Twitter vs High Street Brands
I’m on Twitter. A lot. I can’t go a day without checking for the latest news headlines, sports rumours, funny gifs or, if I’m perfectly honest, to see if I’ve been mentioned/followed/retweeted. What I didn’t realise until about 6 months ago was how good Twitter is for independent brands.
Now I’m not a big anti-corporate guy, I use the high street brands as much as anyone else. Places like Topman and H&M are accountable for a lot my wardrobe. Yet the amount of money I have put in to Arcadia Group’s tills recently has drastically decreased. The reason for this (other than the target market veering more and more towards 19 year old students and me getting further and further away from 19 years old and student life) is simple: Twitter.
Back in November 2013 I discovered that there is a lot of love on twitter for beards. I have a beard and thought I’d dip my toe in to this online pool of beard appreciation. What I found was a community of users from all over the world; guys with beards, girls who like guys with beards, small brands that made beard grooming products and independent clothing companies that catered for a certain bearded style.
What first impressed me was generosity. I entered a competition by Big Red Beard Combs and The Mod Cabin, the prize being a pack of grooming products. Not just a couple of small bottles of something, a good $70 / £50 worth of gear. I was lucky enough to win this, meaning I had just been shown both the quality of products from two new brands in my life and just how powerful a social networking platform like Twitter can be for businesses other than the high street ‘big boys’.
Through following Big Red Beard Combs and The Mod Cabin, I came across many other companies. The past couple of months I have been buying clothes from small brands that may have only been around for a couple of years and may only have a selection of 3 or 4 garments but what they do have seems to be good quality, the exact style I want and at a price I can actually afford! I am very fussy when it comes to clothes, just ask my wife. She could pick out a top that is 99.9% my style and as soon as I see it I’ve replied “Nope” and discarded it within a second just because of one little detail or design. There is something about buying a T-Shirt for £40 in a shop that has four floors just to step back on to the busy pavements of Oxford Street and see 5 guys wearing the exact same thing before I have got to the tube station. It depresses me. I know what I like and, until recently discovering all these great online brands, I struggled to find it without looking like a copy of the shop window mannequin or every other bloke in the country.
The other part of this that I really like is the personal touch. You can actually talk to the guys running these brands, they are people who care about what they are creating and selling to the world. They care about their products, they are grateful for your custom, they understand that people buying the product is what makes the product a success. This friendliness can’t be found with high street brands. They are too big to care about each consumer, it is all about profit at a grand scale. I can’t say I have had ASOS tweet me asking how I liked my last purchase but, then again, I don’t expect them to. It’s just nice that the independent companies can. As I type this, the postman has just delivered my latest buy and I open to find a perfect example of what I am trying to say- a note that reads “Jamie. Cheers for another order bud, you rock! Enjoy reppin’ your tee! Stay Lucky x”. Not just a returns form that screams “Don’t want it? Just send it back, we don’t care. We sell enough to not let a few unsatisfied customers concern us”.
**At this point I want to emphasise again that I don’t hate the big brands like Topman, ASOS and the like. I will still shop at these places and I still like a fair amount of their stuff. I am trying to promote the independent companies rather than bad mouth the High Street chains but the way I have chosen to do this is by comparison.**
There are lots of people out there who “don’t get Twitter” and ask what the point of it is. I can see why people think it is a waste of time when they think it is just for users to tell the world “I just had some toast. #YOLO” and in that aspect I agree with them. I argue, though, that used properly it can be such a great way for young aspiring businesses to succeed. The Twitter universe is so huge yet there are pockets of it I am discovering catered specifically for my needs and interests and I am loving it.
For those of you who use Twitter, there is a huge number of great companies out there but let me introduce you to my favourites-
Clothing:
@StayLuckyCo / @S85Clothing / @BeardCircus
Grooming:
@BigRedBeardCombs / @TheModCabin / @FellowsSlicks
Comments