Samenvatting

More and more fashion brands are seeing Social Media as a marketing tool. One of the biggest benefits is creating a relationship with the customers. However, small online clothing e-tailers do not or ineffectively use Social Media. The main purpose of this report was to uncover what type of content creates engagement and helps to build a relationship with (potential) customers. The resulting advice presents a posting strategy, with specific types of content as well as best-suited social networks. This was achieved through a literature review and the examination of the research data through the resulting theoretical framework. Uses and Gratifications theory and Social Exchange theory were used to analyse the attitudes of respondents as well as characteristics of the most engaging content. A mixed method of Quantitative and Qualitative research was used. The research was carried out in two phases. The first was an observation of two competitors, successful on social media. For the observation, HM and Fashionfruits NL were chosen. The two clothing brands' Social Media postings were observed for a period of one week across two channels. The two channels were chosen Facebook and Instagram, based on relevancy for the apparel industry. The second phase was a customer survey. The survey was distributed online and the target group, Dutch women 20-30 years of age, were encouraged to participate. The goal of the survey was to explore the findings of the observation but also to uncover women's feelings and opinions on specific types of content. It was uncovered that the best social media channel, used both by brands and by customers, is Facebook. The second channel of importance to clients is Instagram. Furthermore, best days and times to post were identified. In addition, women from the target group generally do not spend a lot of time on clothing brands' pages. That is why it is important to have a strategy when and what to post in order to achieve maximum results among the target group. Main affective reasons to visit a clothing brand's page were for distraction, for fun or to look for new pieces. The most favoured content were product images, either location- or studio-shot. Regardless of the type of content chosen to be posted, it must always be new (non-repetitive, unless it is a promotion), useful and interesting.