Social Media (SM) has been a preferred medium in today’s era to stay connected with the target audience as well as to acquire potential business clients. This doesn’t end here and the list of impeccable benefits of using social media goes on! When it comes to apparel manufacturing fraternity, use of social media, particularly the business networking platform LinkedIn, seems to be a ‘new-age’ concept for many traditional factories but the direct benefits of digital presence lure factories of all sizes to build (and expand) an image through their digital marketing efforts.
All segments across textile and apparel manufacturing have started showing up on LinkedIn to update their followers on the developments in their respective areas, before it catches the attention of the mainstream media. This is just an example that shows how companies are staying ahead in the trend utilising the power of SM. Indian textile and apparel giants like Vardhman Textiles, Shahi Exports, Pearl Global, Page Industries, Pratibha Syntex,among many others are the ones termed as ‘frontrunners’ because, for them, SM is more than just a platform for general posts/updates.
Most of the export-oriented companies are only active on LinkedIn and not on other SM platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. And it is mainly due to their target audience available or a match with the professionals’ platform LinkedIn only. Even a few companies that have some presence on other SM platforms are not much active there compared to their presence in LinkedIn.
Medium-level companies like Delhi-based Paramount Products; Daks India, Delhi; Evolve Clothing, Chennai; Kariwala Industries, Kolkata; Jawandsons Ludhiana; Mahajan Overseas, Panipat, and comparatively few more small companies are quite active on LinkedIn.
For apparel brands, social media is one of the best ways to increase their reach among end consumers as well as their investors and keep them updated about how brands are pacing with global trends such as sustainability and product innovations to grab the eyeballs of industry shareholders and also to strengthen their relations with investors.
Among these players, Apparel Resource stries to explore what is the apparel export fraternity sharing on SM and what are they gaining out of this…
Information about staff hiring; organisation’s achievements; participation in sourcing events;the latest products offering; starting of new factories or offices are some of the regular areas of focus for factories when it comes to sharing on SM platforms. There may be few exceptions but hardly any company has any budget as well as dedicated employees, specific predefined strategies for the use of SM. But it doesn’t mean they take it lightly or it is the last on their priority list. What they gain from the use of SM, is worth noting.
Leading multinational apparel company Epic Group has one lakh followers on LinkedIn. The company actively shares its various achievements, sustainable activities, collaboration with supply chain partners, various small internal events or celebrations, interesting stories of its old employees on this avid platform.
India’s number one exporter Shahi Exports is also into similar activities along with its professionals’ participation in various webinars, its CSR activities etc. The company even shares information interestingly through small videos.
Similarly, Pearl Global has interesting posts about learning from HR experts as well as a few strong technical operations/ technical expertise.
For many companies, it is a complete exercise that gives many benefits to an organisation. Being fashion-oriented, few of the companies strongly believe in storytelling, to connect and share their beliefs. And activeness on SM is an extra step towards this. At the same time,it creates an emotional connection with the company’s employees also as their staff feel proud seeing their company doing these kind of noble initiatives.
Buyers also appreciate all the shared development posted on any company’s Linkedin page
Most of the time, the company’s HR or Visual Merchandising team takes care of their social media pages and there is hardly any separate budget or team for this. In many companies, such teams also motivate all employees to come up with suggestions, ideas in this regard.
Majorities of companies don’t do anything extra for promoting themselves on any platform. They try to make sure to have a regular frequency of posts as this is required to be visible on SM. The appreciation or people noticing organisation’s work increases expectation and keeps motivating the team to work good, and apart from their core work, perform few extra activities also.
Also Read: Workers choosing sprouts over samosas, Paramount Products’ efforts for workers’ health continue
Generating Direct Business too…
As per a recent survey by PayPal India in partnership with Edelman Data and Intelligence, 9 in 10 MSMEs say cross-border trade is a key area for business growth and 2 out of 3 MSMEs use SM as sales channel.
Statista also says that the leading social media platforms by the number of B2B marketers who use them are Facebook (96%), Instagram (82%), Twitter (53%), YouTube (53%), and LinkedIn (50%). One can either join trade-focused groups or make use of paid social media ads.
And this is happening in the apparel industry also as few of the companies have been successful in fetching direct business. SMEs have got some inquiries from buyers who look for specific products or ready stock etc., and this motivates them to remain associated with SM. Apart from direct orders, another constant value SM is adding to the business is the feedback of various designers on their products. This interesting, as well as valuable feedback helps companies to improve their product development, to better understand the customers’ taste and market trends.
Even few big companies also had a positive experience of direct buyers connecting them through social media.
Also Read: How to check the credibility of a new buyer – Industry shares experience
Double-edged sword…
Across the industries, there are many examples when companies have faced heat on SM regarding their offline and online activities. Who can forget the massive back lash Hyundai Motor faced recently over ‘Kashmir’ tweet! The issue became so big that South Korea’s Foreign Minister conveyed regrets.Even the ongoing Russia and Ukraine conflict is also putting pressure on the vendors of Russian apparel buyers through strong ‘No War Please’ kind of slogans on LinkedIn. The pressure is such that vendors of Russian brands/buyers all across the world are asked to reconsider their decision to work with Russia as, all over LinkedIn, it has been promoted as ‘every penny that comes from Russia is generated from Ukrainian’s blood’.
Few of the giant companies have large number of followers on LinkedIn like Shahi Exports has 89,000, while Pearl Global Industries has 20,000 and Triburg has 15,000 followers.
For most of the companies, it doesn’t matter that followers are less or not increasing. They are doing routine efforts for engagement as they are well aware that it is a long-term exercise. There are companies having around 1,000 to 4000 followers (Mahajan Overseas, Jawandsons,Kariwala Industries, Evolve Clothing) on LinkedIn, but they are still very active.
