Social Media Comparisons

I monitored the social media accounts of Topshop, River Island, H & M, New Look and Zara over the course of a week to gain an understanding of the levels of engagement on each page. I mainly focused on Instagram and looked at the amount of followers each brand had and compared this to the number of likes they are getting on each of the images. 

All of the retailers also use Instagram Stories as a way to try and boost their engagement and get more likes and views on their posts. 

Topshop

Topshop post on average three times a day, usually in the morning, afternoon and evening to try and get the most engagement. Their likes compared to their followers is a lot less, as the last three posts only got 18k, 10.5k and 73.6k likes compared with their 9.6 million followers. The combination of videos makes the page seem more engaging and interactive and the most recent videos have 63k and 10.6k views, which is still a low amount compared with their follower count. The number of likes each post gets fluctuates greatly with some getting a lot more than other posts. Topshop also has a separate account of the men's branch, Topman, which has significantly less followers than Topshop with only 641k.  

River Island

Like Topshop, River Island also on average post three times a day, usually in the morning, afternoon and evening once again. However they have a significantly lower engagement rate in terms of their followers and the number of likes on their posts. Compared with their 2.1 million followers, their last three posts had 1,922, 6,738 and 3,059 likes. Like with Topshop, River Island have a separate account for their mens wear, but this again has less followers with only 59.9k followers. Despite them having a lower follower count and less likes on their posts, the numbers they get are more consistent than with Topshop. 

H & M

H & M have one of the largest follower rates out of all of the five brands with only Zara having more followers. like with the other brands, despite their high follower count, the number of likes their posts get does not match this. On their three most recent posts the number of likes they have is 39k, 40.3k and 28.5k. They have a number of other accounts including one for mens wear and one for children's wear that could be the reason they have a high number of followers on this account as it can be seen as a brand for the whole family, which is something that Topshop cannot due to not selling children's clothes. 

New Look

New Look is a slightly cheaper alternative to Topshop, but has considerably less followers on Instagram than Topshop does. Like most of the other competitors, New Look does have a separate account for the men's range, but this is not advertised on the main page, making it less likely for people to go and view it. This could be one of the reasons New Look is considered to be less popular than Topshop despite it having a cheaper price range. The engagement on the posts is similar to that of the other competitors suggesting this does not always reflect the popularity of a brand.

Zara

Zara has the most followers out of all the brands which could be due to it's international success as well as it's considerable success in the UK. Unlike the other retailers, Zara does not have a separate account for men's wear, however, this does not impact negatively as the engagement on their posts is considerably higher than all of the other competitors. Due to them being an international brand and having such a large consumer base in Spain, this makes them extremely popular abroad as well as in the UK, which is a factor that Topshop have not got as much. Topshop does have stores abroad but they are mainly a British brand and are not as successful in Europe and America.