The usage of social media with marketers ranks very high in the marketing efforts of connecting current and prospective consumers to their brands. As reported by statista.com, in the United States alone, social media marketing spending is expected to exceed 17 billion U.S. dollars in 2019 – almost ten billion increase, compared to 2014.
More stats from statista.com shed light on the full global reach of social media – The power of social networking is such that, the number of worldwide users is expected to reach some 2.95 billion by 2020, around a third of Earth’s entire population. An estimated 650 million of these users are expected to be from China alone and approximately a third of a million from India. The region with the highest penetration rate of social networks is North America, where around 60 percent of the population has at least one social account. As of 2016, 78 percent of the United States population had a social networking profile.
How important is social media to your marketing campaign? Is the ‘noise factor’ too difficult in positioning your niche? These EDGE designers share what’s good and what’s not good about social media along with further commentary from me.
Social media is great, but because of the saturation of photos across the internet it can be difficult for you to be seen, it’s an important piece of the puzzle, but like Anna Wintour said, “Instagram likes does not equate to profitability” and she’s right.- Brendan M Combs
Social media is a powerful tool for marketing that will lead the direct customer to your website if done right. Stores hesitate to write orders with new brands but if they see traffic to your website and love the story you are telling, it helps the store buyers see your vision, too. Social media is a great brand awareness tool but not necessarily a tool for the store buyers. – Mimi Wong
Our social media platform is extremely active and we work hard in making sure that all our customers and followers get informed not only about our brand but also about the fashion business, current fashion events and fashion education among other important subjects. We are able to tell our reach and impact – that are continuously growing – translate into financial results, however, it is a boundless journey and this is just the beginning. And for one, it’s been truly amazing. – Mena Lombard
Michael Ngo with Rhonda
. . . taken advantage of social media to promote the new runway collection by collaborating with artists and talents that have clout to expand my network and gain followers; to market my work and designs that are for sale and for custom order; and lastly to build a personal relationship with the following I already have through constant interaction and communication—verbal and visual. – Michael Ngo
What are some of the platforms to showcase your work and which is the most beneficial – fashion shows; trade shows; product positioning; media; etc? I would say that it depends on your marketing strategy. But all these platforms need to be considered to find out where your target market is. – Tina Lobondi
Media – social media, in particular – has tremendous reach, an image of ours can travel the world with a single tap. – Debbie Talanian
. . . the big runway event is to have a social media plan to generate a buzz . . . I’ve planned multiple photo shoots in advance so that I would have plenty of material to create that buzz to post the images or BTS footage on my social media platforms now that the big day is almost here. Something that goes hand-in-hand with social media is social networking. – Michael Ngo
The challenge of what many of the EDGE network experiences is assessing the effectiveness. Some of the measurements used to evaluate the effectiveness are hits, likes, views, followers, and subscribers. How do you measure it’s financial impact, the return on your investment? Stay tuned for more conversation, interviews, and statistics on the power and effectiveness of social media.
All designer profile images courtesy of the designers unless otherwise noted.
Feature Image Collage: l&r – Jason Young Photography, c – courtesy of Brendan M Combs
Social media is great, but because of the saturation of photos across the internet it can be difficult for you to be seen, it’s an important piece of the puzzle, but like Anna Wintour said, “Instagram likes does not equate to profitability” and she’s right.- Brendan M Combs
Our social media platform is extremely active and we work hard in making sure that all our customers and followers get informed not only about our brand but also about the fashion business, current fashion events and fashion education among other important subjects. We are able to tell our reach and impact – that are continuously growing – translate into financial results, however, it is a boundless journey and this is just the beginning. And for one, it’s been truly amazing. – Mena Lombard
. . . the big runway event is to have a social media plan to generate a buzz . . . I’ve planned multiple photo shoots in advance so that I would have plenty of material to create that buzz to post the images or BTS footage on my social media platforms now that the big day is almost here. Something that goes hand-in-hand with social media is social networking. – Michael Ngo
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