On average, users spend 144 minutes on social media daily. The platforms most visited are Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter. While having social media is not essential for every brand, you do have more opportunities and places to reach potential and existing customers if you are active on social media. As an apparel and accessories brand, there are many types of social media posts you can add to your account that can gain more followers, brand awareness and purchases that we will go over in this guide.
Lifestyle Shots
Social media users love seeing apparel lifestyle shots where people or items are in a scene over laydowns. These types of images feel more authentic and relatable to people. But, also remember that you can publish laydown posts by incorporating fun design elements like text, stickers, gifs, etc. Lifestyle images give you the opportunity to get creative at photoshoots. This is the moment where you get to direct models or influencers to pose or act a specific way. If you do not use models or influencers, set up a scene that looks realistic for product photos. Make sure to bring a shot list that includes social media ideas for every photo shoot. It is better to plan your social calendar at least one month ahead of time, so you have time to create, design and write every post.
Even though Schuler Shoes only sells shoes, they still manage to create lifestyle shots of their product by putting them in a scene that many people can relate to:
Sustainability and Inclusivity
Right now, the apparel and accessories world is all about sustainability and inclusivity. Many sustainability supporting organizations are calling out many fashion brands due to the damage they are doing to the environment and how unethical their work practices are. Some fast fashion companies like BooHoo are under fire right now, especially since many of these brands do not have safe factories, are environmentally wasteful and create clothes mostly for small, petite people. As a business, you do not want customers to label your brand like this. That is why you will want to share any sustainable brands you sell and show a wide range of people, whether they are models, influencers or regular people on your social media.
National Holidays
Who doesn’t enjoy a fun national day? It gives us that extra excuse to dress-up, take photos or try something new. These days are not just for everyday people. Businesses can work these national days into their social media marketing as well. There are a ton of trending national holidays that you can post on that revolve around or can relate to apparel and accessories. Holidays like National Handbag Day, National White T-Shirt Day, National Lipstick Day, National Wear Red Day, etc. work great and have already established and well-followed hashtags. You can find a list of national holidays on the National Day Calendar. While creating these posts, you can get creative with the design. Add festive symbols, stickers or words that go with the holiday. For example, flag stickers or emojis on the 4th of July or snow, bells and lights around Christmas. Schuler Shoes added simple graphic elements on National Nurses Day that are effective and promotional at the same time:
Insta Stories and Facebook Stories
Stories are popular on Facebook and Instagram. Audiences love the valuable, engaging and creative content that comes from these posts. They also enjoy that stories involve more interactions over just leaving a like or comment. It’s the perfect area to add interactive buttons, stickers, music, questions, links to products, etc. Also, remember that on Instagram, you cannot link to anything on your news feed. However, you can link to as many products or blogs that you want on Insta Stories. The more engaging you are, the more chances you have of people following your accounts, interacting and shopping with your brand.
Authentic Influencers
Influencers are not for every apparel and accessories company, but if you already have or are willing to add influencers to your social media campaigns, then you can gain more followers on your social media pages. 78% of businesses implement influencer marketing with it to continue to grow every year. And this year alone increased influencer marketing substantially; however, customers are looking for authentic influencers instead of celebrities or high profile influencers. Micro-influencers and nano influencers are gaining popularity with consumers since they relate more to users. For more information on these types of influencers and how they can help your social media marketing, check out this guide.
Community Engagement
Without your community of followers, your social media would not go very far, and you would essentially have no one to market to. Whether you have a plethora of followers or a small handful, there is always room to gain more. Users on social media are looking for brands, companies and people that make a connection with them. Brands that do not relate or connect to an audience lose followers quickly or are slow in gaining new ones. You can make this connection by engaging with the community. Respond to comments, follow similar brands, react and like users’ posts and create posts about how you are helping the community. The more you show that you are part of your targeted audience, the more social media users will want to follow your company.
Engaging with the community also means answering questions that come through on posts. The Fawn Shoppe gives thorough explanations and apologies whenever things go wrong:
Announcements
Social media is a great place to drop any exciting news or announcements about your brand. In many cases, if you have a stronger social media presence compared to email subscribers, it will be one of the main ways people will know about any announcements you make. And even if you have more email subscribers, not all your social media followers subscribe to your emails, so to keep everyone in the loop, it is best to post on social media as well. Things like new collections, collaborations, brands, offers, events and grand openings are perfect to post.
Seiko does an excellent job of taking advantage of Facebook to introduce a new product they have by including links and a detailed description:
Contests
People love winning things, and social media is a fun and interactive way to host a contest. Whether it is a simple tag yourself or submit a photo or story, many of your current followers and potential followers will jump on board. If you are growing your social media presence, make sure to include in the rules that for valid entry, they must be following your page. Before creating your contest, decide on the prize, the ways to enter, disclaimers/rules/regulations and meet with your company’s HR team or legal team. The best way to make sure your contest goes smoothly is to work with a company or agency that has implemented many successful contests or giveaways.
Conclusion
Depending on your brand, audience and products, you can publish many other types of social media posts. Any time you start a social media page, there is a lot of creating, monitoring, tracking, responding, researching and improving that goes with it. Trends constantly change, and each platform adds new features throughout the year. While you can plan, post, watch and change elements on your own, it is an added step that takes more knowledge, time and effort. Take the stress off by working with a team of experienced professionals who have worked with many high profile clients. At Interactone, we have years of social media experience and understand everything that it takes to create a successful page. For more information on how we can help your company, shoot us a message today.
