Social Media and Fashion

    The CMO's Guide To: The 2014 Social Landscape lists multiple social media outlets and rates them by a list of criteria including: SEO (social engine optimization), brand exposure, traffic to site, and customer communication.
    The two main social media sites I use to connect with the world of fashion are Pinterest and Instagram.
    Pinterest earned a "good" rating in 3 of the 4 categories, only scoring "OK" in the Customer Communication section due to the fact that "private messaging is nonexistent". However, starting at the end of 2014 Pinterest did introduce a private messaging aspect. In my opinion though, Pinterest is a more visual social media outlet: I don't necessarily go on there to talk to other people, just re-pin outfits I like. If I want to know where something is from I can click on the picture and most times it will take me to another site where I can get the information I need, essentially eliminating the middle-man and the need for communication.
    Instagram received a bad rating for the SEO part as well as Traffic Generation. This is mainly due to the fact that the app is more mobile-based as opposed to desktop, and there aren't really links that re-direct users to other sites.
I use Instagram to post pictures of my outfits (for the most part). If someone wants to know where I purchased a certain item, I can either tag each piece in the picture with the Instagram of the place I got it from or let them know in a comment.
    In general, I would say the social media sites I use work well for what I use them for, which is to showcase my own personal style and gain inspiration from others.

Websites Are Dead

Websites are dying, however, they are still on life support.

To debut a new product, or boost interest for an already existing product, Taco Bell puts out a commercial. Then they send out a tweet. They probably update their website too, but nobody bothers to check it because websites are boring. Commercials are interactive, with close-up shots of melted cheese and beef piled on tortillas. Tweets show us that even Taco Bell execs are regular people like us- sort of. Sometimes +Taco Bell will even tweet back to their fans. Now that's dedication.

However, there can't be a commercial for every item on the menu, because our TV screens would literally be filled with nothing but the Mexican fast food restaurant- good for them, not necessarily great for us. 

Speaking of that, the reason I keep using Taco Bell as an example is because I saw the commercial 3 times this morning, and now I have a craving for the stuff.

As for my own digital presence, I mainly use Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Considering I want to get into the fashion industry, even though I post fashion pictures on my Instagram it would be wise to create a second account dedicated to just that. Then, if I posted a picture on my personal page, I could tag my fashion page for a more detailed picture, and from there send people to my fashion blog. I could incorporate Pinterest with my blog by showing different takes of an outfit. 

I would say that a blog would be the biggest thing I need to create my professional digital presence, because it is- in my opinion- the most professional form of social media for the work I'm doing. I could connect my blog and my Facebook so every time I made a new blog post, I could post a status on my Facebook about it. 

I love the fact that social media offers so much creativity. Even though Instagram and blogs and Facebook are all social media outlets, each one offers something different: blogs are mostly words, Instagram is all pictures, and Facebook is a good mix of both. This ensures that viewers never get bored.