Promoting fashion events has historically been the preserve of traditional PR agencies, but guess what, things are changing.
Here’s our tips for event planners in the fashion industry:
1. Fashion is seasonal so learn the right #hashtags
Fashion is huge on Twitter, with most influential fashion figures being prolific tweeters. Hopefully you already have a Twitter account for your fashion events, but if not, get moving and get following!
New York Fashion Week happens in February and September, for Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer respectively, which means you should end your tweets with #NYFW. Fashion Week then moves to London both times in the year, so your tweets should mention #LFW.
There are always trending Twitter topics related to these events but they will be more news-based, depending on which designers are making a splash.
For example if Karl Lagerfeld is doing amazing things at Chanel, look out for tweets with #Chanel, #Lagerfeld and so on; or see what the man himself has to say about it by following @Karl_Lagerfeld.
A big development in the world of fashion is the stream of modelling-related TV shows, each with their own trending topic. It’s an idea to keep saved searches in Twitter for the relevant hashtags.Get involved in the debate by retweeting and sending @ replies to people with something to say – this is the best way to gain quality, relevant followers.
2. Join the debate where you are
As well as saving searches for the relevant hashtags, by using Search.Twitter.com you can keep the tweets you’re seeing specific to the location of your event.
Just start your search term with something like:
near:London within:10mi
Then follow with the term you’re searching for, such as #LFW, so your complete search will look like:
near:London within:10mi #LFW
for tweets in London relating to London Fashion Week. However, be aware that at this time location-based searches in the UK work best with major cities rather than really small hyperlocal concerns.
3. Have a live Twitter Feed at your Event
All you need is a projector, a computer and some sort of internet connection at your event. Now you can display your followers’ tweets, live at the event. This will provide a meaningful link between your social media activity before the event and with the night itself. You can edit the tweets that are displayed with a sign encouraging people to tweet (offer an incentive, such as a competion) and give the instructions that they must first follow your account on Twitter or to use your own event #hashtag in their tweets. This will cause a spike in the presence of your brand online as well as just at your event.
To do this, you’ll need some free software like Twitterfall (best for larger events as you can effectively censor profane tweets).
4. Get your press releases out there, and get them looking great
The mainstream press can’t get enough of fashion stories, particularly the local print press and the free daily papers in London. You should get in touch with the local press in your area. Remember that your press release needs a narrative; some kind of story to make it stand out, so it’s more than just an announcement. Have a look online for PDFs of fashion press releases for a guide on the style of language you should be using.
5. Get your own photographer, and consider hiring a name
Bizarrely, lots of fashion events pass without a decent photographer cataloguing what happened, because the organisers invited the press and presumed they would record proceedings. Don’t make the same mistake and work on getting a photographer as soon as you can. To be safe, get a professional you know who’s used to the work, but email the bigger names on nightclubbing photography circuit and let them know there’s a pair of VIP tickets waiting for them at the door. Bear in mind, Mario Testino probably won’t turn up, and he probably can’t be very easily incentivised.
6. Make sure the right people know and are treated right
This can be as unsubtle as keeping a couple of bottles of wine behind for them, or a queue jump for them and their friends. Whoever’s handling the guestlist should hopefully be able to identify even the smallest name (or literally the smallest in the case of some bloggers) in the fashion world at a hundred yards. Every promoter has a guestlist at their events, but you should be ready to make adjustments on the night.
7. Get blogging!
Yes, we practice what we preach here at Evvnt. You can link back to content from your tweets, and give your take on the latest developments in the fashion world. Remember Tumblr is best for posting and ‘reblogging’ images (make sure you tag them to death with the relevant terms) while WordPress is more solid and stable for more in-depth content that you might attach to your website as well as getting retweets/likes etc.
For More Marketing Advice – https://evvnt.com/category/event-marketing/