Social Media Networking Platforms in Marketing Strategies - Case Study Example

INTRODUCTION

In the 1800s, the fashion industry in Malaysia had specific seasons in which it boomed and went with some low season months. The term fast fashion is a general term referring to the fashion industry trends that used to be in Malaysia. The clothing industry was one of the best-paying businesses as people could massively change their clothing shelf four times a year. It had specific Malaysian designs for both men and women, which expensive and well paying for the tailors. Local tailors started to merge in the late 19th century to ensure they met the consumer’s demands in the market in which they had employees and paid them merger pays. This production behavior expanded the clothing industry even more in which it went to an extend of exporting Malaysian designs to the other countries. The increase in technology in the early 20th century made the industry expand more from the offline store techniques and merged them with online selling and marketing techniques. Even though the industry bloomed during this techno-savvy era, it did only lasted for a few decades, and the sales started declining in the mid-20th century between 1960-1970. The massive decline in Malaysian local designs was due to the change in market preference majorly among the youth who began to prefer cheap and casual American designs. This made retailers such as Zara, Primark, Topshop, and H&M shift quickly to the local fashions' street designs. Consumers' high preference characteristics have made marketing more sophisticated, making only those with proper marketing plans to haul through.

Social media networking platforms

Technology has almost fully changed humans' lifestyle, but more so, the human behavior has moved from the old physical interaction to online engagement. The evolution of social media networks in the 21st century, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Skype, only to mention a few have made the internet to become a second home to most of the modern society youth. With over 2.8 billion new subscribers monthly as per 2020 statistics, Facebook is the largest social media network in the world, the first social media network to do so. This trend clearly indicates how speedy the audience is changing to online platforms for interactions and engagements. The emergent of online communities is a further step in online engagement in which people of the same profile or those with the same interest interact by sharing news, stories, and trending events in the world. Online communities are just a glimpse of what the marketing department of various organizations has at stake to utilize. The close interaction of people from different locations of the world is one way to get some products advertised in a fast and reliable way. Currently, as earlier mentioned, Facebook still leads with over 16 million users, followed by YouTube, with over 15 million subscribers. Instagram also follows it in third place with over 11 million users; the rest such as twitter, LinkedIn, pin interest, and Google+ have a combined over 15 million users. 89% of the Malaysian population is currently on various social media platforms, with 5% having the knowledge to use social media platforms but doesn’t have the smartphones for access. This clearly indicates how rich social is with the audience. Therefore, apart from having physical adverts and stores as the only way to reach the audience, social media indeed a valuable asset that can be utilized by the locals to increase market share.

Brand and product analysis

Perceptual mapping

Consumers have greatly changed their preference due to modernization from the so-called old-fashioned designs to modern outfits. Thaipusam and Wesak are the most attended traditional events where the dancers wear traditional Malay dressing while the local leaders put on the old fashioned suits to make traditional events in the country. This indicates that despite a great shift in the market preference from the old-fashioned designs to modern streetwear, local outfits are still preferred in some local events.

SWOT analysis

Clothing is a basic to humans, and therefore it’s rare for someone to do without clothing. This makes clothing to be one of the most in-demand products in the world. The huge and ready global population to buy cloths makes it stronger for the clothing industry. Through social media networking, technology is a great opportunity to expand the market share base both locally and internationally through online engagement. Consumer shift towards modern streetwear is another opportunity that can be utilized by the dressmakers to have modern products that are preferred hence higher sales. Competition from international industries that import clothing products in the country is the main threat. On the other hand, an adaptation of modern technological behaviors has been the main weakness for most clothing industries.

Pestle analysis

From the pestle model analysis, the sociological factor is the main factor that has dictated most of the managerial decision making in the industry. The change of demographic preferences has made some clothing industries either close or thrive in the modern market. Most people manufacturing modern outfits are doing great, unlike those that have stuck to the old designs forcing them to close economically. Technology is another tool that has offered another opportunity at hand for proactive clothing industries. Clever marketers in the industry have utilized various online platforms to engage the audience on offers available and the arrival of new designs.

Event marketing strategy

Japanese in Malaysia have decided to take fashion and design to another level in the country. Casey can and Calving Chong designed a kaki Japanese clothing brand with various designs for both men and women. The material is made of kaki, which is cut into nice trouser fittings, dresses, and shorts. The market strategy will involve both online and manual approach to the audience.

Event marketing execution

Social influencers

The first step is to leverage the audience on the new brand in the market. This can be done by creating a website for the brand in which the website has the required necessary content on the product. Clear images, types of the designs, and a well-detailed description of the website is well polished. The next step is to join the social networking world for publicity in various online platforms. Joining the media world can help make essential adverts on the design that can help people be aware of the new arrival in the market. The use of a brand influencer such as online celebrities helps to build the brand name among the audience for a beneficial increase in market share. Being good content creators is a major characteristic for excellent content creators who are always aware of the audience traits and what they prefer to listen, Influences are in several platforms and can earn significant customers from the large audience base.

Event marketing mechanism

The creation of visuals such as billboards is one way to reach those who are non-media addicts and others who don't access media platforms. Placing eye-catching visual billboards in towns or where there is high traffic of people is likely to inform more people on the arrival of the new product. There are various ways in which billboards can be made; for example, using a celebrity is likely to attract the attention of many who will read it. Use of both offline and online approach to the audience is the best way to create a customer base for the new cloth brand design

Events microsite wireframe pages

Then finally, organizing public events to advertise the new brand is likely to attract new customer loyalists. This cant only is achieved by giving an excellent description of the brand that is attractive to the customers. This description can then be noted down by to ensure every detail is captured before beginning to make a wireframe. The user flow is crucial, and it will have to begin from the most important content to the other part of the web content. For example, in this new brand, it can start with a clear image, with its brief content such as the fitting and durability of the cloth wear. After sketching and testing, then the content can be put into prototypes. Managing the wireframe is crucial to avoid users having bad experiences that might leave them frustrated and discouraged. Simplicity is key in a wireframe while maintaining clarity to gain users' confidence.

Press kit development

Press kit is common in the modern e-commerce in which it used to publicize the content of a particular product by certain businesses to the press. Press has to be simple and clear for any user to easily access the content. Having facts about the new fashion design is likely to win more trust from the customers. For example, giving facts about how long the product has stayed in the market and giving reviews from some of the clients is likely to win trust from willing clients. High-resolution images on the design while put on are important and adding a small album of the same to the images. The addition of a press release statement is important as it increases the authentification of the product.

Event design and layout tools

TED video design is the best to use as it includes both images and videos with a short description of the same. The design can be made free for anyone to access. Invite links will be created to ensure those who are interested more can share with friends to have a look at it. The high quality of TED design is likely to give out the best user experience. The high quality from TED design is the one that anyone can dream of having as both quality and value is satisfactory. The use of Google Chrome developer tools is likely to be more convenient since most users in Malaysia use Google chrome to browse. Linking the web pages to Google chrome will be easily accessible by most users easily, unlike using other tools that most users don’t have. The online event will also include live streaming, which will be important for those who are not present physically to keep following online.

Conclusion

Malaysia's fast fashion industry is rising after a massive drop in the mid-20th century. This is due to technology that has helped to convey faster and convenient user engagement that has increase market share locally. Marketing has played a key role in this revolution by a combination of both offline and online techniques to try to reach out to every audience. The new kaki design will have to use a little bit more sophisticated techniques to keep the users aware of the new arrival. Used of TED design and Google chrome development tools for the website is likely the best approach to reach out to a wider range of users.