THE STATE OF USER-GENERATED CONTENT IN FASHION MARKETING

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1 ALL CONTENT 01 A MIAPPI UGC SURVEY THE STATE OF USER-GENERATED CONTENT IN FASHION MARKETING 1

2 ALL CONTENT 02 INTRODUCTION USER-GENERATED CONTENT (UGC) IS BIG BUSINESS. BRANDS HAVE HAD THEIR EYES ON IT SINCE SOCIAL MEDIA AND CONTENT MARKETING FIRST EXPLODED ONTO THE SCENE AND OPENED THEIR EYES TO THE POWER OF AUTHENTICITY. PEOPLE RESPOND WELL TO AUTHENTICITY, WHICH IS WHY WE ASK OUR FRIENDS FOR THEIR OPINIONS AND WHY WE TRUST PRODUCT REVIEWERS MORE THAN WE TRUST MANUFACTURERS. THE NEXT GENERATION OF THE WEB IS GOING TO BE USER-GENERATED CONTENT. JOHN DOERR In fact, user-generated content on product detail pages and on checkout pages results in a 5-7% increase in conversion rate, while the average order value can be increased by 2% when UGC is directly incorporated on e-commerce product pages. UGC works particularly well on social networking sites due to its inherently social nature, as is shown by the fact that Facebook ads with UGC perform 23% better than those without. User-generated content can work particularly well with fashion brands because it allows people to see clothing and accessories as worn by real people and not by a model. There s no need to worry about altered images because the content hasn t been retouched by the brand. And perhaps most significantly of all, we get to see the thoughts and opinions of real people and not just some spiel from a marketing department. The numbers back this up, too. Fashion brands receive a 90% increase in conversion rates for shoppers who interact with UGC, and they also receive 101% more revenue. User-generated content even leads to increased time on site (+90%), and 56.3% of fashion shoppers interact with UGC before making a purchase.

3 ALL CONTENT 03 THE CHALLENGES OPENING YOURSELF UP TO USING UGC DOESN T COME WITHOUT ITS CHALLENGES, THOUGH. PERHAPS THE MOST OBVIOUS OF THOSE IS A PERCEIVED LOSS OF CONTROL. Fashion brands and particularly high-end fashion brands have historically been unwilling to relinquish any control over the brand. For better or worse, in the social media era, the way that your brand is perceived can be out of your hands and in those of the people who talk about you on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. That s something new and it needs to be understood and managed. Loss of brand control might be one of the challenges when dealing with earned content but at least by that point you ve earned enough usercontent to be thinking about it as a challenge. Not every brand instantly generates huge amounts of conversation on social media. For those brands (the majority probably) earning good content is the first hurdle they need to overcome. For starters you need buy-in from the community. If people aren t already passionate about your brand, it s going to be difficult for you to build participation and involvement. Luckily, fashion is an industry that people are keen to be vocal about and so even if your social media audience isn t passionate enough about your brand yet, you can bet that they re passionate about fashion as a whole and so they will want to get involved. THERE IS ONLY ONE THING IN LIFE WORSE THAN BEING TALKED ABOUT, AND THAT IS NOT BEING TALKED ABOUT. OSCAR WILDE

4 ALL CONTENT 04 THE OPPORTUNITIES IF ALL THIS SOUNDS LIKE A WILD, NEW FRONTIER, IT IS. BUT WHERE THERE S A FRONTIER THERE ARE ALSO OPPORTUNITIES. Yes, it s true that you now have more people talking about your brand and it s not all within your control but that s not to say you should let the tail wag the dog. Great brands and product lines are rarely defined by committee. Even in this democratic era where everybody has an opinion about your brand it doesn t mean you need to be dictated to by those voices. Often, your brand heritage and DNA will remain your guiding lights so instead of being led by the mob you can cherry-pick the best of what they say and use that to your advantage. Using platforms like Miappi you can collect and quickly filter thousands of user-generated comments, images and videos to find ones that match your brand equity and design philosophy. UGC has a huge amount of potential when it comes to changing the way you do business and helping you to tap into the $3 trillion fashion market. At its most basic level, it humanises your brand and attaches a certain amount of honesty to your marketing. By showing your products in the hands of regular people, earned media makes it easier for other potential customers to relate to the product. UGC offers validation or, as some people refer to it social proof. The interesting thing about social proof is that your potential customers don t need to know or even recognise the person sporting your apparel - they just need to see that regular people out there are wearing and loving your products. Let s take a look at just a few of the fashion brands that are already making waves with their innovative use of user-generated content. $3 TRILLION Total value of the global fashion market ($3,000 billion) 2% Percentage of the world s gross domestic product (GDP) TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT OF SEARCH RESULTS FOR THE WORLD S TOP 20 LARGEST BRANDS ARE LINKS TO USER- GENERATED CONTENT AND THIRTY-FOUR PERCENT OF BLOGGERS POST OPINIONS ABOUT PRODUCTS AND BRANDS. ERIK QUALMAN

5 ALL CONTENT 05 EXAMPLE #1: BURBERRY I VE SEEN WHAT HAPPENED TO BRANDS LIKE KODAK THAT DID NOT KEEP UP WITH DIGITAL CHANGE. THAT S A LESSON IN WHAT TO AVOID. ANGELA AHRENDTS, FORMER CEO OF BURBERRY Burberry has been tapping into user-generated content for several years now, despite the fact that it s an exclusive, high-end brand with a reputation for luxury. When they first started using Facebook back in 2009, they were facing declining revenues and profits and struggling to stay relevant in the age of new media. They also spotted a gap in the market because their direct competitors had been slow to embrace social networking sites while other consumer brands like Nike and Red Bull were hitting it hard. The result was The Art of the Trench, a UGC campaign in November 2009 that increased Burberry s follower count to more than a million, making it the most-followed brand in the luxury sector in the process. It also set a precedent for Burberry, encouraging them to shift 60% of its marketing budget to digital by 2012 as former CEO Angela Ahrendts continued to focus on UGC. Within a year of the launch of The Art of the Trench, Burberry s ecommerce sales had increased by 50%, and the growth just kept on coming thanks to continued UGC initiatives. They also dabbled with influencer marketing by launching a collaboration with Scott Schuman, the Sartorialist, who was averaging 13 million page views per month. The UGC approach has clearly worked for Burberry. In the years since they launched their campaigns, company sales have doubled and stock growth has hit 300%.

6 ALL CONTENT 06 EXAMPLE #2: TOPSHOP THE SUCCESS OF ANY USER-GENERATED CONTENT RELATED PROJECT SHOULD BE JUDGED IN THE LONG TERM. TRY NOT TO USE IT AS A ONE-OFF CAMPAIGN ACTIVATION IDEA. THINK OF IT INSTEAD AS THE BEGINNING OR CONTINUATION OF AN ONGOING DIALOGUE WITH YOUR CONSUMERS. British retailer Topshop knew it needed to adopt an omni-channel approach if it wanted to maximise revenue, so it turned its attention towards innovative marketing technology software and user-generated content to encourage customers to interact with the brand across different touchpoints and devices. Perhaps their most successful use of user-generated content came about during London Fashion Week back in 2014, when the company created the world s first fashion show created by digital imagery. It used solely usergenerated content and asked the company s customers to share photos with the #TopshopWindow hashtag for a chance to be featured on a virtual catwalk in the window of their flagship store at Oxford Circus. DAMIAN THOMPSON Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Instagram campaign went viral and picked up a huge amount of traction, positioning Topshop as both a fashionable brand and a brand which isn t afraid of its customers. The UGC approach also generated an 11:1 return on investment and led to a 75% uplift in sales, and it also allowed the company to engage with nearly four million consumers. Most fashion marketers would kill for that.

7 ALL CONTENT 07 EXAMPLE #3: MICHAEL KORS CLOTHES ARE LIKE A GOOD MEAL, A GOOD MOVIE, GREAT PIECES OF MUSIC. MICHAEL KORS When you think about Michael Kors, the chances are that you think of their luxury handbags, which is exactly why they launched their #WhatsInYourKors UGC campaign. Launched back in 2013, it didn t take long for them to realise that they were onto a winner, which is why they turned it from a short-term marketing initiative into a long-term tool for building customer relationships. The idea behind the campaign was simple. The team at Michael Kors asked customers to share photos of the things that they carry around in their handbags, and the response easily surpassed their expectations. People went out of their way to share style tips and fashion advice along with their images, and the campaign also created conversations around the lifestyle that the brand s customers both live and aspire to.

8 ALL CONTENT 08 EXAMPLE #4: MARC JACOBS MY RELATIONSHIP WITH FASHION HAS ALWAYS BEEN THAT EACH OF US STARS IN OUR OWN MOVIES AND COSTUMES OURSELVES TO PLAY THE PART WE WANT. YOU TAKE BLOUSES AND JEANS AND DRESSES, AND YOU PUT THEM TOGETHER, AND THEY TELL YOUR STORY. Fashion designer and iconic trendsetter Marc Jacobs decided to take advantage of user-generated content when he was searching for new models. His company launched the #CastMeMarc campaign to great fanfare, inviting would-be models to submit videos for a chance to be featured in his Marc by Marc Jacobs AW14 campaign. Submissions were accepted via both Twitter and Instagram, and he received over 70,000 entries, including 15,000 in the first twelve hours. Nine of those people appeared in the final advertisement, which was shot by photographer David Sims, and while there s no word on an exact ROI, we can safely surmise that they were happy with the results. They repeated it the following year, for a start. MARC JACOBS In fact, in 2016, Jacobs announced via an Instagram post that the campaign would be brought back for a third year, but with a twist. Instead of using UGC to find the next top model, he used it to find the next top beauty blogger. Bloggers themselves act as a sort of mid-point between user-generated content and professional-quality content, and it s a sign that Jacobs intends to further focus on UGC both now and in the years to come. Jacobs campaign has also left a legacy. The innovative approach to casting has spawned a phenomenon and been copied by a number of companies, and not just those in the fashion industry. It even has a name: selfie-casting.

9 ALL CONTENT 09 CONCLUSION AS WE VE SEEN FROM THE STATISTICS AND THE CASE STUDIES IN THIS REPORT, USER-GENERATED CONTENT HAS PLENTY TO OFFER TO THE FASHION INDUSTRY AND WE SHOULDN T BE SURPRISED IF WE CONTINUE TO SEE BIG FASHION BRANDS TAPPING INTO THEIR COMMUNITIES TO CREATE CANDID, AUTHENTIC CONTENT THAT SHOWS OFF THEIR PRODUCTS AT THEIR BEST. The good news is that it s never been easier to build a community around your fashion brand and to create an army of loyal fans who ll go out of their way to show off your products. All you need to do is to give them a good reason, whether that s from the recognition they ll get when you share their content or whether you incentivise it by offering prizes, freebies and other rewards. The bottom line is this: user-generated content shows your products in a good light and it also helps you to sell more of them. Used correctly, it s one of the most powerful tools in the fashion marketer s arsenal. And if you re not using it, you can bet that your competitors are. So what are you waiting for? Don t get left behind!

10 ALL CONTENT 010 ABOUT MIAPPI AT MIAPPI, WE SPECIALISE IN HELPING YOU TO DISCOVER, CURATE AND DISPLAY THE VERY BEST OF YOUR USER-GENERATED CONTENT. SINCE 2012, WE VE BEEN HELPING OUR CUSTOMERS TO IDENTIFY THEIR MOST VALUABLE CONTENT AND TO DISPLAY IT WHEREVER IT HAS THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON THEIR AUDIENCE. REQUEST A DEMO TO FIND OUT MORE. CONTACT US BY info@miappi.com OR BY CALLING +44 (0)