CREATING EFFECTIVE SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGNS

Introduction

This guide will explain the usage of social media as a marketing strategy.

Content Overview

Part 1: DEFINE YOUR GOALS & OBJECTIVES

Part 2: CHOOSE YOUR NETWORK

i. General Tips

ii. Advantages

iii. Disadvantages

Part 3: BE PROMINENT

Part 4: CREATE YOUR CONTENT

i. Define Your Brand Identity

ii. Quality: Text

iii. Quality: Image

iv. Quality: Timing

v. Quality: Frequency

vi. Interact with your Audience

vii. Be Relevant

viii. Create Hype

ix. Coordinate your Channels

x. Basic Content Ideas

Part 5: EVALUATE

i. Track your Success

ii. Prioritize your Platforms

iii. Timing and Frequency

iv. Improve your Content

GETTING STARTED

Social media is a powerful marketing tool that provides the opportunity to show your brand personality and build a

lasting relationship between your brand and your customers. Social media is a great sales generator that allows you

to create value, engage your audience and expand your reach through sharing text, images and videos. If done right,

social media marketing can contribute significantly to your success.

Ways social media marketing can improve your business:

Increase brand recognition

Improve brand loyalty

Increase sales/conversion rates

Increase traffic to your website

Provide opportunity to improve customer service

Reduce marketing costs

Before we get started, here are some basic pointers:

When in doubt, keep it simple

Be transparent and honest

Don’t be afraid to go out of the box

Have patience! Social media marketing success doesn’t come overnight. It’s likely you need to commit in the

long run to achieve results

PART 1: DEFINE YOUR GOALS & OBJECTIVES

Before starting on building your social media presence, it is crucial to set an end goal. Set clear and specific

objectives for your social media marketing efforts and decide on your long term goal for your company.

Objectives:

Increase brand recognition in social media channels

Develop a positive online following

Increase interaction with your audience

Establish your brand image

Goals:

Increase visits to your website

Drive new visitors to site

Increase sales/conversion rate

Increase brand awareness

Boost brand image

PART 2: CHOOSE YOUR NETWORK

i. General Tips:

If you’re new to social media marketing, a good starting point is to select one or two relevant channels to invest in.

The most popular social networks for the fashion and retail industry that will be discussed here include Facebook,

Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. Other platforms you may like to consider are Tumblr, Vine and Google+

It is important for you to choose the platform(s) that will provide your company with the biggest return for your

investment. Each social media channel has distinct qualities and there are many factors to take into consideration.

When choosing your social media platforms, consider the following:

1. Time

Plan how much time you have to devote to a network. To product quality content at a regular place, plan on

spending at least an hour per day per network at the start.

2. Resources

How much do you plan to spend on social media marketing? Who is your social media marketing team? While it may

be less costly than traditional marketing, visual social networks require images which may be financially draining.

3. Your Audience

Who is your target audience? Where do they socialize online? Which social media channels are your competitor

brands active in?

ii. Advantages iii. Disadvantages

Wide, diverse audience

Helps build long-term relationships

with your customers

Great for sharing text, photos,

videos and links

Requires large resources to provide

wide range of content

May not have maximum reach to

compete with bigger brands

Appeals to mobile users

High engagement rate

Enables storytelling through

enhanced imagery

Limited to iOS and Android mobile

user

Need for resources to produce

quality images

Links in posts are non-actionable: No

direct links to website

Appeals to the younger generation

Frequent and direct communication

Ideal for sharing breaking news,

updates and answering questions

Limited to 140 characters

Requires immediate responses

PART 3: BE PROMINENT

Display your social media links clearly on your website to enable easy access and optimize traffic.

Similarly, on your social media channels, provide a clear link to your shop page on THE ICONIC to direct your

followers to make a purchase.

You can provide a link to your own website. However, it is beneficial to provide any of THE ICONIC links as

well, as THE ICONIC has a unique selling point: free shipping, COD and being a one-stop fashion destination

for multiple brands.

Another way to garner a following is to follow your competitors and popular channels similar to your brand.

Chances are, your target audience follows these channels. You can direct these followers to your channels by

engaging with them through liking their posts, commenting or following them.

Large female audience (80% are female)

Images can be linked to specific landing pages

Users can ‘repin’ content which expands reach

May not appeal to male audience

Need for resources to produce

quality images

Lower number of users and

engagement rate

Large potential for visual and

narrative content

Great opportunity to showcase

brand personality

High competition and requires large resources

Need for filmmaking, writing and communication skills

High risk of criticism/backlash damaging brand image

PART 4: CREATE YOUR CONTENT

i. Define your Brand Identity

Your brand identity is a group of elements that shapes a distinct brand image. These elements consist of a mix of

unique brand personality traits and brand values. A unique brand personality makes your brand more relatable while

your brand values will help shape the foundation for success.

To find your brand personality:

Imagine your brand as a person and list out words that describe his/her personality, values and lifestyle.

E.g. Outgoing, glamorous, animal lover etc.

Pick a celebrity, car or an animal that best represents your brand and list down the reasons why.

E.g. Swarovski: Swan. Often associated with royalty, swans convey a sense of sophistication, elegance and

class.

Determine your brand values:

Your work ethics and work culture

Your goals in terms of giving to the customers and contributing to society

All content should be aligned and standardized according to your brand identity.

Personality & Relationship to your customers

Speech : Language & Tone of Voice

Lifestyle : Food & Leisure

Visuals : Styling & Design

ii. Quality: Text

Firstly, be authentic, don’t be 100% sales marketing!

People don't willingly follow accounts that are blatantly marketing and promoting their products/services all

the time

Focus less on conversions and more on creating valuable content that people genuinely want to follow!

When creating content, think of how it benefits your audience.

E.g. Sale posts allow follower be the first to know about a sale, outfit posts give style inspiration,

inspirational quotes provide motivation, food posts give recommendations on where to eat, competitions

entertain and let users win prizes, etc.

Occasionally post content that does not directly relate to your products

e.g. for fashion, post content on travel, pets, etc.

General Tips:

Double check for spelling or grammatical errors! (Even tiny mistakes can make a bad impression)

Provide product links when featuring a product

Invest time in creating regularly searched keywords that your followers can find easily: title, description, tags

and hashtags

Instigate a call-to-action: Encourage followers to subscribe, favourite/like, comment, visit your website, etc.

For Facebook, Instagram and Twitter:

Invest time in creating a simple and catchy hashtag that contains your brand name

Use no more than 3 hashtags per post to create a bigger impact

Mention celebrities or fashion bloggers, they may share it with their followers

For visual posts, keep the word count to a minimum

For Pinterest:

Include links and price tags: Get more likes and inspire a purchase

Use Pinterest group boards: Reach more viewers and get more repins, followers and traffic. Free tool

PinGroupie allows you to find popular group boards.

For YouTube:

Once a video is uploaded, post links in other social media outposts to attract more traffic

iii. Quality: Image

Make sure your images are of high quality and resolution. Learn how to take captivating pictures. Use filters, angles,

lighting and other photography tricks to enhance your photos. Try using Photoshop, Diptic, or Photoshake to edit

your pictures.

The following are some basic general photography tips to stand out:

1. Angles

Angles can contribute to the mood and perspective

of an image. Take photos from unusual angles, e.g.

shooting from ground, above eye view, bird’s eye

view, tilted, with the foreground blurred out etc.

Explore different angles when shooting the same

scene to find how to best portray the image subject.

2. Depth

Create depth in your images using lines,

repetition and space

Create a visual line through roads, pathways,

tunnels etc

Highlight contrast between foreground and

background by using blur tools or shadows

3. Lighting

Take pictures in lighting that reveals the details and

texture of your product clearly. Try experimenting

with creating shadows that can be further enhanced

with filters. Images taken during the golden hour

(after sunrise and before sunset) has soft, natural

lighting.

4. Composition

A great beginner’s guide to picture

composition is the rule of thirds, where

the main subject is aligned with the

lines or the intersection of the lines on

a grid that separates the photo by 9

equal parts. The intersections of the

lines are where the eye is

drawn to instinctively. This creates a

balanced and unified image.

5. Background/Location

Getting the right location is important to convey a

narrative or a story. Match the mood and style of

your products to the environment. For example, a

rural environment like a field or beach

complements spring/summer fashion, while edgy,

sporty or darker fashion works well in an urban

setting like a graffiti wall or concrete architecture.

6. Filter

Small changes in contrast, temperature and

saturation can make subtle but significant

changes to your images. However, be careful not

to over edit photographs! Filters are for

enhancement rather than transformation. For

greater customization, some great filter apps to

try out are VSCOcam, Snapseed, Afterlight and

Camera+.

iv. Quality: Timing

The chart below summarizes the best timings to post on social media according to research by sumall.com. In

general, content posted late in the day gets more likes and shares.

v. Quality: Frequency

Create a balance: Posting infrequently causes followers to lose attention, while posting too often may be invasive.

Consistency is key: Decided on an approximate schedule for frequency of posts and stick to it.

Below is an approximate guide on the average frequency of posts made by various fashion companies.

vi. Interact with your audience

Boost brand loyalty by building a relationship with your customers, let them know their opinion matters!

Be social: Demonstrate good conversation skills and use an authentic ‘human’ voice.

Be reliable: Reply comments, answer questions immediately. Address complaints quickly and publicly, and

thank customers who tag your brand or product in their posts.

Reciprocate: Share user-generated content

Repost customers’ posts where they are showcasing your products to encourage other followers to make a

purchase

Observe how your consumers style your products and highlight them in your social media outposts

3 – 10 per

week

2 – 3 per

week

1 – 10 per

day

5 – 10 per

day

1 – 2 per

week

Create entertaining content to boost participation and engagement:

A game contest or competition

An open ended question for feedback or discussion e.g. fill-in-the-blank, ‘caption this’, truth of fiction

vii. Be Relevant

Look out for upcoming events and be on top of the latest news

Take part in festivities and special occasions or events like Black Friday, Christmas and Halloween

Show that your brand is social and active in the community while promoting your products/brands

Show your brand’s values

Look out for causes that your brand supports e.g. preventing AIDS, environmental conservation

Give your consumers a wider benefit of participating in your campaign e.g. followers who joined

#thePinkFight get to feel like they have contributes to spreading breast cancer awareness

For example:

Prabal Gurung’s ‘Guess the model’ campaign.

Followers guess who the model is and three winners

win a piece from Gurung’s fall collection

viii. Create Hype

If you have a large following, create buzz for an upcoming launch or new collection

Post collection previews and teasers to create suspense and generate excitement

Interact with your audience by asking them to suggest content, voting, or giving feedback

ix. Coordinate your channels

Your social media channels should work together to help achieve your goals

Streamline your social media outlets e.g. integrate promotions across all channels or use common themes or

hashtags

Link your platforms to each other to direct viewers from popular platforms to others e.g. if you have an

exclusive sale campaign on Instagram, announce the news on Facebook and Twitter

Be original: avoid posting the exact same content across all your channels. If it’s a significant piece of news,

word it differently and use different images e.g. campaign for launch of Dorothy Perkins has a common

theme and style but different text and images

x. Basic Content Ideas

Announce promotions and sales

To increase traffic to your social media channels, provide exclusive discounts to followers and feature the promotion

on other channels. E.g. Follow THE ICONIC on Instagram and get 20% off all shoes! Exclusively for THE ICONIC

Instagram followers!

Feature a star product

Have an exciting or favourite product? Feature it as the focal point of a post along with a meaningful caption, quote

or styling ideas.

Showcase trends

Are your products in line with a certain trend? Feature your products in a trend post with a catchy slogan or hashtag.

Create a stylized flatlay

Not using a model? Create a flatlay!

Maintain harmony between colors

Proportion: Balance larger and smaller items

Use complementary props or decorative elements

Provide styling options and inspiration

Style your products to create full looks that your viewers can purchase or gain inspiration from. E.g. ‘Get the look’:

feature your products to create a celebrity-inspired look.

Host a competition or contest

Host competitions like styling contests or games and feature the winner’s post on your account.

Share your online and offline advertising campaigns

Reach a wider audience by using social media to share your online and offline advertising campaigns.

Humanize your brand

Post content that has no direct relation to your product but conveys the feeling behind your brand. Consumers care

about a company’s people, culture and values. Share photos of your staff, office and extracurricular activities.

Lifestyle images make your brand more relatable: food, pets, books, hobbies, travel and inspirational quotes

PART 5: EVALUATE

i. Track your success

It is important to track the level of success to find out your audience’s preferences. This is particularly important if

your company has limited resources as it helps future content is constantly improving, reaching and resonating with

your target audience. Identify the platforms that give you the highest conversion rates and engagement rates.

Basic:

Take note of the level of engagement: share rate, comments, hashtags, retweets, pins, followers/subscribers

For Facebook, use Page Insights which provides tracking on your progress on likes, reach, visits, posts and

people

Advanced:

Track interaction with your content for: Pinterest, Twitter, and all channels

Track conversion rates with Google Analytics

ii. Prioritize your platforms

Now that you have collected and analysed your feedback, choose the platforms most effective for your company. If

you are a small business, it’s more valuable to focus your resources and efforts on one or two. You’ll have higher

conversions at a lower cost.

Categorize primary and secondary platforms and allocate your resources accordingly

Visual networks tend to be the most powerful social media platforms

iii. Timing and frequency

The more you post, the more you’ll discover the timing and frequency that is right for you.

Trial and error: Test sharing rates and click-through-rates of content and different times of the day and days

of the week

Social media optimization tools: Hootsuite or Adobe Social

Consistency is key: Set an approximate schedule for frequency of posts that you can commit to in the long

term and stick to it.

iv. Improve your content

Marketing is a learning process, so set your standards and avoid repeating mistakes. To find out what your audience

likes, take note and compare the qualities of successful and unsuccessful posts. Sieve out the key trends among both

categories to figure out what to do and not to do.

Less successful More successful

Lacks focal point

Details are not shown

clearly

Unclear styling direction

Balance between larger

and smaller objects

Details are shown

clearly

Harmonious colors

Dull background color

Cluttered background

Blurry and over

saturated

Complementary

background color and

texture

Flattering bird eye’s

view

Innovative styling:

props, positioning and

color

Harsh flash lighting

Poor composition

Good, clear lighting

Good composition

REMEMBER....

When in doubt, keep it simple

Be transparent and honest

Don’t be afraid to go out of the box

Have patience. Social media marketing success doesn’t come overnight. It’s likely you need to commit in the

long run to achieve results