Which Fashion Brands Punch Above Their Weight on Social Media — and How They Do It

As we speak, a big following on social media doesn’t essentially provide manufacturers a shortcut to driving the cultural dialog on-line. A lot of style’s largest names have a comparatively low engagement fee on social media, whereas smaller manufacturers are in a position to constantly seize and lead on-line discourse. For instance, Jacquemus usually generates a whole lot of hundreds of likes on Instagram posts with a following of 6.4 million, whereas Dolce & Gabbana, a model with over 30 million Instagram followers, sometimes receives fewer than 10,000 likes per submit.

Which style manufacturers punch above their weight in the case of social media engagement, and the way have they achieved it?

Measuring Engagement in The BoF Model Magic Index

The BoF Brand Magic Index is a rigorous model measurement software that goals to supply entrepreneurs with a data-backed reply to the query of what makes a robust model.

Within the newest quantity, we added Engagement as a metric to analyse how efficient 50 style and luxurious manufacturers are at inspiring prospects on social media from October 2023 to March 2024. Engagement is calculated by assessing a model’s engagement fee on Instagram, in addition to how a lot user-generated content material prospects create a couple of model on TikTok. Collectively, these information factors point out how a lot buzz a model is creating irrespective of the particular dimension of its following, thereby adjusting for manufacturers that generate excessive engagement just by advantage of their sizable advertising and marketing budgets. The general Engagement rank is a mean of every model’s rank on TikTok and Instagram.

Who Topped the Index

Diesel and Calvin Klein tied for first place in Engagement, with a lot of Diesel’s sturdy efficiency stemming from the model’s outcomes on TikTok, and Calvin Klein’s from Instagram. Diesel ranked No. 3 general on TikTok, after luxurious heavyweights Dior and Chanel, with 200,000 user-generated posts utilizing the model’s hashtag shared on the platform throughout the interval.

Against this, Calvin Klein ranked No. 4 for its Instagram engagement fee, with its top-liked posts every producing over 2 million likes from its greater than 25 million followers. For context, Louis Vuitton, which has practically double the variety of Instagram followers as Calvin Klein, acquired about 1.5 million likes on its top-performing posts throughout the interval. Notably, no model ranked in each the highest 10 for Engagement on Instagram and TikTok, highlighting the totally different expertise wanted to grasp every platform.

How They Did It

1. Creating Cultural Moments

For Calvin Klein, a lot of its Instagram engagement could be tied to its viral Jeremy Allen White underwear marketing campaign, which drove 40 million eyeballs to its Instagram, in keeping with the model’s proprietor, PVH. For that marketing campaign, Calvin Klein didn’t simply observe its standard technique of titillating imagery or movie star; the model additionally understood the cultural second, tying its marketing campaign launch to the beginning of awards season the place White was up for a Golden Globe for his position in The Bear, clad in Calvin Klein on the purple carpet.

This was savvy model constructing on a number of ranges, giving the underwear marketing campaign one other increase but additionally reviving hypothesis that Calvin Klein was going to present capital-F style one other attempt. Certain sufficient, in Might Calvin Klein employed 2023 LVMH Prize winner Veronica Leoni as artistic director of its “Assortment” line, and mentioned it will return to the runway in 2025.

When a cultural second doesn’t exist, one of the best manufacturers know orchestrate one. In November, Calvin Klein held a shock live performance with Ok-pop band BTS’ Jungkook in New York’s Instances Sq. so as to add buzz to his denim marketing campaign launched that August. An Instagram submit from the occasion was Calvin Klein’s prime submit within the evaluation interval, which has since received over 2.7 million likes.

2. Subverting the Standing Quo

For Diesel, the denim model’s reputation on TikTok is proof {that a} turnaround underneath artistic director Glenn Martens is resonating — and particularly with younger audiences. TikTokers usually submit movies in regards to the model’s tank tops and baggage, echoing Diesel’s Y2K aesthetic and subversive, playful positioning.

This concept of subversion runs all through Diesel’s on-line technique. For its February runway present, the model invited 1,000 viewers to look at “entrance row” from residence, with their faces live-streamed on screens across the runway, creating an immersive and collective viewing expertise that was then reshared on-line.

3. Leaning into the Fanciful and Surreal

Jacquemus was the highest performer on Instagram, with a mean 2.6 % of its following partaking with every submit throughout the evaluation interval. For context, Jaquemus’ 2.6 % Instagram engagement fee was nearly double the second ranked model. Jacquemus cuts by means of polished Instagram imagery by leaning into humorous and surreal content material that blossoms on social media as we speak, with fanciful store designs and whimsical videos serving amongst Jacquemus’ top-liked posts within the interval.

The model’s capability to face out with rewatchable content material and visually fascinating juxtapositions, coupled with its standing as a scorching impartial label, imply its content material is catnip for social media audiences.

4. Giving Audiences a Purpose to Have interaction

Ferragamo ranked the bottom general in Engagement at No. 47, inserting final for each Instagram and TikTok. (Manufacturers ranked 48 to 50 are people who had been unable to be assessed as a result of they don’t disclose the variety of likes on their Instagram accounts in addition to Bottega Veneta, which doesn’t have an energetic account.)

For Ferragamo, its low Engagement rank could also be due extra to a scarcity of intrigue somewhat than any particular motion by the corporate, which has suffered from falling gross sales amid a turnaround that’s taking longer than anticipated. Whereas Ferragamo presents a well-curated Instagram feed of high-quality product pictures and information, the corporate lacks a particular aesthetic or viewpoint. Vogue manufacturers as we speak face fierce competitors for consideration on social media, each from different manufacturers but additionally influencers, stylists and, in fact, the family and friends of followers. Decrease-ranked manufacturers may have to think about act much less like a model and extra like a media firm to compete for consideration.

BoF Insights and Quilt.AI work straight with manufacturers on bespoke engagements to measure Model Magic intimately and over time, enabling manufacturers to establish positioning alternatives, deeply perceive their prospects and measure their advertising and marketing influence. Contact our team in case you are excited by studying how we are able to work with you.

This text is a part of a sequence that unpacks the evaluation metrics within the second quantity of The BoF Model Magic Index.

A pattern of The BoF Model Magic Index that includes extra details about the methodology is available for download here.

Full entry to The BoF Model Magic Index is for Government members. For limitless entry to this and all future editions, become an Executive Member now.