How has Social Media Influenced the Fashion Industry: The case of Instagram

The use of social media as a means of communication has increased dramatically over the past few years. Social media has proved to be a good method for engaging with customers and enhance the relationship between organizations and consumers. It is then therefore imperative for fashion brands to use this new method of marketing to attract and engage with their customers. This research aims to look at how social media marketing enables consumer engagement with fashion brands on Instagram and has three main objectives: 1. To explore the extent to which the target population engages with social media. 2. To ascertain consumers´ level of engagement with fashion brands on Instagram. 3. To determine the role of fashion influencers on Instagram. A qualitative approach to data collection was taken in this research to gain rich and detailed data. Data was collected using in-depth interviews among twelve participants. Moreover, an inductive approach was taken and the researcher made use of thematic analysis to analyse information. The research study found that participants were well engaged with fashion brands on social media, specifically Instagram. Overall, it was found that Instagram is indeed one of the most used platforms by fashion brands to advertise their products. Furthermore, participants agreed that fashion influencers are the new marketing tool for fashion brands to increase their online presence and engage with their audience