We all recognize it. The constant tweets by your favorite brands nagging you to "Like us on Facebook!" or "Check out the newest stock on our site!" Definitely annoying and in some forms desperate, but you are immediately drawn to the site. Whether it be Teen Vogue or Forever 21, the minute a Facebook post with a cool and eclectic picture is posted or a tweet asking for you thoughts on something is tweeted, clicking is much easier than not. Social media is turning into a way for brands and companies to market themselves and appeal to every aspect of the industry, especially teenagers and young adults that are scrolling through sites every hour of every day looking for the cutest and edgiest trends.
You may have heard about top name brands beginning to pay bloggers and Internet socialites to market their items and lines instead of celebrities nowadays (celebrities can charge up to $100,000 for wearing a shirt by a company out of the house while bloggers rates range from $100-plus) and that is entirely true. Think "The Man Repeller" and "The Blonde Salad." People pay them to travel around the world! Bloggers have made it so frequent and new shoppers can purchase items that aren't all designer labels and impossible to get if you are the "average" person, which is extremely relevant in today's society. We no longer have to sit in awe at a celebrity's latest Instagram post with a $15,000 bag in shock that we can't afford it. No one is interested if Miley Cyrus or Selena Gomez wore a pair of Balenciaga boots out to dinner, but what people do care about is the connection they feel with fashion bloggers and social media junkies who are day-to-day people with a real budget and no stylist besides their own eye.
The relationship between online and people you see on TV is that we are the newest generation of your so-called "celebrity." Even though bloggers, editors and models aren't always wealthy with insanely large houses and every pair of Chanel sunglasses in their closet: we are real. Without social media and an interaction with the public, brands wouldn't have the relativity that they do today. People will walk by the most adorable and unique top in the mall but if they are running late or just ran out of money, are most likely to continue walking even though the item will sit in the back of their mind for the rest of the evening. The minute you get home and sign onto your Gmail account, Twitter, Facebook and even Pinterest, 30-plus other clothing items will pop out at you right away. Emails from that exact brand with a coupon will bombard you, and almost immediately you have the shirt in your hands. Brands don't have a minute to pause their social media in the event of losing buyers attention.
We are hooked to technology. The bottom line is that social media has given the world a new way to shop and be interested in clothing. Bloggers are taking over, and will be the new generation of advertisement for every item, from household and food, to clothing and accessories. Don't expect us to disappear anytime soon.