Abstract
About 1,000 million users are active on Instagram monthly, and the number of daily users is 500 million. Fifty percent of Instagrammers follow at least one business account, and 130 million Instagrammers tap on a shopping post to learn about products offered in the app every month. Moreover, more than 200 million Instagrammers visit at least one business profile every day. The objective of the study is to assess the Instagram strategy of four of the main fast fashion brands: Zara, H&M, Mango, and Forever 21. Results show videos achieve 3.88 times more engagement than pictures. The effect of the shopping bag tool, which has been recently introduced, is very promising: the pictures with the shopping bag tool achieved a 121.03% higher average. The authors also found spontaneity increases engagement, while Zara, H&M, and Mango posts experienced an increase in the average likes in the pictures that had faces in them.
TopFashion Industry Theory
The original use of clothing was to protect individuals from the weather and to cover the body. Today, however, fashion functions as a social regulator, indicating social status, gender and geographical location. Consequently, fashion and society are strongly connected. Fashion is believed to be the tool for the individual's self-expression when, in reality, the person is constructed through the clothes they wear (Martínez Caballero & Vázquez Casco, 2006), which are imposed by society. Fashion also fulfils a function of social inclusion, since human beings are social beings.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Engagement: The measurement of comments, likes, and shares in social networks.
Mango: Spanish fast-fashion brand born in 1984.
H&M: Swedish fast-fashion brand born in 1968.
Instagram: Online photo-and video sharing social network platform that was acquired by Facebook in 2012.
Community: A group of people which members relate common experiences and interests.
Social media: A group of internet-based application, which allow users to generate and exchange content.
Audience: People who are interested in content, products, or services.
Forever 21: USA fast-fashion brand born in 1984.
Zara: Spanish fast-fashion brand born in 1974 belonging to Inditex Group.