Back
Back
Back
17/10/22

Brands With The Best Social Media In 2022

Taking time to create an aesthetically pleasing Instagram grid can be time-consuming but the rewards can be even greater. Having a well-thought-out Instagram, not only makes a pleasant experience for users to browse through but also presents a brand as trustworthy, and reliable offering a desirable set of services or products. There is nothing worse than going on a brand’s social media and either nothing is there, or the quality is terrible. This immediately pushes people away and potentially into the presence of competitors whose social accounts may give off a better first impression.

Around 1.4 billion people use Instagram (for context that’s the total population of Europe and North America combined!), with 90% of users following a business. It is more crucial than ever for a business to have an organic social media presence, with over 50% of people have said they are more interested in a brand when they have come across the brand on social media.

We’re suckers for a good Instagram account and are regularly taking notes and researching what it is certain brands do well to engage their audience and build their following. We’ve pulled together some of our favourite fashion, beauty, and home brands to showcase what makes a good, engaging Instagram profile.

 

Top 3 Fashion Brands:

 

Let’s be real, we all love a good fashion haul, but the industry is saturated, and competition is fierce! Social media is a great way to stand out as a brand, showcase your business goals, build a community, and differentiate yourself– check out some of our favourite fashion brands’ social media accounts, they all make waves in the industry whilst taking different approaches on social.

 

We Are Tala  – 313k Followers

 

Talas’s goal is to create sustainable clothing that works alongside you, to help your performance in the gym and in day-to-day life and to look good while doing it, all for a lower price than those big cooperate companies.

This is a small business that is on the rise, created by the fabulous Grace Beverly (a YouTube sensation). They make it clear that fashion is the second most polluting industry in the world, and that all of us need to cut down on fast fashion and consumption to help the planet. Tala wants to be part of the solution with its sustainable, low costing and high-quality clothing – what’s not to love?

Their Instagram is a simplistic, aesthetic grid that represents all body types, and just feels like a safe space for all to enjoy with the smiling faces, positive words and of course the GORGEOUS clothing. They use reels, carousels and static images of the models wearing the clothing as well as using humour in their content.

In their posts they include the model’s handle on Instagram and the product that they are wearing, and, in some posts, they explain the products, materials and how to style it which is great for customers when deciding to purchase a specific product, especially when looking at models similar to their body size. Their captions vary in size from quick little captions to long and descriptive ones, which immediately shows off that long captions are more important and the user should read into them.

Their use of models and tagging them within the captions helps smaller influencers with their growth as well as visibility, which is a great strategy from Grace, as she was once a young and smaller Youtuber. She also uses influencer marketing such as Zara McDermott from season 4 of Love Island which promotes gym brands as well as healthy living, which is a great collaboration.

Their stories are based on the product type with models wearing them with the colours available which are great marketing tools as well as showing influencers trying the products and posting on their stories which are contained into the stories for potential customers to look into.

Whether it’s in the posts, captions, videos or stories, the key theme throughout Tala, is “we”. It’s an incredibly inclusive brand with “wearetala” as their handle and all over their site and social media, which is really admirable as a consumer.

 

 

 

Pretty Little Thing – 18.7M Followers

 

If you’ve not heard of this brand – which is VERY unlikely, they are taking our social media feeds by storm with their famous pink-themed everything and their adorable unicorn logo. PLT are an accessible, affordable clothing brand that uses influencers to entice customers to purchase their clothing and accessories. You will have seen them all over billboards, ads on TV and of course, all over Instagram.

This brand’s Instagram is just as iconic as the name itself with the grid filled with every influencer, and celeb you can imagine. They represent their clothing with all sizes included as they have a campaign called #everyBODYinPLT which is a fantastic movement, as in the past not all sizes have been included in fast fashion, inspiring confidence, and equality.

They post not only their clothes but mention all celeb news, like the Emmy awards, Molly Maes’s surprise pregnancy reveal and so much more – using the news to their advantage to put their pink prink on everything and anything. They have also released “ The Market Place” where customers can re-sell, re-wear and recycle their clothing, keeping within the sustainable trend which is great for the environment and keeping their brand image clean and keeping up with other competitors which offer similar services.

 

H & M – 38.5M Followers

 

H&M are a Swedish fast fashion company that took the UK market by storm, providing fashionable clothing for a low price, with a sustainable element by its side. They have a campaign called “divided” which caters its product to be inclusive to absolutely everyone, no matter the shape, size or colour which is a fantastic element.

These values are represented on Instagram, which promotes the products in the best way by using the models to highlight how good everyone can look in clothes that follow the trends and seasons, all for a low price.

One of their main competitors is Zara, this is reflected in their social media strategy, as they are similar, yet distinctive. H&M have themes for each season which differentiates the range of clothing, making it noticeably clear what’s in trend. They make each change in theme noticeable different by using the style of clothing and colours. They also use people of all ages, races, and genders to showcase the inclusivity that the brand stands by.

One thing that is really interesting about H&M’s Instagram profile, Is that in their captions they only use 1 hashtag which is #hm, which shows that the brand doesn’t need any recognition from the explore page, as the traffic they are driving is significant enough that they don’t need hashtags to increase that. They also provide all clothing names and codes, for customers to be able to purchase the clothing online or on the app.

 

Top 3 Beauty Brands:

These top 3 brands, make makeup look easy and of course, satisfying for both the experts and the beginners.

 

Mac Cosmetics – 24.5M Followers

 

Mac Cosmetics is one the most well-known makeup brands In the world, with their products being sold in over 120 countries. Their goal is to provide luxury make-up for a reasonable price, without doing any tests on animals and without the nasty ingredients that some other brands use.

They pride themselves on their call out “All ages, All Races & All Genders” this is reflected in their social media strategy, with the makeup being used on everyone, displaying what colours and products would suit which skin colour and eye colour allowing everyone to feel included. They showcase new products and old iconic favourites like Nude Velvet Teddy and Ruby Woo.

In their content, they include the handles of the models and the makeup artists used to provide recognition of the talent as well as create a relationship with aspiring artists that one day their work might appear on Mac Cosmetics’ social media. With the detailed makeup videos, they mention the products they used and in what order, which helps customers when wanting to create a certain look and need specific products.

In terms of frequency, Mac posts twice a day, with videos and reels to keep their content in front of their followers. They also post user-generated content frequently which again sparks hope for other artists and influencers while providing interesting and informational content.

 

Harrods Beauty – 118k Followers

 

Harrods Beauty is a new business avenue for Harrods, they offer the world’s best makeup brands, skincare brands and perfume brands that allow you to self-indulge and experience luxury in its true form in stores near you, giving you a makeup experience to die for.

In their social media strategy, they implement the iconic H and the emerald green to remind people that they are looking at the account of one of the world’s most famous luxury brands that have ever existed. Since this is Harrods, all consumers know that any brands mentioned, are high quality and trustworthy, and that is due to the image that Harrods has created.

Harrods uses videos, help guides, images of people using the brand, the experience of Harrods Beauty, brands and so much more creating a varied social media platform that entertains as well as informs the new venture that Harrods has taken.

 

Sephora – 21M Followers

 

Sephora is an international brand that is soon launching in the UK (we really can’t wait). They sell makeup from all brands from high-end to drug stores.

Their Instagram strategy is to be informed of how to use the products, what you need product wise and how the products can create fantastic looks that suit all skin types. Sephora’s grid is filled with colours, video tutorials and so much more.

 

Top 3 Home Brands:

Now to the best bit – the home accounts!

 

Home sense – 684k Followers

 

Home sense is one of the UK’s favourite stores that provides the most amazing home décor, furniture (and the occasional great find of some skincare products – the best bit)

“Everyday essentials. Fab finds. Irresistible prices”

Home sense runs multiple campaigns for sustainability, showing they are passionate about creating a positive and sustainable impact in the world and continuously looking for ways to minimise the impact on the planet – for us, this is a huge green flag for a business.

Not only are they a great business with great morals, but their Instagram is also just gorgeous. With inspirational posts to make your home look amazing, it’s nice to look at. They showcase their products in the best way, by representing a lot of styles that people have, and incorporating their products into that style. Catering for all audiences of all ages.

I mean, who doesn’t love going to Home Sense wanting something in specific, and then leaving with 10 candles and everything except what you went in there for?

 

 

Zara home – 7.5M Followers

 

Oh Zara… we love you (except for your online website)

Not only do they provide the most trendy and gorgeous clothing, but their homeware is just next level.

Thanks to Kimmy K, the simplistic, timeless, and nude décor has stuck around, and we are here for it. Zara home provides décor for the simple and bright aesthetic lifestyle, perfect for any room type, any theme and any budget whilst being eco-friendly and sustainable.

Luckily for us, their Instagram page is NOTHING like their interesting and controversial website, they highlight their products being used in the most aesthetically pleasing rooms we’ve ever seen. From décor to bedsheets to the furniture itself, Zara does it all and for a great price!

Creating and posting aesthetically pleasing content will allow users to aspire to create similar spaces in their homes and use products from Zara, due to the content that is frequently placed in front of them. They not only showcase one type of living space and style, but they cater to dark and small rooms with themes that different people are interested in to ensure they are reaching all their demographics.

Their captions tend to be descriptive and long to really capture the essence of the product and the materials used and the story behind them, which adds meaning and character to all posts and products. This is great to consider for a home account, as it’s going into someone’s home and becoming a part of their lives so that additional touch is really comforting.

 

The White Company – 971K Followers

 

The White Company has been creating and producing stylish and gorgeous products for over 25 years, this brand Is known for its luxurious and high-quality products such as the Seychelles scented candles or their incredibly soft Pyjamas.

Their social media carries out their luxury yet comfortable approach, with their bright and natural posts, showcasing their amazing products and how you can use these products in your day-to-day life.

Their strategy is more professional, and sleeker compared to others, without reels on how to use the products, it’s more of an aesthetic approach to keep their luxury image in place – however it’s so nice to look at we really don’t mind.

Similar to H&M, The White Company only includes one hashtag on all posts which is their brand name, and their captions are very basic, with information about the model and the product. They also mention “tap to shop” on most posts which is a great call to action to have, especially for an e-commerce brand that has a shop on Instagram which allow the user journey to be much shorter.

Due to the brand being very sophisticated and luxurious, the use of emojis and humorous captions are non-existent, however as a consumer who loves the brand, it’s a nice touch.

 

So let’s be honest, there are thousands and thousands of brands out there on Instagram absolutely slaying the marketing and every brand has a different niche that entices customers to shop with them over their competitors and that’s why this blog is so interesting to write as an agency, as doing competitor research on what other brands are doing and not even necessarily brands similar to your business just to see what others are doing, how they are doing it and how it’s working for them.

Here at Talking Stick Digital, whether it’s PPC, organic or social media we believe strongly in competitor research and helping brands differentiate themselves to stand out. Contact us today for some advice on how to conduct competitor research or even some tips on how to make your social media really stand out.