This year we had the pleasure of managing the social media content for THE COLLECTIONS, a fashion events and production company producing 7 shows for World Mastercard Fashion Week.

Prior to the week long event, we met with managing director Mel Ashcroft to go over goals, direction and to synchronize accounts.

We ensured all their designers were given individual saved searches in Hootsuite so we could monitor the chatter and retweet posts easily. And we followed all industry relevant users and sponsors and noted all relevant usernames and hashtags so they could be used throughout the event.

We also recommended the use of Vine, a relatively new platform from twitter for posting short video clips. Our team had already been playing with Vine personally but thought it would be a fun tool for this type of event.

“I’d never heard of Vine, but when Alice showed it to me, it looked prefect for our needs and I’m glad we had someone experienced to manage it rather than having to learn it ourselves during such a busy time.”

– Mel Ashcroft, Managing Director THE COLLECTIONS

The plan was to have one person positioned at a different angle than the photographers to ensure a different look. Armed with an iPad and a iPhone, they would manage live video uploads on Vine and photos on Instagram using THE COLLECTIONS accounts synced to twitter and with the option of posting to Facebook. Although we limited Facebook posts so as not to detract from the professional shots that would be posted to Facebook up to 24 hours after each show.

We wanted one person rather than a team to minimize duplication and/or over-saturation of the message and to avoid unnecessarily complicated coordination in such a fast-paced setting. However, that one person had to be familiar with the tools and applications technically to manage both devices and multiple apps at such a rapid pace. With each showing lasting about 15 minutes, there’s not much room for error. They also needed to understand the client’s desired look and message and have enough style and creativity to draw in a very visually focused audience. And finally they needed to be capable of handling public relations communications in a fun but professional and highly specialized field.

“Many companies leave their social media to interns or junior team members but we just didn’t want to chance it. The right look is everything in this business and with so much already invested in the event, it just made more sense to hand it off to a professional.

Alice took the time to understand our business and helped guide our message. We trusted her to engage professionally with designers, models, media, and fans alike and never hesitate to ask for a good shot or a great quote. We knew she was familiar with the tools and our social media has never looked better!”

– Mel Ashcroft, Managing Director THE COLLECTIONS

Leading up to each show we monitored chatter, engaged with audiences, and took a few behind the scenes teasers but were careful not to give away too much of the designs. The focus was on showcasing the experience.

Post-show we showed designers being interviewed and models being photographed to give a complete behind the scenes feel so even those who attended the show still got an exclusive look through social media.

Throughout the week we also regularly checked social media to engage with the audience, making sure audience messages and photos, media posts, and designers and sponsors messages were reposted in a timely manner to capture momentum and build buzz.

Designers like Chloé comme Parris trended in Toronto on the first night of fashion week on twitter and throughout the week we looked for trending hashtags to build viewership.

THE COLLECTIONS also hired 2 professional photographers, one for the runway and one for behind the scenes. Both photographers had a 24 hour turnaround times so we worked with the photographers tweeting when photos were posted on Facebook and reposting images with apps like pic stitch to summarize and highlight the designs on instagram to have both the “instant” and “polished” looks ready to be liked and shared on the various channels.

We worked out general posting guidelines, frequency, messaging, and overall goals with the team ahead of time to ensure the right feel for the event.

Our main focus was providing viewers who were not able to attend the event a live, at the event feel and to showcase the designers. Our secondary goals were to highlight the production work behind the shows to showcase the team, something that is difficult to do when the team manages their own social media, and build audience interaction and following.

As a production team, most of THE COLLECTIONS work is behind the scenes but Fashion Week is the perfect time to build their brand. With an article in the Globe and Mail, and 7 exceptional designers, it was a great opportunity to build brand awareness and content.

To view THE COLLECTIONS social media find them on instagram, twitter, and vine @fsncollections or visit their facebook page.

For more information on Social Media for events please contact Alice at (647) 895-4881 or by clicking on contact.