Social Media Fashion Sites to Watch?
In a recent goshtv.net interview, social media professionals in the fashion industry were asked, “who is doing social media well?” One of my favorite social media bloggers Macala Wright Lee of FashionablyMarketing.Me was kind enough to mention ModCloth!
Here are my profiles of the 7 other organizations that were mentioned by the experts in the field. I am always looking for peers in the field that really get it and are completely invested in their social media programs! I thought I would dissect what they are doing based on my requirements of engaging discussions/content, consistency, and creativity!
Burberry - referred by Fox Rothschild fashion attorney Staci Riordan
http://twitter.com/burberry
I’m a bit surprised at how few Twitter followers they have, coming in at 20K followers. Probably because they only update once or twice a week.
http://www.facebook.com/burberry
What they lack in followers on Twitter, they certainly make up on Facebook. With 1 million plus followers. Their content is a collection of photos, videos, and marketing updates. It’s clear from the feedback that the photos are the most popular. I am not incredibly impressed by the interaction, their facebook page is more of a PR vehicle than a community. They don’t respond to fan comments and “discussions” isn’t even enabled! I think the clincher for me is that they haven’t updated for a month.
http://www.youtube.com/burberry
Nice video quality, but basically a space to archive videos.
Bonobos - referred by Fox Rothschild fashion attorney Staci Riordan
Let me put out the disclaimer, I have affection for Bonobos because they think of ModCloth as their soul sister. They’ve tweeted at Modcloth several times proclaiming their affection. I also caught them on the Today Show last year, and they seem like pretty nice guys.
http://twitter.com/bonobos
Their humble Twitter account is managed by their CEO Andy Dunn, who uses it mostly for conversations, promotions, and questions to followers. I’m not a huge fan of founders manning the official Twitter account, it has an association to “founders syndrome” for me.
http://twitter.com/bonobosninjas
This is more of the company account, named after their blog. Most likely, Customer Service tweets sent to Andy are responded to here. But hasn’t picked up steam yet!
http://www.facebook.com/bonobos
Almost 5K fans, the page is still small enough to have an real connection with fans. Bonobos takes the time to answer comments (points) and also posts of a variety of things (fashion, style advice), it’s not just a self promotion vehicle. It’s a community of athletic men into style. Outside of the very odd body building pictures and bad tan photos in the fan photo area, and the wasted realestate in the tabs with the inclusion of the Sign up for NL tab, they do a fairly good job of keeping a FB presence.
Scootergirls - referred by Fox Rothschild fashion attorney Staci Riordan
http://twitter.com/LAScooterGirls
http://www.facebook.com/pages/ScooterGirls-Clothing/133386302973
Seth Godin says you need a tribe of 1000 to really have a movement, if so, ScooterGirls is about 300 short on Twitter. They also have 163 likes on Facebook. Sure it’s not about the numbers, but it seems like the only person they are talking to or listening to is themselves.
Hayden-Harnett - referred by Macala Wright Lee of FashionablyMarketing
http://twitter.com/hayden_harnett
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hayden-Harnett/16959276125
They do a fairly good job of chatting with their customers and potential customers online, and sharing much of their company culture & lifestyle. I’m not a huge fan of the PR and salesy copy on the Twitter stream.
http://www.youtube.com/haydenharnett
I have to say, I have a fascination with seeing what’s inside people’s purses. So I kind of loved the “Going Downtown” video. PS. It’s pretty amazing how much stuff they cram in these bags!! It’s a pretty low activity page otherwise.
Need Supply Co. - referred by Macala Wright Lee of FashionablyMarketing
http://twitter.com/needsupply
I’m pretty disappointed by their Twitter stream, it is mostly product updates mixed in with conversation. I am totally against Twitter feeds.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Need-Supply-Co/28398760868
Much to my disappointment, they channel the same feed to their Facebook page!
For me, this list of fashion companies using Social Media well is going downhill. My morale is low, but I am going to give these last two companies a fair observation.
Kate Spade - referred by Macala Wright Lee of FashionablyMarketing
http://twitter.com/katespadeny
Right away, I appreciate their use of the “#thingswelove” hashtag in the bio and encouraging other people to participate. What a fun positive theme to a Twitter page. Definitely a good idea to pass on! There is a very real voice to all the tweets. When its mother’s day, they give general mother’s day advice, they don’t push a product. I love it.
http://www.facebook.com/katespade
The “Things We Love” theme carries over to their Facebook page. They really really get it! Great brands think like party planners and curators, they’ve really hit the nail on the head with this campaign. My only issue is that there is conversation on the fanpage. None of the customers are attended to!
LOFT- referred by Macala Wright Lee of FashionablyMarketing
http://twitter.com/Loft
Surprisingly this Ann Taylor brand only has 900 followers on Twitter. They are very good at responding to individuals and keeping a conversational tone.
http://www.facebook.com/LOFT
Pretty fab Facebook page. They are engaged with customers on the wall, the discussion board is well managed, they use photo albums in interesting ways (e.g. Sunglasses to Fit Your Face). I also like that becoming a fan gives you access to exclusive fashion tips and not deals, since they are not a promotion/price driven brand. But at the same time, I would want genuine fans, people who don’t need to be coerced into loving you. Many times FBML pages can look very “magazine-y”, they were able to bring in socialization functionality (voting, comments), which was a nice touch.
