The Role of Social Media in the Fashion Industry
Social media has dramatically changed the landscape of the fashion industry. In fact, between instant customer engagement and fashion influencers, social media fashion trends have become accessible by a much wider, more diverse audience. How can you learn to harness social media in the fashion industry? It’s important to recognize the role that a solid ERP solution provides, in addition to staying on top of the latest social trends.
How Social Media is Revolutionizing the Fashion Industry
Social media and fashion marketing have become intrinsically linked. That’s because social media provides a platform like never before for getting eyeballs on the latest designs.
Platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok are especially noteworthy in that they encourage users to share visually appealing photos and videos. They also make it easier for fashion brands to integrate their marketing efforts. For instance, Instagram posts can also be cross-posted to Facebook and Threads by simply turning on this feature. Therefore, it’s possible to triple your marketing for fashion brands without tripling your workload.
While the rise of social media-based fashion trends has helped remove barriers for many small businesses, it has also made it more vital than ever to produce items quickly. The good news is that enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions enable brands to keep up with customer demands amidst the ever-changing social media landscape.
Top Social Media Fashion Trends to Watch
Fashion and social media have combined to make several new trends. In the past year alone, the influence they have over each other has led to the following trends:
- Cottagecore – Charm and simplicity of rural life.
- Barbiecore – Hyper-feminine aesthetic.
- Dark Academia – Vintage-inspired fashion with a moody aesthetic.
- Coastal Grandmother – Beach-inspired styles.
- Quiet Luxury – Timeless and understated elegance.
ERP solutions make it much easier to hop on board any of these trends. After all, they allow brands to see what’s hot, along with letting them roll out their interpretations of the latest online trends.
Something else to keep in mind is the growing emphasis on inclusivity and sustainability. More than mere trends, these have become an anchor for fashion and media sources agree. However, it also leaves fashion designers tasked with creating fast fashion that isn’t going to end up in landfills six months from now.
The Role of Social Media in Fashion Marketing
Social media is a natural fit for fashion marketing. Again, the visual nature of these platforms is an integral piece of the puzzle. Furthermore, the fashion industry uses social media to provide it with a wealth of free advertising. Sure, you’ll have to pay someone to monitor and post to your social accounts, but this is still undeniably cheaper than placing old-style print ads. Even if you pay to increase your reach, it’ll still be much more affordable.
Social media also has the advantage of providing almost instantaneous customer engagement. This can help prevent fashion brands from overcommitting to a specific style if it receives a lackluster response. Additionally, you can benefit from:
- Influencer marketing
- Trend identification
- Targeted advertising
- Customer insights
Speaking of customer insights, you can take this much further with an ERP. Choosing the right ERP makes it simpler to measure the success of your social media campaigns via data-driven insights. You can even create custom rules for your drill-down reports to make sure you’re paying attention to what really matters.
Marketing for Fashion Brands: Leveraging Social Media for Success
Leveraging social media requires a full understanding of what you want and how to achieve it. For example, your fashion brand should become especially active on the social media platforms that are most closely aligned with your target audience.
- Instagram – Average user is 18-24 years old. Close to 85% of Instagram users are below the age of 45.
- Tik Tok – Average user is 24, although there is a huge concentration of 18–19-year-olds.
- Pinterest – Average user is 18-34. The most notable age group is 25–34-year-olds.
- Facebook – Average user is 25-34-year-olds. However, 30.5% of users are between 35 and 54.
Once you’ve selected the appropriate platforms, you’ll want to pay attention to:
- Influencer collaborations
- Creating engaging content
- Proper hashtag strategy
- Brand consistency across platforms
- Building your community
- Trend awareness
- Contests
- In-platform shoppable features
Building your community is especially vital, as it can foster brand loyalty. To do so, you’ll need to remain consistent in your messaging, along with engaging your audience. Getting your audience excited to purchase your latest styles is only part of the battle, though. You’ll also need an ERP solution to track real-time inventory. Otherwise, it could become impossible to keep up with customer demand, which will turn engaged customers into angry ones. Avoid this problem with N41’s ERP!
Is your fashion business struggling to keep up with the latest social media trends? N41’s ERP solutions can help you streamline operations and stay ahead of the competition. Contact N41 today to learn how our ERP system can transform your brand’s social media strategy.
