Social Media Marketing

Topshop’s current marketing on social media can be seen as basic, an Instagram poll was conducted about Topshop’s advertising on social media and out of those who voted that they see Topshop advertising regularly 81% said they agreed that the style was basic and 72% saying preferred Pretty Little Thing’s style which is a lot more graphic, bright and eye catching. Another observation about Topshop’s social media marketing is that since February 2018 there have been at least 15 different aesthetic changes on their instagram feed, almost as if they can’t decide what they want the brands image to look like to its consumers so they’re trailing out different styles, which isn’t a very professional method for such a big brand. A lot of Topshop’s competitors interact with consumers through social media, in the form of giveaways and competitions, also reposting and sharing pictures of the consumers in the clothing, Topshop could interact by doing similar, posting customer photos on their stories or feed and conducting polls on instagram about favourite items for example, just as a way to have a relationship with followers, they could even do a poll as to which aesthetic consumers respond to more. Topshop repost influencers and bloggers photos but they always seem to pick out the same time of girl with the same aesthetic to their blogs and the pictures they post, Topshop loves to promote the big city lifestyle through blogger repost’s, whereas others show more real women, such as Pretty Little Thing and River Island. Topshop is not known for its inclusivity, in fact usually the opposite, however they have recently launched a new campaign for their jeans called ‘Fit in Stand out’ in which they are using a bigger range of models than previously, including models who would be classed as more plus size than average, a rare move for the brand that likes to promote the supermodel look. They have also just launched a type of video advertising called ‘Topshop Tv’ which I think is a way for them to try and interact more with their online audience, both of these campaigns are featured on the brands Youtube page. However it does seem to be a bit of a copycat of the style of Vogue’s 73 questions series, but ‘Topshop Tv’ is solely focussed on the aforementioned super model look girls, using the models that cause controversy and don’t spread appreciation for diversity and making them seem relatable, they could look into also using different people in Topshop Tv, like asking the customers the same questions as the models or even the people who work in the shops, just to make them seem more approachable and less like an aspiration. This is a good step forward for Topshop in the world of social media, they’ve branched out and are trying new methods of reach and with trial and error this could be a big success.

As you can see from the images of these videos, the type of women these use in these 'interviews' all seem to have similar looks to their usual type of model, adding an extra feature to these would such as customer editions or just a more inclusive model range could make this such a great promotional campaign, the idea is there however as of now it just helps to promote their 'ideal' woman.

This is a revolutionary campaign for Topshop, a clearly plus model has been used as one of the main features of the promotion for this new campaign, which is great in terms of stepping in the direction of inclusivity for the brand, however this could be looked at as a novelty inclusion, the campaign is meant to promote positivity so for that they have included one plus model alongside the normal suspects, its some what as if she as included to tick a box. A real step to diversity for the brand will be when these models are included in every campaign simply because they look great, not because they tick a box for the audience.