While the digital world is experiencing frenetic changes, driven by the rise of artificial intelligence, luxury brands are adapting their marketing and communication strategy to keep their reputation at the top. A goal that many achieve by focusing, above all (and still), on Instagram. Like Dior, for example
The ChatGPT boom. Twitter is becoming X. The launch of Threads. The diminishing interest around the Metaverse. These are the most significant changes in the digital world that took place in 2023. Changes that have pervasively affected the fashion system. For example, a study conducted by Visibrain also revealed that last year, luxury set a new record in terms of interactions. One hundred seventy-six million messages related to the luxury sector were published, an increase of 35% compared to the previous year’s 130 million: almost three times the 60 million in 2019. We start here to understand how fashion’s relationship with the digital dimension of social sharing platforms has evolved (if at all).
If they are not social
The relationship between social and luxury is increasingly strong. 2023 also confirmed how Instagram (over 2 billion users) is the most loved and used tool in the fashion system. This was established by a Launchmetrics study conducted with Lyst, according to which, in the first half of 2023, Instagram had the highest MIV (Media Impact Value), Launchmetrics‘ proprietary algorithm that measures and compares the media impact of placements and mentions obtained through different entries, in the fashion, luxury and beauty industries. Instagram, as mentioned, was confirmed as the first choice for fashion and beauty brands, totalling $16.9 billion in MIV and a 57.7% share of social brands. Second platform is Facebook, with ‘just’ $3.5 billion in MIV and an 11.7% share.
The power of Dior
The most influential brand on Instagram is Dior, with a total value of MIV 531.7 million. Chanel was in second place, then Prada, Gucci and Versace. The post that earned the highest MIV value ($2.6 million) was shared by Jennie, a member of the South Korean girl band Blackpink, documenting her trips to Japan. Obviously, the designer from head to toe, in this case by Chanel.
Why Instagram
Instagram remains the social media of choice for fashion labels because it has so far been the one that has been able to combine transversal content, proving to be able to compete with TikTok. Its hegemony over the fashion industry is set to continue. “Instagram will continue to increase its influence on brand strategy. We have gone from being a channel where brands were present as an extra communication strategy to brands having in-house teams to create content and experiences,‘ explains Eva Chen, Vice President of Meta‘s Fashion Partnership division. Without forgetting, she points out, how there are Instagram-native brands that are only able to establish themselves as successful businesses thanks to the platform.
Customer Community
Another research study entitled ‘The evolving role of customer communities for the value of fashion brands’, conducted by a team of female students from MAFED, SDA Bocconi‘s Master in Fashion, Experience and Design Management, and promoted by Salesforce, established that social media, Instagram in particular, is the best marketing channel for fashion brands. For one in two respondents (47% to be exact) belonging to Gen Z, social media is the main gateway to discovering new brands and products.
And here again, Instagram tops the list, as it is the best marketing channel for brands for 38% of the sample surveyed. 15% of the respondents use social media to look at product reviews that trigger a desire to buy. This is despite the fact that the vast majority of Gen Z respondents say they do not post reviews of their purchases on social media.
Read also:
- I love you, I hate you: is the idyll between fashion and social media at an end?
- Geopolitics changes retail: the shop becomes the destination
- What if the Metaverse stopped even before it took off?