The fashion world is a fickle place. Things go in and out of style with split-second notice. Hairstyles that were mandatory for soldiers in the 40s are back in style for the time being. Emo might make a comeback in the next 5 years. I would like to interject here that I hope mullets will never make a comeback.

But I digress…. With the birth of so many social media platforms, it would appear that the world of fashion has become even more volatile and faster than before. Social media has pushed the fashion industry to move even faster than before with its ability to broadcast images and thoughts in real time. Trends and styles get canned and hatched faster than you can say New York Fashion Week.

Since the fashion world and social media platforms are both flighty and trends get booted out the door as fast as Kanye did Taylor, how can we marry them to get things perfect for your brand? How do we ensure that your brand is getting the attention of your customer with so many other brands vying for it as well?

We at antics@play subscribe to the playbook of identifying and knowing your audience. It is particularly important in the digi-sphere where there are so many other brands available, to identify very clearly who you are after. To target them, you need to know who they are as people and what their life is like.

Once you know them, it will be a breeze to produce the right content to address this buyer persona that you have identified on a more personal level. That will increase their receptivity to your brand and the effectiveness of your communications efforts overall. The emergence of image-based social platforms, Pinterest and Instagram has affected the direction of fashion shoots.

The content that fashion brands are seeding out are not as polished as before. Homegrown brands, such as Her Velvet Vase and In Good Company, are proving themselves to be entirely capable of coming up with content that are palatable to both the local and overseas audience for their social campaigns.

Magazine and lookbook photos are no longer made of thick glossy paper and clothing featured are more accessible. Brands are starting to cater to the audience with product catalogs looking more like print-outs of Instagram’s #OOTD photo uploads. Her Velvet Vase’s and In Good Company’s look-books are styled with the everyday look in mind, and the models used are the people you would cross paths with on the streets instead of high-fashion models.

Bearing in mind that a good conversation is a 2-way street, don’t just flood your customers with information and content from your end. Connect with your customers by showing them you are listening to their feedback, actively resolving their issues and occasionally checking in with them to let them know your brand values and what they have to say.

ASOS in particular does it fabulously, by dedicating multiple Twitter accounts to cater to their customers’ different needs. ASOS_Heretohelp was set up to deal with customer complaints and issues are attended to almost immediately. They also set up a Snapchat account to showcase the people behind ASOS, creating a connection between the customers and brand.

Social media allows you to communicate directly with your customers. Knowing which ones to use and what content go where is imperative to creating a strong social presence. You are no doubt familiar with the most popular platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. When and how do you use each platform to build your brand’s digital presence?