The Challenge

Grow LOFT’s Instagram following from 450K to 1M...ASAP.

MY ROLE

Content Strategy
Social Media Strategy
Creative Strategy

SUMMARY

With significantly fewer Instagram followers than similar competitive brands, LOFT set out to grow its follower count—and fast. Knowing followers flock to good content, that’s where I started.

After digging into LOFT’s engagement trends, I knew we had to better play to Instagram’s algorithm. We needed to let go of posting pretty images we at LOFT really wanted our fans to love—and instead post content our fans really wanted to see (and voted for with likes, comments and shares).

content mix

Under my guidance, we developed a winning formula that consisted of three major content categories: outfit flatlays, close-up clothing detail shots and influencer/UGC re-grams. We also reevaluated posting time, upped our community management game and broadened our influencer base.

influencers

Previously, much of LOFT’s social media budget went to large influencer platforms. While all the “shop my look” shout-outs were driving conversion, they weren’t generating authentic or viral brand love. To change that, I shifted LOFT’s strategy to include more micro- and nano-influencers—identified through their unsolicited comments, tags and direct messages to LOFT. 

Not only did these natural advocates help grow LOFT’s Instagram community, they also helped to broaden the brand’s appeal among women of more diverse ethnicities, clothing size and fashion style. Each month, we seeded these advocates with one hero look to style their unique way. The images they created did more for LOFT than the brand ever could have achieved in a studio photoshoot.