In this article, 新香港六合彩开奖网’s Head of Marketing, Joanna Hughston, explores where fashion brands are succeeding or failing in engaging the next generation.
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Earlier this year, the Gap TikTok went viral for all the wrong reasons.聽
that鈥檚 been viewed over 1 million times, creator Christopher Claflin posted a blistering review of Gap鈥檚 TikTok strategy, captioning it, 鈥淏oomers are ruining social media鈥�. He even went so far as to call out Gap as having 鈥渢he worst TikTok he鈥檚 ever seen鈥�.
Users rushed to the brand鈥檚 own TikTok channel to leave their own critical comments and even offer condolences to the Social Media Manager behind the account.
This is how Gen Z are used to communicating with brands nowadays. TikTok and social media have offered a constant feedback loop, and the brands that get it wrong are swiftly called out.
So how can other fashion brands avoid such public humiliation?
The key for fashion brands on TikTok is that they need to learn to let go. Of course, you don鈥檛 need to throw your entire brand bible in the bin, but TikTok needs to be treated wholly differently to your other social media channels – especially if you鈥檙e targeting a Gen Z audience.
The millennial social media boom could be summed up using the word 鈥淚nstagrammable鈥� – overly filtered, aesthetically pleasing, aspirational. Gen Z and TikTok on the other hand would be 鈥渁uthentic鈥� – relatable, showing flaws proudly, avoiding filters (even if a cynic would say a lot of it was performative).
Even the most luxury fashion brands are playing into this. Gucci solidified its brand cultural relevance through TikTok by embracing trends like the parody and partnering with unexpected influencers like and . Now, it feels like they鈥檝e really found their TikTok feet. The content still feels luxurious but with a playful side, such challenging them to see if they鈥檙e really telepathic (whilst wearing Gucci suits of course) or asking celebrities like ASAP Rocky and Salma Hayek .
It鈥檚 a far cry from Gap whose TikTok account previously just showed what looked like TV advert cutdowns. There鈥檚 nothing that draws you in or makes you want to scroll.
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So what are the tips?
There are five key things fashion brands can think about to avoid getting it wrong with Gen Z on TikTok.
- Establish what your TikTok persona is. This is something we always look to establish with our brand partners at 新香港六合彩开奖网. It should make sense for you as a brand but then take it up a notch to match the chaotic nature of TikTok. Ideally it should also feel like it鈥檚 coming from a real person. As we saw with Gap, everyone talks about the brand鈥檚 鈥淪ocial Media Manager鈥� so does your TikTok content feel like it has something to say?
- Outfits can be the focus without being the main part of the video. The Gucci example with the twins is a perfect example of how they鈥檙e subtly showing off the clothes without it being the main purpose of the video. Yes TikToks like 鈥淗ow to style a denim shirt鈥� are great, but think of out of the box ways you could put a denim shirt at the centre of the video instead? Maybe a 鈥渨atch our model attempt this challenge鈥� format whilst wearing the shirt?
- Put influencers and creators front and centre. Ultimately TikTok is about creators and people, not brands. Work with them to get your brand message out there and repurpose the content for your own feed and in paid ads. At 新香港六合彩开奖网, we see a much higher engagement and conversion rate using influencer content within TikTok ads vs curated brand content.
- Do the unexpected. No one would have expected Burberry to partner with a tongue-in-cheek TikTok channel that features cute children鈥檚 toys in soap opera-esque situations. , and it was incredible. Everyone loves it when a luxury brand does something that you鈥檇 never expect.
- Give people a peek behind the curtain. For a long time, brand advertising was something to be consumed not engaged with. Now, the most loved brands on TikTok are not only welcoming interaction, but they鈥檙e actually giving away their secrets. Whether it鈥檚 backstage drama at Fashion Week or showing us how a garment or ad is made, this is the type of content that people head to TikTok for.
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A lot of people like to talk about Gen Z鈥檚 attention span being lower. But the fact is, it鈥檚 just much harder to catch their attention. #Fashion has over 258 billion TikTok views at the time of writing, so they鈥檙e completely bombarded with choice. Fashion brands, from luxury to affordable, need to start thinking and acting like creators if they want to get cut-through and not be seen as another brand #ruiningTikTok.
