In 30 seconds:
- Get your fashion marketing strategy on-point through the power of community.
- TikTok is the perfect base to build your brand. But how do you do it?
- Our 5 insider tips will help you grow an active, engaged fashion community on TikTok.
It’s 2022, and a new era of fashion marketing is breaking the surface. Its focus? Community.
With more access to fashion products than ever before, brand loyalty in the fashion industry is becoming increasingly difficult to attain (and retain). 46.2% of consumers became less loyal to their brands of choice during the pandemic. Fashion community marketing is where next-gen brands are heading, to develop close-knit, loyal followings from their target audience.
Fashion brands can learn so much about their customers through community-driven marketing campaigns, helping them get to grips with their needs and desires. And TikTok is the perfect place to foster these connections.
TikTok audiences say the platform is 1.48x more likely to help them explore new communities and content. Its short-form video formats encourage authentic connections, encouraging more people to share their point of view.
Creating a community on TikTok, however, requires more than “going viral.” In fact, TikTok users often “trust the algorithm” to bring them back to the content they love, which makes it tricky for brands to get potential customers to actually click the “follow” button. This means brands can get stuck creating top-of-the-funnel awareness campaigns on this valuable social media platform, rather than creating social media marketing content that nurtures new customers through to purchase and beyond.
So, how can you capture TikTok users’ interest and turn this into community engagement with your brand? Let’s get into it.
How do you create a fashion community on TikTok?
For fashion companies, getting TikTok users to click that “follow” button on TikTok can be tough. So, what are the best ways to bring people together and create a thriving community that fashion fans want to be a part of? Here are our top 5 tips to help you build your circle – and keep it going.
1. Keep content varied
Put yourself in your audience’s shoes. They want to feel excited by your content: TikTok users feel inspired, confident, and entertained while using the app, and as a fashion brand, this creative inspiration is especially important.
Whether you’re a high street clothing brand or a luxury brand, reposting the same style of content over and over won’t cut it on TikTok. Instead, aim to make your audience feel creatively stimulated. They will simply look elsewhere for more interesting content if you don’t.
One key way to keep your audience on their toes is to vary your content. Post different kinds of TikTok videos to keep your feed entertaining and dynamic. Here are some ideas:
Eccommerce
Storytelling
Consider giving your TikTok audience exclusive access to your brand – and go deeper than fashion week ‘behind the scenes’ and fashion show videos: if your TikTok community can learn information about you here that they can’t see elsewhere, this is great motivation to follow you.
Customer content
Native TikTok content
If it feels right for you, jump on current TikTok trends. TikTok’s own slogan is “trends start here”, which means if you’re not utilising them, you’re missing out. Consider instigating your own trends, too, via TikTok’s in-app capabilities: everything from branded TikTok challenges to Augmented Reality is expressly designed to help make your community flourish.
Events
We created the very first shoppable TikTok concert on TikTok with Ellesse. The campaign achieved a total of 1.8M+ influencer views, received 31K+ likes across all videos, and the hashtag challenge secured 4.2 billion views. You can read more about the Ellesse case study here.
2. Use an array of influencers and give them creative freedom
TikTok Influencers are experts at building communities – it’s why they have such large followings. TikTok’s majority Gen Z audience is a particular fan of them: 76% of Gen Zers follow at least one influencer on social media, and 45% follow over 10. Collaborating with TikTok influencers is a great way of getting into the hearts of TikTokers and generating strong, bonded communities.
There are a few golden rules fashion brands need to consider when collaborating. Creating a blooming community on the app is about partnering with creators in the right way.
Don’t stick to the fashion influencer status quo
Most fashion marketers on TikTok will recall Gucci x Northface’s collaboration in 2022, which was fronted by an unlikely influencer – Francis Bourgeois (@francis.bourgeois). This TikToker is no fashion model: he’s a train enthusiast. Francis became a viral sensation with his enthusiasm for trains, and the unorthodox choice to work with him created an “obsession point” for the whole TikTok community – not just fashion.
Use TikTok influencers for education
Fashion brands can build a community on TikTok through education. Teaching your audience about your brand or collections helps them feel closer to your company and ultimately want to invest.
For example, Fashion Boy (@fashionboy) is a fashion educator and enthusiast who talks in depth about brands, lines and the history of fashion. His content is always educational and, of course, fun. He has collaborated with Gucci, Tommy Hilfiger and Coach, to name a few.
@fashionboy #ad Modern Prep Style #learnontiktok #tommyhilfiger #fashion @Tommy Hilfiger #ad ♬ original sound - FashionBoy
Harness the visuals
TikTo’s video-first format is perfect for communicating rich information about the nuances of materials, cuts and styles. But is your brand getting the best out of it with influencers?
Your brand’s community of TikTokers will follow you to see fashion on real bodies. They are looking for honest representations, and working with an array of influencers can help harness this. Utilising creators with different body shapes, sizes, abilities and viewpoints will make your community feel included. This was a key component in our influencer marketing strategy when we helped Nasty Gal bring in over 305k new followers to their TikTok community.
@nastygal Here’s to the nights we danced ‘til dawn and the moments we wish lasted forever 🪩 @Holly Marston in all things festival. Shop now #nastygalsdoitbetter ♬ Timber Lane - Chris Alan Lee
Fashion community marketing on TikTok: generating revenue
Partnering with influencers can dramatically increase your brand awareness on TikTok. But how can you translate that power into revenue? Check out our report to start converting your TikTok presence into sales and more.
3. Talk about your values
TikTok users want to feel connected to your brand. How can you help them? Shout about your brand values. Talking about your ethics, beliefs and core values will give your community more to relate to.
88% of Gen Zers deeply care about social and environmental issues, and they believe fashion brands should do the same. Sustainability is a particularly important topic for fashion brands: nearly seven in ten (68%) of Gen Z demand that their clothes are manufactured to the highest ethical and ecological standards.
Choose a cause that feels right for your brand, act on it, and share about your work on TikTok. Make sure you share honestly: 75% of Zoomers will research online to check whether a company is “walking the talk” on the issues it’s standing up for in its content marketing. 47% of consumers would be very likely to boycott a brand if they discovered it was operating unethically – so don’t just be vocal; make waves through your initiatives.
4. Show up and engage
Once you’ve started a community on TikTok, no matter how small, you have to show up for it.
The comments section is a powerful place on TikTok to connect with followers and can even spark new creative ideas. 79% of TikTok users take the time to read the comments on videos, so fashion retail brands and labels can gain a lot of value from being active in this area. It’s also the perfect opportunity to listen to your fans and understand exactly what they are looking for.
@linht.roller outfits inspired by my famous works of art with @ganni_official click the link in my bio to shop! #gannigirls ♬ Sixty Second Commercial 1 by Michael Reynolds - malcolm
When we worked with GANNI, the influencer marketing campaign we created blew up the TikTok comments section, resulting in an engagement rate of 7% (almost double the industry standard).
The comments section can also help fashion brands create new content. Creating videos in direct response to comments will keep your community engaged and encourage future engagement, as they feel their contribution is meaningful.
@mercedvu Reply to @emilvalo an app for my fashion lovers. link in my bio! @vestiairecollective ♬ Steven Universe - L.Dre
One of our influencer campaigns with Vestiaire Collective focused on certain creators replying to comments in videos. It got the community listening up – and resulted in over 7 million views and a 25% install conversion rate. So the jury’s in. Engaging with comments works.
This was one of several projects we’ve worked on for Vestiaire Collective. Check out our case study on our 6-month campaign to learn more about our other work for the brand.
5. Build elsewhere, but make TikTok your home
TikTok is the perfect place to base your community, and connect all the different projects your fashion business is working on.
Whether it’s metaverse projects, email marketing, in-person events or detailed conversations on Discord (you can read about this in our article – Discord Marketing: How to Create an Engaged Gen Z Community), TikTok is perfectly placed to connect all your projects and create a sense of community home.
The reason for this is TikTok is fast becoming the “new Google” for young people. TikTok overtook Google for the most visited web domain position last year, and is now Gen Z’s favourite search engine. It’s becoming the new centre of gravity for young audiences on the internet.
Our Brand Partnerships Manager, Sophie Booth explains it best:
“Nowadays, a fashion audience isn’t one type of individual; it’s all these different segments and kinds of content that you’re using to reach them with. So, where’s the central place for them to be retained and kept and directed?
“That’s where I see the value of these more futuristic fashion brands on TikTok. It’s a really comfortable space – it’s entertaining, it’s light, it’s easy to digest – but can direct them to some of their more advanced projects, as and when they’re ready to go on that journey with them.”
TikTok should be the bedrock of your marketing efforts if you want to gain an engaged community. Then you can take that community on separate trips to other marketing avenues. This goes beyond digital efforts: believe it or not, Gen Z is the second most likely generation after baby boomers to say they prefer shopping in-store versus online. So hold their hand on TikTok and then bring them in store to show them what you’ve got.
Fashion community marketing: CGE is the future
As a marketer, you’ll know all about the importance of user-generated content (UGC) for fashion brands. But there’s a new style of sharing in town, and it’s taking over. Community-generated Entertainment (CGE) is effective – and it’s the language of TikTok.
Instead of looking at things as an individual, effective community marketing on TikTok takes everything as a collective. CGE is the generation of entertainment within communities that brings people together and sparks conversation. If you think about it, that’s what the majority of TikTok is. Users are creators themselves, which means that it’s less about consumption of content and more about the interconnection between all TikTokers.
The TikTok algorithm is based on a content graph, not a social one – so it shows you topics you want to see based on what you like, not who you are “friends” with – which means that it’s easier than ever to find the right community content. This leads to high levels of co-creation and interaction.
It’s time for your brand to get in on this. This article may have armed you with what you need to gain a thriving fashion community on TikTok, but now it’s time to take action. Need a helping hand? We have spent years honing our craft to provide killer campaigns for fashion brands that build and engage active communities. So, get in touch and let’s see how we can help you make those connections.
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