Fast fashion and social media are a match made in heaven. But crafting a successful content strategy in this market isn’t necessarily easy. Fortunately, there’s a clear path to follow to succeed in this active market.
The Building Blocks of a Successful Fast Fashion Content Strategy
Fast fashion brands like Zara, H&M, Forever21 and ASOS all have strong content marketing approaches that help define the brands and attract audiences. If you’re looking to replicate that success for your own brand, there are a few recipe elements to incorporate into your strategy:
- On-target audience appeal: Most fast fashion is designed to appeal to young, on-trend shoppers. However, each brand has its own particular niche to appeal to. Content is tailored specifically to appeal to the niche while also including a diverse range of model types to promote inclusivity and reach.
- Inspirational imagery: Effective fast fashion marketing leans heavily on the aesthetic possibilities of digital media. Whether it’s a video or a photo, the presentation is always on-brand and stylish, providing a covetable look for the audience.
- Multiple accounts: Fast fashion brands often break their social media presence up into segments, particularly on Instagram. Forever21, for example, has separate accounts for its plus-size and international accounts, allowing the company to more effectively engage with specific markets.
- Focused content mix: The goal of fast fashion, generally, is to respond to trends and rotate collections relatively quickly. This means that fast fashion marketing content needs to be more fluid and easier to deploy than what you’d see in a traditional approach. Most fast fashion brands pare their content mixes down to essentials, focusing heavily on visual media that pairs with product links.
- Looks and edits: As part of their content mixes, many fast fashion brands release emails, newsletters and blog content that highlights different outfit “edits.” These are curated collections of clothing and accessories built around a specific theme. Edits allow shoppers to recreate the exact looks they see with just a few clicks. Some fast fashion brands even recommend similar products if what’s shown in the edit sells out.
These basic building blocks can provide a good foundation for content marketing success in fast fashion, but that’s not all there is to it. Let’s explore some specific ways successful fast fashion brands use content to create a strong digital presence.
Models as Influencers: Personal Style Gurus with Strong Brand Ties
If you browse the main ASOS Instagram feed, you may notice a few product shots featuring models who are tagged with personalized, ASOS-branded usernames. This is evidence of a particularly clever campaign that ASOS developed in which the brands’ models become influencers with a specific allegiance. These models are relatable personalities who provide style and personal care tips, all with a focus on ASOS’s products. Different models represent different interests and fashion needs, from plus-size and tall to androgynous and urban styles.
This micro-influencer approach allows ASOS to curate content for specific niche audiences, providing direct product recommendations and style inspiration. There’s also a harmony between the brand’s website and its social channels, with links between the two creating cross-platform engagement. The end result is an audience focus specifically on ASOS, treating the store as a style resource in addition to a place to shop.
Hashtag Heaven: Incentivizing User-Generated Content
One fast fashion brand, FashionNova, has a popular Instagram that mixes promotional content and the company’s own product photos with reposted content from customers. The result is a polished, cohesive feed that blends approachability with aspiration, hitting just the right mix for a fast fashion brand. When FashionNova reposts content from its followers, it tags the source account. It also includes a CTA urging other followers to use the brand’s handle and hashtags for a chance to be featured.
This creates currency around the idea of inclusion in the brand’s content marketing activities. It makes followers feel valued and important when they showcase their best FashionNova looks. It also helps boost engagement and makes the brand’s Instagram presence feel more communal.
An Old-School Approach: Fast Fashion and Print
Brands like ModCloth and ASOS, which are known primarily for their digital presence, have started to branch out into print media. The idea of a fashion magazine as the perfect marketing tool hasn’t gone out of style just yet.
By showcasing products in this traditional editorial format, fashion brands can enhance their style cred while serving up advertisements in a medium that feels entertaining. These magazines help brands define seasonal trends and engage their customers’ imaginations with effective storytelling.
It’s a little bit unorthodox at this point in time to make such a move. However, ASOS’s hard-copy magazine often sells out, showing that it’s in-demand to the point that customers actually pay for it. That’s not to say that just any print magazine is a good promotional tool for a fast fashion brand. Even a digital take on this concept would need expert production values from cover to cover.
Using Concepts in Practice
So what’s the right strategy for your fast fashion brand? That’s a highly variable answer depending on what you offer and to whom. But as you can see, there are a few common elements that tend to pop up in this area. Include a heavy focus on aesthetics and aspirational examples of fashionable looks, using the big brands as your inspiration. Bring micro-influencers into the fold, and give consumers a voice in your social media content to foster inclusion.
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