Following our recent series exploring the performance of fast fashion and high street retailers we’ve taken a look at the different types of people influencing the conversation about four fashion brands. Throughout June we’ve profiled River Island, Topshop, Boohoo and Primark.
Who is influencing the high street fashion conversation?
What we’ve learned
1) Brands with more than one social media account often feature as influential.
River Island operates a separate Twitter account for customer care and often tags in the main @Riverisland account in its responses. Topshop has accounts at a country level that communicate with @Topshop.
2) Affiliate and discount sites influence the River Island and Topshop conversations
Perhaps due to a more mature eCommerce presence, online affiliate and seller sites such as Used Designer UK appeared as influential in the conversation about River Island, while Rachael Longdon, a vintage and second-hand hunter featured in both the River Island and Topshop conversations.
3) Real people are prominent in the Boohoo and Primark conversations
Due to the fast fashion nature of these two brands, influencers in these conversations are real people, customers, competition entrants and Instagrammers. Crucially they feature more imagery.
Influencers in the River Island conversation
The 'Who's influencing your organisation' report from River Island. See who's influencing your organisation.
Please Direct Message us with your River Island Account Details or alternatively email [email protected]
^JK— River Island Help (@riverislandhelp) April 11, 2019
Influencers in the Topshop conversation
The 'Who's influencing your organisation' report from Topshop. See who's influencing your organisation.
Sei mutig. Mixe Prints und Texturen für einen wahren IDOL Look ?https://t.co/7BiWW0OK1Y pic.twitter.com/MPoNWHjivf
— Topshop_Germany (@Topshop_Germany) August 8, 2019
Influencers in the Primark conversation
The 'Who's influencing your organisation' report from Primark. See who's influencing your organisation.
Primark jeans are just next level perfect prove me wrong https://t.co/9uORbnlZXe
— ?? ?????????????? ?????? (@Phielalu) July 31, 2019
Influencers in the Boohoo conversation
The 'Who's influencing your organisation' report from Boohoo. See who's influencing your organisation.
Best dm I got last week, waiting on the arrival of my little spree @boohoo, thank you ?? pic.twitter.com/DRpq3FHvZl
— beth (@beth_picton) July 15, 2019
The key takeway
The bottom line is that as a business you want your influencers to be real people, sharing genuine content around your brand. Primark is a shining example, but an anomaly as they are a fast-fashion brand that only sells offline. As an e-commerce company, it can be hard to manage this balance with affiliate companies and spam accounts sharing links.
It's a great marketing tactic to use competitions to increase followers and engagement but this attracts compers who are often not interested in your company, only winning. We'd suggest running a competition that encourages your customers to share your products or content to get maximum exposure and genuine entrants.
Lastly, get to know your customers by talking to them and asking questions to create a community around your organisation. This builds a loyal and genuine online following who will naturally advocate for you.