amusing content to engage potential customers, you can also create online shops. You can create them on certain platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. This is a great option you should definitely consider implementing. What happens is that customers can view, browse and shop your products directly from the platform, without leaving it. This provides you with greater chances for purchases to be made. However, you need to make sure that your products are genuinely displayed. The best way to ensure that your products are quality is to search for reputable clothing wholesale suppliers. In that way, you get quality products at a reasonable price for buying in bulks. Your customers will appreciate this in the long run and they will be coming back for more.
- Be consistent in posting content
Being consistent in posting content can be challenging, especially at the beginning. It is a crucial part of creating a plausible social media strategy. Different social media posts such as Instagram posts as well as TikToks require consistency in order to be effective. There are four different content types when it comes to sharing fashion content on social media. These include promotion, education, inspiration and entertainment content. Every content is specific, so you should learn more about creating each type of content before creating a content schedule.
- Consider influencer marketing
Influencers have become a great part of online advertising. So, you should definitely spend time identifying popular influencers. There are different types of influencers as well. You should start with compiling a list of pros, cons and prices of different types. For instance, there are nano influencers, who have fewer than 5000 followers. They tend to be the most affordable and yet provide the most engaging audience. Then, there are micro influencers, with 5k to 20k followers. We also have mid-tier (20k to 100k followers), macro (100k to 1M followers) and celebrities with more than 1M followers. However, keep in mind that the follower count isn’t always the most important factor to consider. What you should look for is a high customer engagement rate.
- Repost customer content
Content generated by your customers is a powerful tool for getting more potential customers. It is a more organic approach. What’s more, you should encourage your customers to take videos and photos of them wearing your fashion apparel and post them, so you can repost them. It’s more engaging as people can see your clothes on real people, without professional lighting and shots. It gives them a clearer idea of how an item actually looks.
- Use proper hashtags
When it comes to using hashtags, they are convenient as they help customers find you more easily. You can use branded hashtags and some personalized ones as well. By using these hashtags, you show your customers that you are active on social media and that you know your way around using them. If you add some non-branded hashtags, you make the post more amusing and add a personal touch to it. You can look at some examples online and how some brands use hashtags to get some inspiration.
- Create collections and style guides
When it comes to fashion brands, creating collections and style guides is quite useful. You can use the feature of stories to save them. In that way, customers can always look at them and perhaps purchase some items from those collections and style guides. Using the feature of stories is also pretty handy as you can easily get to your followers’ feeds. If people are following you, they will see your stories eventually. The stories need to be creative and inspirational to get the potential customers intrigued. You can also create permanent stories and save some collections or style guides as story highlights.
- Optimize your website for mobile shopping
A vast majority of people worldwide use their phones for browsing and even shopping. A phone is always at hand, ready, available and accessible, so naturally, we take advantage of it. Hence, you should make sure that your website is optimized for mobile shopping, so people could make purchases easily and quickly. If your website, homepage and landing page aren’t optimized for mobile phones, then there are fewer chances for people to buy them. Users are looking for an instantaneous and seamless shopping experience. You should also pay attention to the shopping process itself. Don’t make it complicated and don’t require obligatory registration. Use the autofill option.
- Organize a giveaway
Everybody loves giveaways. Make sure that you organize it from time to time. Look at it as an investment into marketing. By giving away some things, you don’t waste money, but rather invest in people spreading the word about you. You can reach so many people in that way. A giveaway is a sure way to get your customers engaged and interacted with your page. You can also use giveaways to partner with other brands. However, you should remember to be creative and innovative.
- Make your customer service impeccable
One of your top priorities should be your customer service. It should be impeccable and highly responsive. Customers appreciate that very much. Designate a person or two who will handle different social media-related issues such as creating posts, replying to comments and so on. You shouldn’t be a brand that removes negative comments. Instead, you should make sure that there are fewer of those. Perhaps it’s unrealistic to expect that absolutely all the customers will be satisfied. Which is normal. Not everything is appealing to everybody, due to personal preferences and taste.
- Invest in paid ads
Even with the most optimal social media strategy in the world, it is not 100% sure that you will reach every single one of your customers. That’s where paid ads come to the rescue. For instance, a post on Facebook reaches only 5.2% of its followers, which, you would agree, is not so much. By investing in paid ads, you can narrow your reach down to the target audience. Your target audience will depend on the clothes you’re selling as well as their style. It is money well-invested that can bring you more website traffic and higher revenue.
- Opt for custom packaging
Opting for custom packaging is also an investment in marketing. It is a great way to make your brand more memorable, especially for first-time buyers. Moreover, when you send a package to your customers, a nice, custom packaging will prompt them to take photos or record unboxing videos and post them online. It will possibly get other customers intrigued and interested. You can resume such content on your website. Customers love user-generated content. It’s called ‘social proof’ and it’s quintessential for a business, especially in its initial starting phases. You only get one chance for a first impression, keep that in mind. For these reasons, it needs to be impeccable. It should echo your brand.
- Create a consistent brand image
This is essential. Creating a conscience online brand image is not easy. To do it right, you should define your product strategy at the beginning. Be clear about the products you’re offering, develop a plausible social media strategy and make sure that you track your website traffic. In that way, you can learn about the things you’re doing well and the things you should perhaps change. You should study the product and your competition as well. Look at what they do, and how they communicate to get more inspiration
These are just some basic things to get you started. You should use the internet to find more information on creating a plausible social media strategy for your fashion store.
