While Facebook changed the world during its era of social media websites, Instagram did the same during the 2010s. It has had a profound impact on popular culture and how many industries work. It is one of the biggest social media platforms to exist. The mobile app is one of the most common apps to be downloaded by millions of people.
Instagram has a dedicated user base as well. Over 40 billion pictures have been uploaded on the platform. That is nearly 6 pictures for each individual currently alive on this planet. The story feature on Instagram has massive viewership. Over 500 million users use the story feature each day. That is a number that is higher than the population of the United States of America.
With hundreds of millions of users logging onto Instagram each day, it is not surprising that the app has changed the way marketing works. Companies are constantly looking for effective marketing strategies on the platform. This is especially true for industries that have very visual-heavy and aesthetics-related products and services, a description that defines the fashion industry to a tee.
Marketing in the Instagram World
Companies can’t afford to ignore Instagram. It is simply just too large of a factor. Instagram represents a large percentage of wealthy young adults who can be potential customers. Not only is this the perfect demographic for many companies, but it is easily accessible as well.
As a social media platform, companies can use Instagram’s sophisticated tools to have extremely focused and targeted advertisement and marketing campaigns. That is without even talking about the numerous ways of increasing outreach organically without any paid advertisements. Using social media marketing is also very cost-efficient. Instagram presents an opportunity to companies to have much better ROI than any other method of advertising or marketing. This is why social media marketing is such a huge deal now.
Even if your company is not focused on social media marketing, Instagram is one of the most essential pillars of a successful digital marketing campaign. Whether your company sells plumbing services or luxury Italian marble, everyone stands to gain with a good Instagram account.
History of Fashion Marketing
Traditionally, fashion marketing relied on print and TV-based marketing and advertising. These marketing campaigns had significant tie-ins with celebrities and brand icons for better promotion and outreach. However, the truth remained that this marketing only reached only a fraction of the potential customers.
Fashion magazines were incredibly expensive. Those who were subscribed were often already aware enough to know what trends were in style and which ones were not. It was rare that products featured in magazines would turn potential customers. It was a great way of building brand awareness but not actual sales.
The case for TV-based advertising and marketing was even worse. Even though it had a potentially larger audience, the audience was often not interested in the products at all. Those who would be potentially interested were already aware of the marketing.
The Instagram Change
Instagram provided an easy-to-use way for the fashion industry to market itself. Since the primary method of communication was through pictures and videos, the fashion industry already had a huge amount of those. Publishing multiple images from photoshoots and campaigns was basically free. They didn’t need to pay premium prices to get them all published in magazines or buy expensive air time for their advertising. Instagram also allowed users to receive smart suggestions for their advertisements and post feed based on their interests. This meant that one only showed the marketing campaign to those interested in fashion in the first place.
Not wanting to be left behind, fashion magazines also quickly adopted the use of the platform. They often posted articles and editorials in blurbs, and they used daily stories judiciously. Perhaps the greatest change was that Instagram allowed smaller creators and influencers to have a voice in a market previously dominated by established names and fashion houses. This opening up of the industry has introduced amazing designs and innovations into the field.
This also had the result of the opening of the channel of influencer marketing for the fashion industry. The fashion industry was perhaps one of the earliest adopters of using Instagram influencers to be an essential part of their marketing campaigns. Leveraging the insane audience following and engagement that these influencers had, fashion houses and magazines increased their outreach even further.
You can now see that boutique social media marketing consultants and digital marketing firms are carefully making Instagram marketing plans for various fashion industry companies. These plans include plans to buy IG comments to plans of reaching the most influential Instagram accounts for promotions.
One thing is for certain, Instagram has forever changed the face of fashion marketing. And it might be the best thing that has happened to fashion in a long time.
