7 Tips Fashion Brands Should Follow to Create Instagram Marketing Strategy

Instagram is one of the most popular image-sharing platforms and it has reached 1 billion monthly active users. With 25 million registered businesses it has become one of the most popular ways of online marketing and advertising.

Many brands nowadays use Instagram to show off their products and connect with their target audience. It is a great way to build a community and a strong relationship with customers as well as show your brand’s personality and anything related to your business. In fact, Instagram states that around 850 million people can be reached with Instagram ads.

The fashion industry is one of the most active industries on Instagram, representing 70% of total activity, according to Klear. Every small eCommerce business thinks of the ways to differentiate from competitors and be a top Instagram marketing strategy example for their niche. However, they all agree that Instagram is incredibly powerful, with 98 per cent of marketers deeming it the most influential platform for influencer marketing specifically.

We’ve prepared a detailed list of tips for fashion brands to follow to create an Instagram marketing strategy for 2022.

Is Instagram good for fashion brands?

Instagram is a key platform for fashion brands because of the visual marketing opportunities it provides, as well as the success it offers in terms of driving brand awareness.

The social media giant has a whole host of beneficial digital marketing features for fashion brands to make the most of. Plus, brand engagement is 84 times higher than Twitter, 54 times higher than Pinterest, and 10 times higher than Facebook.

The fact that it is image-centric is a huge benefit for fashion brands on Instagram. Social posts with images are proven to get 94 per cent more views than those with test.

This also makes it a great platform for influencer marketing, as influential celebrities and social media stars can post photographs of your fashion items to showcase them to their highly engaged followers.

Why is Instagram important for fashion brands?

Instagram gives fashion brands the ability to build brand awareness, promote various initiatives and events, and communicate directly with consumers.

By nature, Instagram is a great choice for fashion brands to whom the “community” and visual dimensions are critical. Purchases can be linked through the imitation of stars and a feeling of belonging to a group.

Content on Instagram is also highly shareable. Spotting something on Instagram is the contemporary equivalent of getting a great recommendation from a friend. You want to make sure your brand is in the midst of these conversations.

Top tips fashion brands should follow to create an Instagram advertising strategy

Now that we have explained why marketing on Instagram for clothing brands is so important, let’s take a look at some tips to follow:

Allow users to shop through your feed

This is your chance to provide a direct opportunity for your customers to shop. The platform now allows you to transform it from a social media app to a shopping app, which is fantastic news for eCommerce merchants. You can provide your users with immediate access to pricing and product details within their feed, by setting up a shop with Instagram. You can also create a Call-To-Action in your bio for any visitors wanting to check out your website or view your newest collection. Being overly promotional doesn’t work though, so try to avoid bombarding your followers with clickable prices under every single post.

Work with influencers

Developing a dedicated audience is certainly a challenge, but influencer marketing gives you a chance to borrow someone else’s followers and is proven to generate an excellent return on investment. 92% of consumers trust an influencer more than traditional advertising or celebrity and they are more likely to believe an influencer than the brand itself! So why should your brand partner with influencers on Instagram? They can distribute your content to reach your target audience, help you gain trust and authority, and generate sales. In fact, 40% of people say they’ve purchased an item online after seeing it used by an influencer on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Working with influencers is something you cannot avoid nowadays if your brand wants to bring new customers on board and have a dedicated audience.

Produce enticing and exciting content

Get creative with your content! You need content that stops people in their tracks and stands out from all of the other images and videos on Instagram. Instagram Reels are ideal for fashion brands, in particular, helping you to showcase your products and promote a more soft, playful sell on the social media network. If you have never heard of an Instagram Reel before, this is an immersive and entertaining video, which can show off your products, express your brand story, or educate your audience. These videos are great in terms of solidifying your fashion brand’s identity.

Use Instagram Stories

The tool has been around for only 2 years, but it already offers a wide variety of editing features and filters. Although the stories are only visible for 24 hours, they can certainly have a long-lasting effect. What could possibly be a better way of using spare footage that wouldn’t fit within your feed theme than using Instagram Stories? This is the place where brands can share exclusive content that hasn’t been seen before and give insights into what’s happening behind the scenes of any photoshoot or an event. It’s a great way of engaging with the audience through competitions and customer look reviews as well as showing the “real you” and gaining more authenticity. It comes for free with endless benefits for your brand’s marketing strategy, so why not try it out?

Use Highlights on your profile

Instagram Stories can only last for 24 hours, but Highlights let you build collections that will live on your Instagram profile, until you decide to remove them. They can make a huge impact on your business, help you keep your visitors informed, and market your brand. They are placed directly under your bio, and anyone visiting your profile can view them. This new cool feature has been adapted by many fashion brands such as Topshop, Forever21,or Bershka and top high street designers like Balenciaga or Dior. There are many options to consider if you are wondering how to promote a clothing brand on Instagram via Instagram Story Highlights, and some companies and bloggers are even experimenting with themed icon sets. Consider adding categories that express your brand and show off the latest products as well as engage with your customers such as New In, What’s Trending, Inspiration, FAQ or Spotted.

Find the right #hashtags

Can you imagine social media without hashtags? No, me neither. A key to success is to research the hashtags that are not only relevant to your brand but also are narrow and won’t let you get lost in the crowd. For instance, #love has been on top of Instagram hashtags with nearly 1.2 billion posts, which simply means that it is very difficult for anyone to get noticed. Start with searching what hashtags your ideal followers, competitors or influencers in your niche are already using, and find a pattern that can help you establish your top hashtags and reach your target audience.

By searching for general hashtags, Instagram will bombard you with suggestions that may help you find your narrow, relevant long-tail phrases with fewer associated posts. Try to balance between most and least associated hashtags to make sure they are searched for and stand out in the crowd.

Let customers do the work

And they will be more than happy to do so! Several social media users and new influencers on the market want to be noticed and won’t miss a chance to be featured by their favorite fashion brand on Instagram. Have they shared an image of their recent outfit and tagged you? Repost it right away or save it for later and add it to your collection of imagery to share on your profile. Some of Instagram users share good quality images which can use as content for your next post, simple as that! It will definitely put a smile on someone’s face, and your brand will gain more respect and authority. Some businesses nowadays don’t even have to create content anymore due to the high number of relevant images they can find or receive from customers, Instagram users, and influencers.

Some great examples of fashion marketing on Instagram

For inspiration, it is always a good idea to familiarize yourself with some brands that have nailed Instagram marketing for fashion.

• H&M - You probably already know that Instagram does not support links in its captions. However, that did not stop H&M from creating a highly effective CTA, which drove traffic to its website. Coupled with a great holiday gift video, in the caption H&M said “type hm.com/magazine” into your browser for the best gifts this season. The link is incredibly easy to remember, which is a necessity if you’re going to take this approach.
• ASOS - ASOS has set the benchmark when it comes to influencer marketing. Their creative approach has seen them set up separate accounts for their influencers, such as @asos_lotte or @asos_olive. The influencers then upload their own creative content. The benefit of this is that the content creator is only going to be publishing content for the brand.
• Adidas - Adidas has shown us how you can integrate two social media platforms together to increase engagement. For the release of NMD Pitch Black, the brand ran a contest on Snapchat, yet it was promoted on Instagram, and the winners were released on Instagram too. This was a great way of getting their engaged audience on Instagram over to Snapchat to boost their social media presence overall.

Let’s wrap it up

Instagram is a busy platform; it takes time to build your dedicated audience and become noticed. As a fashion brand, you should really consider investing your time and money in an Instagram marketing strategy. Remember to regularly screen your performance via analytics and work on improvements. Don’t copy your competitors - be creative and authentic, and show your audience who you really are. Whatever you post, whatever hashtags you use, that is what people will start to associate with your brand. If your fashion brand wants to do it right on Instagram, follow these 6 steps:

1. Allow users to shop through your feed
2. Work with influencers
3. Produce exciting and enticing content
4. Use Instagram Stories
5. Use highlights on your profile
6. Find the right hashtags
7. Let customers do the work

Best of luck!