So, one of the way by which brands now have to engage their customers is through really creative and out of the box advertising campaign. Professional or not we all know that social media is the main tool that brands and especially fashion brands use as a mean of publicity. The great wide spread they have all over society allow to reach everyone and at every hour. Moreover, the increasing “influencer” mania allows brands to be featured and have even more exposure.
Let’s look into the detail of the most common strategies labels use to get us involved in their brands. Firstly we find content marketing, which is a form of marketing focused on creating, publishing, and distributing content for a targeted audience online, to create brand loyalty. Like blog posts. Many companies have now on their website the section “blog” or “stories” where they talk about their achievements or they inform about the proper usage of their products.
Another way they use is viral marketing, a business strategy that uses existing social networks to promote a product. It refers to how consumers spread information about a product with other people in their social networks.
Source: Dove’s Instagram
Viral marketing usually contains also the so-known hashtags contests or polls. Many and many brands launch specific and creative hashtags for new products or campaigns but also National events and holidays or commemoration, to create a conversation with their customers and keep them engaged with their social profile so that the algorithm that now controls our feeds can continue to show us the brand.
Source: Coccinelle’s Instagram
For Halloween, for example, Dunkin’ Donuts asked their followers to decorate their cups and snap a photo for a chance to win a $100 gift card. Simple and engaging enough. Lufthansa last year rebranded itself, after a series of scandals in Europe with the #SayYesToTheWorld campaign, just to attract more clients or old customers to fly back with them. I think that outside the fashion market maybe Netflix can be the greatest example of the new ways by which brands try to keep us involved in their actions. Netflix is ironic and challenging. Every insta story includes pop quizzes, a poll or a question tag to let the consumer speak. And we are not afraid of speaking, of letting the brands know what we think, what they did wrong and what we want them do to.
It’s true that communication now is more conversation and less show, but consumers are also aware of the power they have on brands. We are engaged, yes; but also brands are engaged by us. It’s a two-way relationship that’s growing day by day and social media make these boundaries any minute more blurry than before.
