Will Fashion Retailers Let MySpace Play?

MySpace wants to play. It's gotten a little bored with merely connecting old high school friends, promoting bands and enabling against-god's-will love connections. Now, MySpace wants to take on fashion. In late August, the social networking leader launched its Fashion Community (and hey, it's already got 52,000+ friends, so it must be good). Visitors can watch videos of fashion shows and photo shoots, get the latest celeb fashion news and catch ads for the fashion-savvy.

Hello retailers! Could MySpace be making this any easier for you? If you're a fashion-focused retailer, create a profile (I know I've advised you on this before--but I'm serious this time!) and add yourself as a Fashion friend. Then buy some ad space. Got a photo shoot or some other fantastically interesting fashion piece? Submit! The MySpace fashion community is HOT, HOT, HOT. It's a great place to connect with the demographic that will go without food for a month just for clothes. This is fashion, baby!

The MySpace Fashion community also includes forums, with topics ranging from "Baggy pants for girls" to "Who cares what size you are?" Okay, maybe not earth-shattering topics, but still a great opportunity to inform the social networking community about the baggy pants for ladies that your store carries and the fact that you're committed to offering clothes with sizes for real women. The beauty of this community is the ability for everyone in the fashion industry--retailers included--to connect with their audience in a very real way. Imagine the opportunity to find out exactly what your target market wants and have "conversations" with them about it. How very 2007 is that?!

Now, obviously, MySpace isn't the first to come up with this fabulous marketing ploy; Iqons and WhoWhatWearDaily have been doing the same thing for some time. However, with 115 million unique visitors a month, MySpace has a definite edge. And that's why both online communities partnered with MySpace, furthering the intensity and reach of this social networking fashion opportunity.

MySpace Fashion will officially launch this week, during New York's Fashion Week, Sept. 5-12, 2007. How very appropriate! So, retailers--what do you say? Jumping on board? I say, forget about the radio (yawn!) advertising and start doing some serious social networking. The payoffs are sure to be HUGE.

Already a MySpace Fashion friend? Let us know if it's all its cracked up to be.

--Heather Strang

Comments

[Margaret]

I agree with the comments above. Myspace has a lot of users but in this industry its quality, not quantity. I'm working for this really cool newly launched site called Haute.net, a professional networking site exclusively for the fashion community. Anyone looking to network with valuable contacts who are ACTUALLY IN the industry should check it out!

[Jesse]

Very nice and gorgeous red dress!!

[hardliner]

Daniel,
It wasn't that my daughter might be exposed to fashionising, the comment was more to the point about Fashionista's comment that "sites like fashionista.com are so comprehensive for those in the industry" The point I was trying for was that a bit of fashion on youtube isn't trying to be for the industry but it is for the kids that spend time on the site. And they also spend money in the stores, so it seems to be hitting the market that they are aiming for. My daughter still won't be able to afford designer labels for a few years, but at least she knows more about the look.

[Daniel, Fashionising.com]

@hardliner: interesting point regarding your daughter's surfing habits. But just because you won't find her fashionising just yet, doesn't mean the sites that she is on are more valuable to the industry.

Take for instance our trends feature, which is accessible across Fashionising.com and a few other properties including Facebook. If she comes across it on Facebook, then you've not only caught her on Fashionising but the industry people who have put their products in there have reached a wider audience. But the key for the industry is that they began with a core, pure fashion audience who helped the product reach the wider audience in the first place.

[Amanda George]

Wow at last someone else that realises the importance of getting to the customer and how dull and inappropriate TV advertising for fashion today. It really is not enough for retailers to set up a transactional web site and sit back and wait, they have to get out there and communicate at every level. This is a fantastic moment in time to be a retailer on line, there are so many opportunities to develop, its so much easier than the High Street.
Hay Chanel where is my invite to Paris.
Also thanks so much for your comments on our blog, feel free to put us on your blog roll.
Cheers Amanda

[hardliner]

but wasn't the point to connect with real people not just preaching to the industry? You won't catch my 18 year old daughter on fashionising, but you'll find her every day on youtube. and she works two part time jobs to afford clothes and school. she's the market for you.

[YM Ousley]

I second Fashionista's opinion. I think that comparing MySpace to Iqons or Fashionising is like comparing People to Vogue or Elle. People has more celebrities, more readers and a fashion section. But if you're really interested in fashion, they're not even close to Vogue or Elle.

[Fashionista]

It still feels like a tiny fragment of MySpace rather than a whole resource... Sites like Fashionising.com are so comprehensive for those in the industry that a small segment of MySpace can't really compete imo.