TableofContents

DescriptionofApparelIndustry..............................................................................................2

PopularSocialMediaPlatforms:ApparelIndustry..................................................................2

Introduction:FreePeople.......................................................................................................3

Introduction:ForLoveandLemons.......................................................................................3

TargetAudience:FreePeople.................................................................................................3

TargetAudience:ForLoveandLemons...................................................................................4

FreePeople............................................................................................................................4AudienceTrends..............................................................................................................................4ContentThatWorked.......................................................................................................................6ContentThatDidNotWork..............................................................................................................7

ForLoveandLemons..............................................................................................................8AudienceTrends..............................................................................................................................8ContentThatWorked.....................................................................................................................10ContentThatDidNotWork............................................................................................................11

ComparingMarketingTactics................................................................................................12

BestofIndustry.....................................................................................................................13

BrandSocialMediaAudit

JordanWaechter

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DescriptionofApparelIndustry In the competitive world of fashion, each seller identifies a market to penetrate for conducting business. In the garment industry, also known as the apparel industry, people and companies will engage in a niche style of commercial enterprise. Two competing brands within the garment industry, Free People and For Love and Lemons, have been monitored over a four-week period to understand what grabs the consumer’s attention across three social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. These makers and sellers of fashionable clothing appeal to millennial generations, identifying their lifestyle between breezy and free. The two brands used in the social media analysis have an extremely successful online presence. Only Free People has a retail location, but both are sold in small boutiques and to select retails stores across the country. Due to these factors, a strong presence on social networks is crucial to attract potential customers and keep their brand loyalist spreading the love.

PopularSocialMediaPlatforms:ApparelIndustryInthegarmentindustry,almostallcompaniesareusingsocialmediaasitprovidesakeywaytoreachconsumersandbuildbrandrecognition.Multiplebrandsusesocialmediatoconnectwiththeirtargetmarketthroughmultipleoutletsinordertocreateagenuineinteractionbetweentheclientandtheirbrand.Intheworldoffashion,thethreemostpopularplatformsusedareTwitter,Facebook,andInstagramwhichservesasthemostpowerful.SomelargerbrandscarriedatlargerdepartmentstoressuchasMacy’salsohaveapresenceonTumblr,butsmallerbrandsuseInstagramastheirpoweroutlettoexpresstheiruniquestylethroughpictures.Thetwobrandselectedfortheaudithaveasimilartargetaudience,butdistinguishthemselvesthroughvariousperksforfollowersincludingdiscountsandflashpromotions.Thedominantuseofsocialisforadvertising,updates,andannouncements.Thisengagementismonitoredbythenumberofinteractionsincludingthenumberofcomments,likes,andsharesdependingontheplatform.Twitterforexample,hadlesspullforbothbrandsrespectivelycomparedtoFacebookandInstagram.Theapparelindustrywaslateinthegametojointherevolutionarysocialmediamovement,butsoonrealizedthepotentialofpostingonvariesfeedstopromotesalesandpromotions.Originally,itwasthoughtthatbyusingsocialmediatherelationshipbetweenbrandandconsumerwouldbeweakened,butthiswasnotthecase.ContemporaryplatformssuchasInstagramandTwitterareusedtoconnectwiththeiryoungerdemographicsandcaptureagrandaudience.Throughtheironlineeffortsofmarketing,consumersengageintheirpassionforbrandsandfeeladeepsenseofconsumerloyalty.Sincesocialnetworkingisconvenientlyaccessibleandprovidesaconversationalnature,ithasbecomeavitalcomponentfortheindustry.

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Introduction:FreePeopleThe brand Free People is based out of America and embodies a style that is bohemian and chic. The lifestyle and retail company was founded in 1984, but had a strong growth over recent years speaking to a millennial audience. The style could be compared with that of the hipster vibe, dominantly selling women’s clothing, intimates, and swimwear. The brand voice is one of femininity, courage, and spirit. The image that the company blasts across platforms is based for twenty-something year-old women embodying intelligence, creativity, and individuality. Everything the company does from content creation and to the sketch board is done with the woman in mind. The Free People voice is one that is adventurous, flirty, and playful. The first ever boutique opened its doors in New Jersey during 2002, and their online presence has been growing ever since. In 2004, the launch of FreePeople.com brought in a new array of customers, offering a special experience for their online shopping.

Introduction:ForLoveandLemonsFor Love and Lemons was founded by two ladies in search of a unique clothing brand in the heart of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Gllian Mahin and Laura Hall had a long standing friendship since they were young girls, and they began their first successful business in their tweens which was a lemon stand. With positive energy and unique style of lemonade, they promoted themselves less for the lemonade and more around the image of love. While in school to study marketing and fashion, they were inspired to start a brand from their thousand sketches putting their design skills to the test. With a rebellious and casual take on fashion, the ladies launched For Love and Lemons in 2011, grabbing attention across social platforms through blogger outreach and stylists. The brand voice is decisive, adventurous, and effortlessly chic. Now their brand is viewed as contemporary women’s fashion, specializing in unique patterns and blends of fabrics that are both durable and comfortable. The company is a Southern California based lifestyle brand featuring intimates, chic party dresses, and fashion tops.

TargetAudience:FreePeopleThe audience that Free People is attracting is one of youth and adventure. With the brand’s unique identity of femininity, courage, and spirit, they target the female who identifies as smart, creative and confident in all aspects of her life. The clothing line is one of originality that an be mixed and matched, whether the day be a tomboy look or a sweet romantic image. The target audience of the brand is one who is free and adventurous while always keeping busy, on the go, and pushing beyond the mediocre in daily life. The shopper of Free People is always traveling, in and out of coffee shops, hanging out with friends, and everything that takes place in-between.

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With a wide variety to choose from, the company does it best to cater to the different personality types of a twenty-something year old, offering a great variety in the intimates and clothing line. Any Free People brand loyalist believes that authenticity should be a part of your daily life, and each day is a showroom to display your uniqueness. The consumer wants vivid colors, patterns, and even more so to mix and match everything from head to toe.

TargetAudience:ForLoveandLemonsWith a core audience that is female, For Love and Lemons speaks to the woman who is effortlessly chic. The loyalist will always know where the best coffee house is for the weekend, or show up flawless to the weekend party. She is one who loves life and the adventures that come with it and is fulfilled by her freedom of expression. The core customer is adventurous but never one who is reckless, always standing apart from the crowd and her counterparts. The audience is within her twenties and knows exactly what she wants and what she needs to do to get it. At times rebellious, this customer is one who explores new fashion trends and has a different personality for every day of the week. This brand is for the fearless chic who has the courage to express herself with a raw an unfiltered authenticity. By consistently raising the bar with custom made lace and embroidery, the designs stand out are made with the core customer in mind.

FreePeopleThefollowingisanassessmentofFreePeople’ssocialmediapresenceoverafour-weekperiodconductedthroughoutFebruaryof2016.ThisauditincludesanassessmentofTwitter,Instagram,andFacebook.Brokendownbysectionwillbetheaudiencetrends,contentthatworkedwell,andcontentthatdidnotworkaswell.AudienceTrendsAcross social platforms, Free People has a strong presence captivating much of it’s audience through vibrant pictures and beautiful women. Between the brand’s Facebook and Instagram, there is over three million followers alone. Through posts of fashion, art, music, and travel, the brands social presence is far from meek. On Instagram, it was apparent that the audience responded best with photos which were related to travel or were up-close of the products. As the brand wants to convey a free spirit encouraging the consumers to express themselves, this makes clear sense. One trend that existed across multiple platforms was featuring different models who wore their products. Based on the click-thru to find the models follower amount, it was apparent that the brand does this for further recognition, also having certain media specialists endorse their products. Across all media platforms, they add links to the site for behind the scenes previews of upcoming photo-shoots or features on upcoming blogs. On all platforms there was a spike mid February, and it was clear this was due to Valentine’s Day promotions and photo-shoots. It seemed that Facebook was dominantly used to promote their upcoming sales. Although pictures are used on Facebook to grab the user’s attention, each time it had a discount code or a shop now link attached to it. While Instagram served as an outlet for photos, quotes, and unique pictures of others wearing their products. Twitter had a user interface that was not as successful as the rest, mainly because their followers prefer visual content in opposition to written. On Instagram, quotes were the least liked

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content, which holds a strong argument as to why Twitter is their weakest platform. Although Twitter served as a great outlet for releasing promotion dates or upcoming events, most of their audience browses through their social media for visual inspiration. The bloggers who feature their clothing are more likely to be an outlet that is read rather than the brand’s Twitter account. Based on the Twitter user growth, although still in the thousands, it does not prove to be their most fruitful platform.

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FreePeopleFacebookMillionsofLikes

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2.17

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2.27

2.32

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2.42

FreePeopleInstagramMillionsofFollowers

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ContentThatWorkedThetwoplatformsthathadthehighestperformanceforthebrandwerewithoutdoubtFacebookandInstagram.Itwasaclearwinforanyofthecontentthathadhighvisualcoloranduniquepictures.Mostofthecontentwithahighamountoflikeshadauniquequoteorsomecalltoaction,likeonValentine’sweretheypromotedtobeseenatyourfreest.OnInstagram,thebrandpostedonevideoeveryweek,pullingroughly100thousandmorelikesthantheirregularcontent.Thisspeakstotheideathattheiraudienceenjoyscontentthatisvisuallybroughttolife.Overall,thisspeakstotheuserexperiencethatanotherchannelthatmayholdpotentialforthebrandiswithinYouTubeorcommercials.Theuserengagementwassubstantiallyhigheronthevideocontentthananyotherpostedacrossallthreeplatforms.Thevideoswereaclearrepresentationofthefreeandadventurouslifestylethebrandembodies.Eachoneconsistedofawomanwhowasbeingplayfulandflirty,sometimesfeaturedwithananimaltodisplaythesweetandchicsideofthebrand.

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FreePeopleTwitterThousandsofFollowers

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FreePeoplehadtwoseparatesuccessfulhashtagcampaignsonebeing“#FPLoveShop”andtheir“#TreatYourself”campaign.AroundValentine’sDay,the#TreatYourselfhadthemostpulloftheirentiremonthaudit.Thebranddoesextremelywellwhenittiesitspromotionsaroundupcomingeventsorholidays.Thishashtagpromotedtheirintimatessection,andtheircontentwasbasedaroundthisforthewholeweekleadinguptotheholidayprovingtobefruitfulthroughusercomments,engagement,andnumberoflikesontheirphotosconsistentlyonbothFacebookandInstagram.TherewasnopatternseenwithintheTwitterprofile,althoughithadasteadyincreaseoffollowers.Overall,theirhashtagcampaignsdriveinalotoftrafficandlikestotheirsocialplatforms,andaboveallIwouldspeaktotheirInstagramashavingthestrongestpresence.TheygainedfollowersonaconsistentbasisinthemillionsontheirInstagrampage.Thiscouldbethattheuseoftaggingothersphotosandrepostingbringsinalargerangeoffollowers.Thecontentthatpushesthehardesthasasupportedmodelorsomeonewhoisconsidered“InstaFamous”alsosharingthecontentontheirpage.ContentThatDidNotWorkOn their Facebook platform, Free People does their best to diversify their posts outside of their own brand. Although the brand supports bloggers and other outlets for exposure, it was apparent that their audience is most responsive to the brand’s own content. Two separate attempts the brand makes on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to diversity are blogger features and horoscopes. These two outlets do not bring in the same audience as their promotion pushes, although the reason for posting could be behind doors. By reaching out to certain bloggers and featuring them, it may provide a stronger following on their Instagram for example. Their Facebook and Instagram are the most fruitful platforms for the brand, and many bloggers have a strong presence on their Instagram pages. The horoscopes however are used to provide their audience with a forecast for their upcoming week. The like and comment ratio is far below their average posts that feature their own models and products. To the top right, you will find an example of a horoscope post that has only 82 likes for engagement after a 12-hour period. Most posts on their Facebook tend to have 100+ likes

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within the first few hours of being published, supporting the idea that users are not as engaged with this content. Although there is no negative user feedback to be addressed, it is apparent based on the amount of engagement that the brand should reconsidering posting content that is not relevant to the brand or their products.

On their Instagram, Free People has a consistent pattern of likes, supporting that all the content is relevant to their audience. Everything is an expression of a free and adventurous life style, in sync with their target audience and brand voice. Across Twitter, the brand does a wide array of posts ranging from features of their Instagram photos that do well and also upcoming promotions on Facebook. They use this social outlet to promote their more dominant pages, however, when they publish links it gets the least amount of likes and close to no reshares. This tells them that although they are using Twitter to get their audience to click thru and make a purchase, that is not what they are using the social outlet for. In sync with their Facebook, Free People is

also posting horoscopes on their Twitter handle. These posts have little to no pull or retweets, serving the purpose of a post rather than user engagement.

ForLoveandLemonsThefollowingisanassessmentofForLoveandLemon’ssocialmediapresenceoverafour-weekperiodthroughoutFebruaryof2016.ThisauditincludesanassessmentofTwitter,Instagram,andFacebook.Brokendownbysectionwillbetheaudiencetrends,contentthatworkedwell,andcontentthatdidnotworkaswell.AudienceTrendsThe audience of For Love and Lemons shows the most engagement through their Instagram, as they are a visually appealing brand. The brand has a unique style, as many of their products have fine detail of lace and not-so-common patterns or fabric. Due to this, the brand holds a strong appeal through posts that are aesthetically pleasing, with their biggest market being their intimates. Posts that have a strong sexual appeal push the most amount of content engagement since it is up close and personal showing the details. This makes Facebook and Instagram the most beneficial platforms to get their users to engage and comment, often sharing or tagging friends. On Facebook, the brand had a steady increase in likes, although much smaller to their competitor Free People. Since the brand became famous through their Instagram outlet, it is apparent as to why the brand has cross-marketing strategies for the three platforms, promoting their Instagram first and foremost. A strong point for their Facebook is the promotion of their For Love and Lemons personal blog, which gets the most user interaction, followed by featured sales around the holidays. A common pattern for Facebook was less engagement if there was not a human in the post. When it was purely text or a direct link with solely the product, others

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did not engage or comment on what was being posted. The most pull came from the skives collections, featuring women with less clothing and extremely sexy lace custom designed bodysuits, bras, and panties. Similar to their competitor, Twitter serves as their least fruitful platform. Although users do engage with the content, it is at a minimal rate compared to their follower count. On Instagram for example, they will have an average of 200 plus comments, where on Twitter the engagement will be between 5 to 20 users.

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ForLoveandLemonsFacebookThousandsofLikes

2.08

2.13

2.18

2.23

2.28

2.33

ForLoveandLemonsInstagramMillionsofFollowers

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ContentThatWorkedAt the present time, Instagram is by far the biggest driver for content engagement for the brand. Many social interactions occur across this network with visually distinct and branded posts around the chic and feminine lifestyle. The posts that have the most engagement are within the skives collection featuring beautiful women in their intimates. With 2000 plus follower comments, an average of 50 shares, and multiple tags, this is an area of strength for the brand. Each photo is done outdoors or in an adventurous bedroom setting, something different than you would expect when seeing intimate clothing on

someone. The content posted of intimates has a huge comment base, and this is largely due to their followers tagging others in these posts. Around Valentine’s Day, they had multiple sexy photos posted to prime everyone up for the upcoming holiday with excessive amounts of tags by others to generate engagement. Much of their audience engagement goes with interaction from the brand as well on this platform, gaining more followers to be loyal to the brand as they make a personal connection. The hashtag used that generated a

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ForLoveandLemonsTwitterThousandsofFollowers

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massive amount of traffic around the skives was “#DowntoYourSkivves” where multiple women model in their expensive and elegant lingerie. This tag proved to be fruitful as woman across social media were posting photos in their For Love and Lemon skives to be featured on the Facebook or Instagram page. That alone was word of mouth marketing to any of the followers of those freely advertising the brand. On Facebook, the content that worked the best was also generated around the “#DowntoYourSkivves” hashtag. An average like amount for the brand on Facebook is roughly 20 per post, while the skives provide 800 percent higher engagement than other content. The brand should look to targeting this same audience across Facebook since it serves to be the most beneficial to user interactions and engagement. With the tagging that others do around the hashtag, it could lead to further content engagement. Users are lead to shop for other products with the lead generating from the skives content hashtag. Positive feedback was constant as users continuously tagged friends or other brands to do similar content. With this consistent brand engagement, the image was being flagged to others with the market creating a larger reach of their content. The users across platforms were promoting the brand without being asked, creating a positive word of mouth user experience. ContentThatDidNotWorkAlthough the brand does it’s best to branch out within the framework of the brand lifestyle, some of the content is not pushing or providing engagement if any at all. With a very elegant and fun look, the brand also posts furniture settings for inspiration, but it does not do as well as their models or skives collection. In sharing the lifestyle of the brand, they will post pictures solely within the studio to let users get a look inside of the life at the company. However, their users are drawn to the models who promote the products more than the lifestyle of the company itself. This tells them that a big driver

of their content is based around the attractive women who model for the brand. Based on this feedback, the recommendation would be to stay away from posting content that has no sole subject since the users do not engage with it. Content this way seemed to be tested around the 8th of February, when the brand had a very steady rate in it’s Instagram followers, in opposition to their usual growth. Another campaign that is recent for the brand is their swimsuit collection branded with their hashtag, “#FLLSwim”. It could be due to the campaign being on the frontier that the users are not engaging or commenting as often as they do on other content. However, the posts have been bikinis laying flat on the shore instead of being

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modeled on one of their beautiful models. If the bikinis were modeled on someone instead, the content may pull in more likes and engagement. The brand should also use Facebook to push more of this content. Facebook is dominantly used with links to the website instead of promoting the same content as Twitter or Instagram. The users did not post or comment as lively comments nor tag other Instagram users since it was not as appealing. There was no specific reaction form the brand to address the feedback, although it did not prove to be “negative” engagement.

ComparingMarketingTacticsTo compare marketing tactics, the Instagram shell will be used since it served as the platform with the most engagement and the truest representation of both brands. The analysis focused on the two competitors with their strongest presence originating from high quality visual content. The major drivers of engagement were from the brands unique ways of promoting their sales through hashtags or embracing others wearing their products. Areas where the competition has room for drastic improvement is based around actively listening to the content that is not getting engagement from their audience. Overall, both Free People and For Love and Lemons used hashtags to increase consumer engagement. The time this proved to be fruitful was around their holiday promotions, where they made branded hashtags to push their sales. For Love and Lemons had a strong presence using their hashtag #DowntoYourSkivves, since they were featuring users who had a high amount of followers that self promoted the brand. Free People did the same with their hashtag around the holiday of #TreatYourself, also featuring users who wore their products in their daily life. A perk that Free People used that generated content feedback and users to share their content was the use of their videos. That is something that For Love and Lemons does not do, although it would be beneficial to explore the outlet to get users who enjoy more visual content. A new outlet to be considered is YouTube, but the brands would need to distinguish how they would promote their channel to their users since it is within the apparel industry. All things considered, the brands both do a beautiful job speaking from their unique value to their consumers. Free People kept true to their brand voice across platforms of being feminine, spirited, and courageous. All content displayed women who were intelligent and creative with their style exuberating a playful image. For Love and Lemons had a scandalous take on most content since their skives push the most content interaction. The voice is one of adventure, a woman who is decisive and daring, but remains effortlessly chic.

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FreePeople:The brand voice is one of femininity, courage, and spirit. These are women embodying intelligence, creativity, and individuality. The consumer remains adventurous, flirty, and playful. For Love and Lemons: The brand voice is decisive, adventurous, and effortlessly chic. These women are both flirty and intelligent. This brand is for the fearless chic who has the courage to express herself with a raw an unfiltered authenticity.

BestofIndustryBoth brands make a strong case to be recognized as best of industry, although in different areas. Throughout the audit, it became apparent that Free People had a stronger online presence consistently between their three platforms of Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter respectively. Since they have blogger outreach programs in play accompanied by their own personal blog, it increases their user’s interaction to live by the lifestyle of the brand. Many users will go and personally model their Free People clothing and post on their own platforms creating a word of mouth based loyalty. Although For Love and Lemons is within the apparel industry, their strongest selling point is based off of their intimates which serves as an extremely niche market. The women who model for them have bombshell level five bodies, where Free People has women sporting out on adventures, living life on the edge, having playful interactions, and are both in and out of the bedroom. For Love and Lemons biggest driver was not across their

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entire apparel line, so it was not promoted equally to be compared with Free People’s cross platform and diversified presence.

With a strong presence across all platforms, Free People serves as an apparel industry leader between the two brands. They offer a wide variety of options for their consumers and have an active conversation, responding to users on their social media platforms actively. The brand was consistently commenting back and creating conversations in their taglines of posts, in opposition to merely posting a photo with no call to action. Unlike For Love and Lemons, when Free People posted pictures or products, regardless of the subject of the photo, there was a high user engagement. Free People appears to be more of a lifestyle brand to live by creating consistent loyalty, where For Love and Lemons is one to live in for that moment.

The strong brand loyalty of Free People’s consumers was displayed as the brand encouraged their audience to treat themselves. The brand takes on a persona that every day is the special occasion to be beautiful and live effortlessly. Overall, the brand shows clear objectives that display the brand voice more than For Love and Lemon’s does across their platforms. Both brands have a strong following and engagement, but with high numbers and larger charts of growth, Free People wins the race as best of industry.