Instagram is the perfect place for a brand to connect to consumers in a real-time format, according to Sali Stevanja the co-founder of luxury activewear e-tailer Stylerunner.
Speaking at the Online Retailer Conference & eCommerce Expo in Sydney, Stevanja told a packed audience how Instagram has changed the game, especially the relationship between consumers and brands.
Two-and-a-half years since it launched, Stylerunner now employs 20 staff, has over 200,000 social media followers, has experienced 600 per cent growth year on year, and has a Sydney distribution centre that has shipped to 68 countries to date (without spending any money on international marketing).
This success has been achieved by using Instagram as not only a visual community board, but using the social media site as a direct point of contact with Stylerunner’s customers.
“Instagram is now your customer service avenue and it’s also your loyalty program.
“What’s happening now is people are actually being driven to a buy a product through this relatability and this sense of urgency. They’re looking to their peers, they’re looking to their communities to actually get validation that what they want to purchase is on trend.
“Selling your product has to become secondary, it’s about creating an aspiration and desirability that people want to follow,” Stevanja said.
Unlike other social media platforms, Instagram’s reliance on visual content means positivity reigns supreme. Stevanja told B&T, “The Facebook community are people who want to complain, they’re less loving. Whereas Instagram is all about love, it’s about social sharing, it’s about connecting.”
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