Social Media in the Fashion Industry

It seems like social media is popping up and replacing all sorts of traditional ideals about marketing your company, from cook books to text books for college students, and even to completely reinventing the music business. One industry that has embraced social media in every way possible is the fashion world.

With the dying Fashion Magazine, many companies have moved their focus to online blogs, newsletters, and pictorials that appear on their websites rather than in print. Though some feel saddened about the drastic changes to the fashion industry, I personally feel like this is a natural progression, and a welcomed change. Now, I’ll still splurge for special issues, like the Vogue September issue, but for my every day reading, fashion blogs are the way to go. Not only do they let me find out what’s new in the industry the moment it happens, but I get a chance to read lots of different opinions in a matter of clicking my mouse.

Online Fashion Magazines benefit advertisers in ways that traditional print cannot; the difference between having a link to your website, and having a one page advertisement in a magazine is that online the consumer has the ability to click on the link, shop through all of the stores product, and in most cases, purchase whatever they want without having to leave their home. The problem with traditional ads is that, especially in high end fashion magazines, a lot of the designers being advertised don’t even have shops in most cities. Even if you do see an ad you like, it doesn’t mean you have access to the product without going online and ordering it from their website, which brings us back to why online ads are more effective than print.

I’m not the only one who has caught on to how social media can help the Fashion industry, earlier this year at New York Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2009, bloggers were given media passes and allowed into the tents with the traditional journalists. Not only that, but NY Fashion Week even had stations set up after the shows where attendees could blog their thoughts on the newest lines in real time, on laptops supplied on site.

Fashion is all about reinvention and staying relevant, so it’s really no surprise that they’ve adapted to the newest trend sweeping businesses across the globe. Social media has benefits to offer every industry, and as usual, the fashion world is ahead of the game and one of the firsts to hop on board. Which industry will social media help next?

- by Becky Caissie