Want a peek behind the curtain to see how leading fashion and luxury brands stay ahead of the curve around social media?
Sophia Lief, the Senior Manager of Global Social Media at Michael Kors teamed up with Meghan Cahill, the VP of Client Success at ListenFirst for the Using Social Intelligence to Drive Creative Decisions panel at Advertising Week. Here are some of the key trends and insights they shared with the audience.
1. Pivot to Instagram Stories And YouTube
ListenFirst data found that cross-platform Social Engagement (i.e. likes, reactions, comments, shares) for Fashion & Luxury Brands has only increased by 3%, comparing Q2 2019 to Q1 2017. However, that doesn’t mean interest in Fashion content on social media has stalled—it’s just evolving.
ListenFirst found that the volume of YouTube video views on Fashion and Luxury brands’ content increased by 113% in Q2 2019 compared to Q1 2017. Additionally, there were 18X more Fashion and Luxury brands posting Instagram Stories in Q4 2018 compared to Q4 2017.
Provided marketers are targeting the right channels, like YouTube and Instagram Stories, there’s still a lot of growth potential for Fashion brands on social media.
2. Fashion Brands Are Posting Less…And That’s A Good Thing
According to ListenFirst data comparing Q2 2019 to Q1 2017, Fashion and Luxury brands are posting -18% less often on Instagram, -15% less on Facebook, and -43% less on Twitter. That strategy appears to be working, as during the same time period, Fashion and Luxury brands generated 33% more fans per social media post on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr.
With so much competition for audiences’ attention on social media, it’s incredibly easy to tune out brand content that doesn’t connect. Focusing on quality rather than quantity is a more impactful content strategy for Fashion and Luxury brands.
3. Post Saves Is A Key Social Performance Metric For Fashion Brands
While Saves is a relatively new social media metric, for fashion marketers, tracking Saves is essential in understanding audience intent. If someone is saving a post, it signifies that they find the content engaging enough to return to—a far stronger indication of purchasing interest for a product than say impressions or likes.
Sophia Lief explained that Michael Kors’ top 10 Instagram posts which generated the most saves between January 1 – September 24, 2019 all had a clear message showing a singular product; a content template they should definitely continue focusing on.
By understanding what product-focused content is being “saved” the most, brands can better optimize their social media content strategy against actual business objectives.
4. ASMR Video Is Driving Engagement
ASMR, or a feeling of well-being that’s triggered by things like whispering voices, paper tearing, and scalp massages is a hot trend for brands. Michael Kors saw significantly more engagement for the ASMR videos they posted on social media compared to their average engagement at the time. With brands creating more video content than ever on social media, experimenting with different forms of video like ASMR which focuses on audio will help brands stand out more.
5. Creative Insights Are Not One Size Fits All
ListenFirst also analyzed Tiffany and Co.’s social strategy and found that many of their top performing Instagram posts had a white background, while many of their lower performing posts had content with bright backgrounds. On the other hand, Sophia Lief pointed out that posts with bright colored backgrounds like pink or purple do work for Michael Kors, whereas product posts with a white background do not.
Different brands have different identities, and creative insights aren’t necessarily transferable. You can fully optimize your social media strategy by analyzing owned content and what your audience is responding to favorably.
Conclusion
Trends change quickly in both Fashion and social media, so having a day-to-day analytics partner is vital. By working with ListenFirst, brands gain a competitive advantage to ensure their content strategy is connecting with the widest, most relevant audience.
Want even more information about fashion brand trends on social media? Request a ListenFirst demo today!
