eModeration white paper: how fashion retailers use social media

How
Fashion
Retailers
use Social
Media

Fashion is a natural fit with social media. How should
fashion brands harness its power, who is doing it right
and what are the mistakes to avoid?

Authored by Tamara Littleton July 2012

Authored by Date
For more information call Tamara Littleton on +44 (0)20 3178 5050 www.emoderation.com
26
eModeration Ltd :: The Media Village :: 131-151 Great Titchfield St :: London :: W1W 5BB :: UK
2012

Fashion retailers and social media

Table of Contents
Type chapter title (level 1) 1
1 John Lewis virtual dressingroom
Type chapter title (level 2) ..................................................................................................................................................... 2
Fashion retailers and
Type chapter title (level 3) .............................................................................................................................................. 3
social media
Type chapter title (level 2) fit with social
Fashion is a natural ..................................................................................................................................................... 5
Typemedia. We take photos of clothes
chapter title (level 3) .............................................................................................................................................. 6
we love and share them with our
friends on Facebook and Twitter;
Contents pin clothes we lust after onto
we
Pinterest boards; we watch
Contents Error! Bookmark not defined.
Fashion Week unfold on video
Being social in a regulated world ..................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
streams. In River Island, we can
Who wants to ‘engage’ with their bank? Banks are boring, right?Error! Bookmark not defined.
tweet straight from the fitting
The opportunities for social media for financial services companiesError! Bookmark not defined.
room mirror and in John Lewis we
Setting the rules of engagement ...................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
can try on clothes in a virtual over social media ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Crisis and risk management
fitting room and, as with Republic’s new service, discuss our choices with friends on Facebook
and Twitter. We’ve created a new way of discovering fashion: magazine editors are
celebrities on Twitter, a new wave of fashion bloggers are being courted by brands straight
Contents college. Brands are hitting big on social channels: Converse, the biggest social brand in
from
the world, has 31 million ‘likes’ on its Facebook page, and regularly gets thousands (in one
case, hundreds of thousands) of comments or likes for each of its posts and photos. And
every week, it seems, a new piece of research comes out telling us that Pinterest is becoming
increasingly important to fashion retail.
It’s Crisis and risk street fashion brands which are doing well on social media. Perhaps the
not just high management over social media ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
surprise success stories are the luxury fashion brands: Burberry (see focus box, below) has 13
million fans on Facebook; Armani Media Engagement Facebook, Organisations
eModeration: The Guide to Social has 3.2 million fans onfor Financial and nearly 3000 people
took the time to ‘like’ the brand’s new collection photographs on its Facebook timeline.

Of course, retailers have moved beyond simply gathering likes and followers on their social
channels. It’s what they do with those likes that counts. And there are some big opportunities
for social fashion brands.

2


Table of Contents
1. Socialising the customer experience

How to do customer service well on social media is a paper topic in itself (has produced a 4
Type chapter title (level 1)
good series of papers on the subject), and so we’ll limit ourselves here to looking at some of
Typethe mosttitle (level 3)things (in our view) that brands are doing online to improve the overall
chapter interesting .............................................................................................................................................. 6
customer experience.

Contents
Scratch the surface of fashion and social customer service, and one brand just keeps
cropping up. ASOS has set up its ‘ASOS Here to Help’ sub-brand for Twitter and Facebook, to
take customer service issues off its main pages and into a dedicated customer service
channel. social in a regulated world ..................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Being The objective for a dedicated customer service page like this one is very different to
the main social pages for awith their bank? Banks are boring, right?Error! Bookmarksense:
Who wants to ‘engage’ fashion brand, and so splitting them out makes a lot of not defined.
where a brand might target volume, reach, sharing etc on its main pages, it’s likely to focus
on Crisis and risk management over social mediaservice page (and no doubt in some defined.
speed and rates of resolution on its customer ............................. Error! Bookmark not cases
actively trying to avoid social sharing). It’s much harder to split this strategy on a single page.
Also, it takes the fairly mundane posts (“hey, we shipped your order on Tuesday,” or “that top
you asked about is 76 cm long”) out of circulation of the main pages, and avoids boring
Contents people who want less specific engagement with the brand.
those

According to SocialBakers, Sephora, Nike Running and Next show the most ‘devotion’ to
customers on Facebook and Twitter ..................................................... Error! Bookmark notalso one
Being social in a regulated world (judged by response rates to posts). New Look is defined.
to watch, and according to some reports beats both ASOS and Top Shop for social
engagement, rules ofwith a heavy focus on customer service. LikeError! Bookmark not defined.
Setting the again engagement ...................................................... ASOS, it has created a
community around its DailyNewLook site, which brings consumers Error!the New Look world
Crisis and risk management over social media ............................. into Bookmark not defined.
rather than relying on Facebook and Twitter.
eModeration: The Guide to Social Media Engagement for Financial Organisations

2 ASOS Twitter Customer Service

3


Table of Contents
2. Learning from reviews, research and development

According to research by Reevoo, recommendations from friends are the most influential
driver for UK shopping habits, followed closely by what we assume is the next best thing -
Typereviews by other consumers. It’s interesting that Reevoo’s research results rated
recommendations above advertising, or advice from sales assistants. It also found that 88 per
cent of consumers consult reviews before buying, and 60 per cent were more likely to buy
Contents a site that included reviews. (It is worth noting that Reevoo is a service that promotes
from
customer reviews, so its angle on the research isn’t strictly impartial, but the findings ring true.)
Of course, the danger of reviews is that your customers will say negative things about your
product or yourin a regulated world ..................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Being social customer service. On the plus side, that means you can do something to
improvewantsproduct or your customer service. (See our white paper A Guide to Managing
Who your to ‘engage’ with their bank? Banks are boring, right?Error! Bookmark not defined.
and Moderating Customer Review Sites for information on how to deal with negative
reviews.)
Crisis and risk management over social media ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

Used cleverly, social media can be a great way of harnessing the power of the community to
test new designs and bring key consumers into the research and development process (with
Contents
a considerable saving on the R&D budget). Voting on designs, testing ‘limited edition’ pieces
or just listening to what your customers are saying about you are all tried and tested methods
of crowdsourcing opinions in order to inform production.


3 Hush Puppies competition

4


Table of Contents
3. Personalisation and promotion

The same principle (level 1)to personalising pieces. Burberry lets you design your own trench 4
Type chapter title applies
coat, adding to the basic design - and the price - with choice of style, colour, fabric and
Typelining; and essential additions such as a black mink warmer and monograms. It’s a worthwhile
exercise for the brand; you can easily treble the price of a basic trench coat with a bit of
personalisation and a few accessories thrown in.
Contents

Ted Baker has goneregulated world ..................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Being social in a a step further and is creating art from images of its customers wearing
pieces from its to ‘engage’ with theirin-store Banks are boring, right?Error! Bookmark not defined.
Who wants new collection. In an bank? campaign called ‘Ted’s Drawing Room’,
customers pose in front of an Instagram photo booth, and 100 of them will be transformed
into artwork by a team of fashion illustrators. The artwork will be used in stores, andnot defined.
Crisis and risk management over social media ............................. Error! Bookmark on
Facebook (and customers get to keep the signed, framed illustration).

But exercise caution: the beauty of using your customers in social media campaigns is also its
Contents
danger: no matter how well you think you know your audience, you often can’t predict (and
you certainly can’t control) what they’ll do. UK retailer Next ran a competition to find its next
model, but hadn’t anticipated a Facebook campaign which manipulated the voting to
propel unlikely candidate Roland Bunce to the top spot, with 26,000 public votes, waydefined.
Being social in a regulated world ..................................................... Error! Bookmark not above
his nearest competitor’s measly 97 votes. (The rather sad end to the tale was that Bunce
withdrew fromrules competition, because of online abuse and taunts.) Bookmark not defined.
Setting the the of engagement ...................................................... Error!


4 Burberry allows you to design your own trenchcoat

5


Table of Contents
4. Life beyond Facebook

You’d chapter title for thinking that social media is all about Facebook and Twitter; not so. We4
Type be forgiven (level 1)
couldn’t write about fashion and social media without giving a shout out to the new kid on
Typethe block, Pinterest, which now reportedly drives more new customers than Facebook.
Fashion is the most obvious beneficiary of pins - what could be better than to while away a
lunch hour lusting after the contents of our friends’ ‘my style’ boards - and retailers ignore it at
Contents peril. Most fashion brands are just getting started on Pinterest; even ASOS is a relatively
their
newbie here, with around 1,500 repins and just 27 ‘likes’. Victoria’s Secret has turned over its
Pinterest page to the ‘VS Teeny Bikini’, encouraging users to ‘share your own VS bikini pix
through Twitter,in a regulated world ..................................................... Error! Bookmark notor so
Being social Instagram or Pinterest.” How well it works isn’t recorded; while 12,000 defined.
people are following the pins, only 188 pictures have been pinned to date.
Pinterestand risk management over social media ............................. Error!a brand can do is to
Crisis discourages overt self-promotion, so the most effective thing Bookmark not defined.
give its content repin appeal: make it visually appealing, optimised with relevant keywords
and links, and watermarked (so that the origin of your image doesn’t rely on another user
copying and pasting accompanying text).
Contents
(For a complete run down on how to get started on and run Pinterest boards, see our ebook,
The Complete Pinterest Guide for Brands, which tells you everything you need to know about
getting started ona regulated world ..................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Being social in Pinterest, including creating and curating pinnable content, creating
boards and campaigns, and engaging other Pinners.)
Calvin Klein created its own Tumblr site - which is in many ways the ideal blogging not defined.
Crisis and risk management over social media ............................. Error! Bookmark platform
for a fashion brand, with its focus on short posts and images of collections, models and shoot
locations (including the very on-message “Arran and Matt wrestling behind the scenes and
on location… St Barth’s”). This actively
encourages sharing on Facebook, Twitter 5 Calvin Klein's stylish Tumblr page
and Pinterest. However, the brand has no
official presence on Pinterest yet, despite
a holding page. Watch this space.

TopShop is creative about the way it
encourages consumers to engage (and,
of course, share their data). Customers
are encouraged to submit their own
pictures to Tumblr, and innovative apps
like its SCVNGR game use geo-targeting
to release prizes and incentives to
consumers within a 500 metre radius of
the store.

6


Table of Contents
5. The power of the fashionista

The power of fashion editors has held fascination way beyond the fashion industry, spawning 4
films, TV series and novels. Interestingly, as a slight aside, increased sales of Vogue magazine
Typehave bucked the trend of flagging newsstand sales with which other industry titles are
struggling. Vogue has created some interesting digital initiatives, including its ‘Voguepedia’,
an online archive of all things Vogue, which launched in December 2011.
Contents

Contents

6 Voguepedia - an archive of all things Vogue

But influence is fragmenting away from a small circle of pure fashion editors towards a new
generation of influencers: fashion bloggers. It’s almost mandatory for anyone with a degree
in fashion design to have their own blog; it’s also a great way for a young designer to get
noticed (think how unsigned musicians used MySpace in its heyday). Brands are falling over
themselves to court this new generation of fashionistas, bypassing traditional media channels
in favour of blogger networks, previewing collections to favoured bloggers, and creating
blogger-only catwalk events.

7


Table of Contents
Is Vogue threatened by this new power? On the contrary, it’s using the trend (and the new
talent) to its advantage, creating the prestigious ‘Vogue Influencer Network’, a network of
1000 (unpaid) influential women who will not only spread the word about the magazine, but 4
will also review advertised products, thereby extending advertisers’ reach across social
Typechannels. In Adweek’s words:

“It’s not enough that a brand like Vogue can sway people to buy certain products by
Contents virtue of its clout. Brands today want to use the magazine’s readers to spread the word
about their products. To that end, the Condé Nast fashion bible has launched the
Influencer Network, a platform for advertisers that want to get on the social media
Being social in a regulated world ..................................................... Error! Bookmark not to have
bandwagon. The Influencer Network is a panel of some 1,000 women deemed defined.
Who wants to other women, based on how active they areright?Error! Bookmark not defined.
sway over ‘engage’ with their bank? Banks are boring, on social networks like
Facebook and Polyvore, a fashion site where people create collages of outfits and
Crisis andthem with other members.” media ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
share risk management over social

Contents


8


Table of Contents
TypeIssues facing fashion brands on social media

Social media and the impact on ethics
TypeIn an era when people expect to buy T-shirts for less than a fiver and don’t question the ethics
of how and where they’re made, social media has been a powerful force for campaigners
for ethical work practices and sustainability. Online sites such as Ethical Consumer let you see
Contents
at the slide of a button how a range of high street stores perform against criteria such as:
impact on the environment; human rights and working practice; animal welfare; and defined.
Contents Error! Bookmark not
sustainability. Social media has given lobby groups a strong, and sustained voice. Possibly as
a result, wants to ‘engage’ with to change their attitudes. H&M, long a promoter of ‘fastdefined.
Who companies are starting their bank? Banks are boring, right?Error! Bookmark not
fashion’ - held by some social as one for the biggest causecompaniesError! Bookmark industry
The opportunities for critics media of financial services of damage by the fashion not defined.
to both the environment (creating a ‘throw away culture’) and human Bookmark not defined.
Setting the rules of engagement ...................................................... Error! rights (can you make
a T-shirt ethicallymanagement over socialto change its culture and improve ethics down its
Crisis and risk for £3?) - is pushing hard media ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
supply chain. It’s hard to quantify how much of this change is down to pressure brought on
social media channels, but social media has certainly made these practices more
transparent.
Contents
All of which leads us rather nicely onto the next big issue for brands in social media: defined.
Contents Error! Bookmark not
Social media crises
There have been some well documented social media crises faced by Bookmark not defined.
Setting the rules of engagement ...................................................... Error! fashion brands in the
last two years, ranging from the serious (the campaign against Versace to stop the practice
of sandblasting jeans) to the faintly ridiculous (that ill-thought-through tweet by Kenneth
Cole’s team making light of the Egyptian revolution).

Organised campaign lobby groups are getting smarter and smarter in their use of social
media to promote a cause, and bring about change (remember PETA’s DKNY ‘bunny
butcher’ Facebook campaign?).

We split crises into two groups: those you can avoid, and those you either can’t or choose not
to (for example, if you choose for business reasons to source from a company that may have
a campaign against it). Those you can avoid need business action to avoid them; those you
can’t should be rehearsed as far as possible, so you’re ready for when an issue strikes. (See
our blog post on this for more information about how to rehearse a social media crisis.)

9


Table of Contents
Intellectual property (and its theft)

Copyright infringement and intellectual property theft have long been problems for fashion 4
retailers; whether its fighting knock-off ‘branded’ goods sold on a market stall, or designs that
Typehave been copied from the catwalk.

Accusations of theft have hit a number of big name fashion retailers, and social media helps
Contents the flames. Claire’s Accessories was accused by independent designer Tatty Devine of
fuel
ripping off her designs; a problem that just doesn’t seem to go away on social media or
mainstream newspaper coverage. Urban Outfitters was also accused of copying the work of
an Being social indesigner, and selling the product cheaper. The story hit all the major defined.
independent a regulated world ..................................................... Error! Bookmark not fashion
blogs and trended on Twitter. Quick bank? Banks are boring, however, can make go away
Who wants to ‘engage’ with their handling of the problem, right?Error! Bookmarkitnot defined.
(at least until someone digs it up again for a white paper, of course).
Top Shop was called out on Twitter by one of the UK’s most influential fashion bloggers, Susie
Bubble, for copying the design of Yasmin Kianfar, a young designer. (Susie wears and
promotes a good deal of Top Shop clothing.) Within two hours, she had been contacted by
Contents Shop and assured that the dress was being removed. Forever 21 quite often finds itself at
Top
the centre of copyright infringement suits, copying designer pieces and creating a cheap
version for the high street.


7 Top Shop is called out on Twitter for copying designs

10


Table of Contents
Type Burberry (level 3) .............................................................................................................................................. 3
chapter title

The makers of the iconic trench coat has
been using social media to engage
customers for a number of years. In 2009
it launched its ‘Art of the Trench’ site,
where customers could upload pictures
Contents of themselves wearing a Burberry trench

Contents coat. As a result of its success, Burberry
Error! Bookmark not defined.
made its first forays into Facebook,
where it now has 13 million fans. The
brand has consistently innovated on
social media, and perhaps the most
interesting of its social campaigns is its
‘Tweetwalk’ - where Burberry shared
images from the catwalk with followers
on Twitter in advance of its fashion shows - and its click and buy initiative during London
Contents
Fashion Week, which allowed consumers to watch the catwalk shows online, and click the
clothes from within the video, to buy them straight off the catwalk.
Burberry’s sales are booming; it saw a rise of 21 per cent in sales in the last quarter of 2011,
and attributed the growth in part to its social media engagement with consumers.
ASOS
Asos has ingrained social media to its website, with the creation of Asos Fashion Finder, a
community-based fashion site where users can connect (and share) with Facebook, create outfits,
seek out trend information, enter competitions, access its network of blogs, and even ‘friend’
members. Again, this is a smart strategy: while the retailer is using Facebook, Twitter and even
Pinterest to engage with consumers where they are, it makes sense that they would try to draw
those consumers back into their world, a world where they have much more control over the user
journey (and data) than they would over a third party site.

11


Table of Contents
Managing a social fashion community

All communities need nurturing if they are to succeed, and none so more than for fashion
brands. Fashion is so personal, so subjective, that brands will attract disproportionate levels of
Typepassion from (level -3) .............................................................................................................................................. 6
chapter title fans very powerful if harnessed properly - and equally, criticism from detractors.
I spoke to one of eModeration’s fashion-specialist community managers, Eloise Grey for
guidance on how to manage a social community for a fashion brand:
Contents
Set the objectives for your fashion community prior to launch. Is your objective to promote
new lines? Or resolve customer service issues? Or drive hits to your brand’s website? Or
perhaps it’s to increase loyaltyworld ..................................................... Error!what you want defined.
Being social in a regulated through better engagement? Knowing Bookmark not to
achievewants to ‘engage’ with their bank? Banks are boring, right?Error! Bookmark not defined.
Who before you start will help you develop the community and measure your results.
Walk the talk. When fashion expert and community manager Eloise Grey launched her
eponymous fashion brand in 2007, her own social presence mattered: “The brand is in my
own name, so naturally my ethos was the driving force behind it. It made sense for me to
immerse myself in the community, connecting with those interested in my specific area. Eco-
Contents
fashion was quite a niche area back in 2007 and the online community made it easier to
reach my target audience.”

Differentiate your a regulated world ..................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Being social in channels. Assess the merits of each channel, and decide which are the
most relevant to you in achieving your objectives. For visually-appealing fashion brands,
Pinterest, Tumblr, YouTube (or other ...................................................... Error!are probably no-
Setting the rules of engagement video sites), Twitter and Facebook Bookmark not defined.
brainers.and don’t just replicate content across each channel. You canBookmark message
Crisis But risk management over social media ............................. Error! keep the not defined.
consistent, but create specific (and unique) content for each.
Show some personality. There’s nothing more dull than reading pages of corporate messages
on Facebook, and fans won’t like it. Use a voice that’s appropriate to your brand – if your
brand is irreverent, or quirky, create a voice on social channels that reflects this.

Moderate your community. That doesn’t mean censorship of negative comments, but no
brand has to put up with spam, or inappropriate, off-topic or even abusive posts. Debate is
fine, and people should be allowed to disagree with the brand and state their own opinions.
But if the discussion turns nasty, comments should be removed. You don’t want your brand
associated with behaviour that is abusive, or that breaks Facebook’s terms of service, for
example.

12


Table of Contents
Give people a reason to come back. Consider content that your fans wouldn’t be able to
get elsewhere. For example, creating buzz in the run up to events, or showcasing the behind-
the-scenes production process of new lines. Think of content like this as handing your fans a 4
Type chapteraccess-all-areas pass to let them take a peek behind the scenes.
virtual title (level 2) ..................................................................................................................................................... 5
Personalise your engagement. If people are talking to you on Twitter or Facebook, they’ll
expect an answer sooner than they would on your website. This can offer a real advantage
Contentsbrands. As Eloise says: “Twitter is a great way to provide a personalised service. You can
to
keep customers updated on the status of their order, and even showcase swatches of
material. Twitter can open up the whole buying and ordering process.”
Social fashion: of engagement ...................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Setting the rules
the future

Burberry is a great reminder of how good implementation of a strong social media strategy
can positively impact the bottom line. Social media objectives for fashion retailers is now
Contents much more than how many likes you can get on a Facebook page. They are linked to
about
the business; whether that’s finding new customers, developing new markets, testing new
lines, increasing sales value or encouraging repeat sales.
Social channels are a new frontline: where the balance of power shifts from the brand to its
customers.the rules of engagementbenefits of social media will listen to Bookmark not defined.
Setting The brands reaping the ...................................................... Error! what those customers
are telling them,management over social media ............................. Error!attention tonot defined.
Crisis and risk and act on what they hear. And they’ll pay as much Bookmark their
customers’ social experiences online, as to their browsing and buying experiences in-store.

8 The EON Interactive Mirror in Singapore

13


Table of Contents
TypeAbout title (level 3) .............................................................................................................................................. 3
chapter eModeration

eModeration Limited is an award-winning social media management agency. It works with
Typesome of title world’s biggest brands (including BBC Worldwide, ITV, HSBC, MTV, Sony Mobile,
chapter the (level 3) .............................................................................................................................................. 6
ESPN, Hyundai, Smirnoff, the LEGO Group, Sprint and The Economist) and agencies (including
Starcom MediaVest Group, Wieden + Kennedy, Ogilvy, Saatchi & Saatchi, DDB Worldwide,
Contents Porter + Bogusky and Publicis Groupe).
Crispin

Based in London UK, with offices in Los Angeles and New York, eModeration provides multi-
lingual moderation and community management services, consultancy and social media
crisis management training tomedia for the TV, entertainment and digital publishing industry
The opportunities for social clients in financial services companiesError! Bookmark not defined.
and blue chip rules of hosting online ...................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Setting the clients engagement communities.
Committed to ethical business practices and to the promotion of child online safety,
eModeration's CEO Tamara Littleton recently worked with the UK Government department
UKCCIS to produce its on how to moderate online environments for children.
Contents
eModeration contributes to the growth of knowledge in the socialError! Bookmark not defined.
Contents media world via its , blogs
and seminars, and has a strong roster of returning clients who appreciate the high quality of
its services.
Media and blogger contacts: over social media ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Crisis and risk management
For eModeration: To speak to Tamara Littleton, CEO, eModeration, please contact: Kate
eModeration: The Guide to SocialTel: 0203Engagement for Financial Organisations
Hartley, Carrot Communications, Media 178 5052 / email kate.hartley@carrotcomms.co.uk

© eModeration Limited 2012. This document is the intellectual property of eModeration Limited and may not be
duplicated or disclosed to any third party without the written permission of an authorised officer of the company.

14

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