With the rise of influencers and social apps, users look to social media for what they like and want to wear. Now more than ever, marketing isn’t just about communicating our message to users, but letting them engage with the brand and create viral content.
Fashion brands present their new collections on social media, which becomes the gateway to the store. However, this content isn’t easily indexed by Google, unlike a product page. As a result, the world’s best-known (and most used) search engine is already working on a faster, simpler way to show these products.
The fashion industry, constantly changing and generating new inputs, will be revolutionized by Google’s new way of displaying content. This “solution”, initially and literally named “Shop the Look” (live in beta, mobile only, in the US) aims to show a photo of a look related to the search right in the search results.
Say we search for “denim” or “jeans”: Google will automatically show an image of a look from an Instagrammer or blogger wearing that item. If we click the image, we jump straight to the store where we can buy the item seen in the look.
How does Google display the information?
Google sources content, and the links to buy the clothes in it, from LIKEtoKNOW.it, a company that lets fashion bloggers upload their looks and tag their items with links to stores.
In Spain there’s currently the 21 buttons app, which brings together fashion bloggers and influencers with shoppers eager to get that item as fast as possible. When shoppers see the image, they tap the item and can save it or go straight to the store to buy it, or even the whole look.
On LiketoKnow.it users receive an email to sign up and, once subscribed, get a newsletter with the looks and items of their favorite influencers plus links to the stores to buy everything they see.
With apps like these, Google will capture the search traffic it doesn’t get from social hashtags.
With this new step, everyone involved wins:
• Google: it will redirect social traffic to its own search engine, capturing searches without relying on #hashtags.
• Influencers: their content will be seen by more people (followers and non-followers alike) since it’s indexed on Google and triggered by any search. This will increase competition among bloggers/Instagrammers to deliver quality content, which will matter more than follower count.
• Users: speed and immediacy to get that product with a single click.
The partnership is still in its early stages and already in beta for mobile devices in the United States. The two companies are now finalizing the revenue-sharing agreement between affiliates, Google and the influencer who originally created the content.
And while this makes its way to Google.es…
At Trilogi (TLG Commerce) we know how much these advances can do for the stores our agency builds, so we’ve got ahead of this new landscape with two initiatives that bring social content and Google search together: the creation of Shop Insta and a collaboration agreement with Photoslurp.
Creation of Shop Insta to get around Instagram’s ban in China: the tool enables quick purchases from the Instagram account images shown in the online store. This makes selling easier not only in China, where the social network isn’t allowed, but worldwide, since customers reach the product they want quickly through a social image.
Collaboration agreement with Photoslurp: this new app collects photos customers have posted with your store’s products. The best ones are then selected and linked to the product page for greater visual impact.
In short, content no longer comes only from the brand’s photo shoots and lookbooks: it’s in the hands of users who, depending on their social reach, will help increase the store’s conversion through their stories and images of the products.
