The Strategic Use of Instagram in the Fashion Industry

The fashion industry, in particular, is now using social media in sophisticated ways to achieve clear objectives. Its media of choice is Instagram which is predominantly a visual medium and as such there are no language barriers and so is used across national boundaries. A most recent example is Mishanonoo.com who showed their New York Fashion Week SS16 collection as an #instashow on Instagram. This paper uses a theoretical approach to present a model for the strategic use of any social media platform in a company. It presents a literature review on the successful use of social media in companies to develop this model. The successful design, delivery and evaluation of using social media, in particular Instagram, is given with particular reference to fashion companies. It is argued that the opportunities presented by social media require the organisation become a social enterprise, that is, in frequent and entertaining communication with its customers. A real-life example that shows this conversation, StyleandTalent.com, is presented. Keywords: so