SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT OF FASHION BRANDS IN TURKEYA STUDY TO EVALUATE MARCOM EFFORTS IN SOCIAL MEDIA Ferah ONAT Faculty

of Communication / Assist. Prof. Dr. Yaar niversitesi Seluk Yaar Kamps, niversite Cad, Aalyol, No: 35 37 Bornova ZM h.onat@yasar.edu.tr ten Duygu ALLI Faculty of Communication / R. A. Yaar niversitesi Seluk Yaar Kamps, niversite Cad, Aalyol, No: 35 37 Bornova ZM n.duygu@yasar.edu.tr ABSTRACT The effects of internet usage on consumers have spread over the years. As the ti me spent on the Internet increases, marketing communication professionals and ad vertisers try different ways to reach target consumers. At this point, web 2.0-s ocial media is the most popular choice nowadays. In this study, six Turkish fash ion brands social media engagement is observed for a specific period. The sample is chosen from the report of Social Bakers latest engagement of Turkish brands. T he aim of the research is to find out which marketing communications efforts mat ch social media applications and practices. The practices and applications will be evaluated according to five components of marketing communications mix. In t his case, social media facilities of brands will be evaluated in a matrix where specific key variables will be structured considering the components of social m edia engagement and marketing communications mix. Key Words: Marketing Communications Mix, Social Media, Fashion Brands, Public Re lations, Advertising JEL Classification: M30 1. INTRODUCTION

Traditional media has lost its popularity for advertising creatives and marketer s in recent years. They started seeking new solutions to manage their budgets to provide more effectiveness with less expenditure. Consequently, they reorganize MarCom efforts considering technological developments, economic downsizing and ascending needs and wants of consumers. On the other hand, consumers are turning away from the traditional sources of ad vertising: radio, television, magazines and newspapers. Consumers also consisten tly demand more control over their media consumption. They require on-demand and immediate access to information at their own convenience (Vollmer & Precourt, 2 008). Therefore, both marketers and advertising creatives prefer social media to communicate with consumers. Consumers also prefer social media to build up stro ng relationships with brands, share their opinions and seek information. Social media seems one of the best ways to satisfy those needs mentioned. Social networ ks like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Flickr, Friend Feed creates new online commu nities for every sector. According to May results, the biggest Facebook pages in terms of number of fans belong to the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) sector, followed by the fashion industry which is at the second place (http://www.socia lbakers. com/blog/160-fmcg-brands-are-the-biggest-category-on-facebook/, 04.07.2 011). In this study, the fashion brands which are active on Facebook, the bigges t online community among social networks, will be analyzed in terms of MarCom ef forts. 2. MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

The term marketing communications (MarCom) became a part of our lives when messa ge clutter had started weakening the effect of marketing facilities. Advertising agencies and other marketing executives tended to use the elements of MarCom to gether. According to Kotler and Armstrong, MarCom mix is the specific blend of a dvertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling and direct marke ting tools that the company uses to persuasively communicate customer value and

build customer relationships (2008: 398). As Altstiel and Grow stated, MarCom to some people takes in every form of marketing communication. Others describe MarC om as every form of promotion thats not traditional advertising. Traditional adve rtising usually covers print, television, radio and some forms of outdoor advert ising. Nontraditional promotion includes direct marketing, sales promotion, point of sale, public relations, e mail, online advertising, search engine marketing, mobile, social networks, guerilla marketing, viral / buzz, word of mouth, and ev erything else you can attach a logo, slogan or message to (2010: 17 18). From the second point of view, traditional advertising media stays out of MarCom mix. On the other hand, the first aspect supports MarCom subsumes advertising. Integrated marketing communications (IMC) brings the tools that constitute MarCo m together in a plan. If MarCom tools are united into a single campaign, which m eans IMC plan combines every element of MarCom, featuring advertising. Figure- 1: An Integrated Marketing Communications Program Source: Altstiel and Grow: 2010: 18. As seen in Figure 1, the elements of MarCom are clustered round in a campaign th eme. For a successful IMC program, these elements must be used together appropri ately. These elements will be explained below the next subtitle. 2.1. The Tools of MarCom Mix The fundamentals of a marketing process flock together in a MarCom mix. It basic ally consists of five components. The tools of marketing communications mix are (Kotler & Armstrong, 2008: 398 399): Advertising: Any paid form of nonpersonal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services. Sales Promotion: Short term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale of a p roduct or service. Public Relations: Building good relations with the companys various publics by o btaining favorable publicity, building up a good corporate image, and heading of f unfavorable rumors, stories and events. Personal Selling: Personal presentation by the firms sales force for the purpose of making sales and building customer relationships. Direct Marketing: Direct connections with carefully targeted individual consume rs to both obtain an immediate response and cultivate lasting customer relations hips. These tools can be integrated to prepare an effective plan. Different combinatio ns are also possible if the budget is limited. At this point, creative execution s are important. The components of MarCom mix should be brought together with d istinctive creative strategies. MarCom mix is generally used while structuring the marketing plan of a brand. A successful MarCom plan is made up of six steps which are identifying the target audience, determining the response sought, choosing the message and the channel, selecting the sources attributes and collecting feedback (Blythe, 2006: 51). Det ermining the exact target audience would prevent spending more from the budget. Nevertheless, the brand would not allow making message clutter and the right mes sage would reach the right group of consumer at the right time and place. Once t he message meets target consumers, during and post tests should be done to measu re if the goals are reached or not. Feedbacks are also important in terms of bui lding up an on going organic structure with consumers: An interactive relationsh ip which companies can see their weaknesses and deficiencies immediately. Thus, feedbacks are another way of building strong brands with target consumers. 3. SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media has been one of the most popular communication and marketing tools

since the emergence of social networking applications on the Internet. Social me dia features are used not only in connecting friends, but also in marketing prod ucts or services. Kate Trgovac expresses that social media is about passion. She offers nine steps to engage with passion and learn about social media tools whi ch are commenting on a blog or podcast, uploading photos and videos, writing rev iews, joining and participating in a social network, writing entries, participat ing in a mashup and showing off expertise in social media (Altstiel & Grow, 2010 : 248 249). As aforementioned, most of these steps are about participation and i nteraction. Social media enables people to stay connected to each other. With th e help of social media facilities, individuals become a member of a virtual comm unity. Online communities existing in social media bunch people who share similar attit udes or common interests together. Web 2.0 technology has made it possible for al most everyone to belong some kind of online community where people share interes ts or activities. They can also involve people who are interested in exploring t he activities of others or telling others about their interests (Altstiel & Grow, 2010: 247 248). As Alikl stated, Millions of consumers have embraced social media a s new powerful marketing communication tool to generate their content, post thei r opinions, share their experiences by having online conversations(2009: 271). Th us, this characteristic of social media provides advantages to marketers. They u se social media as a marketing communications tool by supporting the executions with WOMM. Brian Solis, in his famous book Engage (2010: 3) explained the oppurtunities of s ocialized media as in the following: Rewired the processes by which consumers sha re experiences, expertise, and opinions, broadened the channels available to con sumers who seek information, changed how companies approach markets, altered how companies develop products, remodeled the processes by which companies connect with and show appreciation for their customers, transformed the method of influe nce, augmenting the ranks of traditional market experts and thought leaders with enthusiasts and innovators who self-create content-publishing platforms for the ir views, facilitated customers direct engagement in the conversations that were previously taking place without their participation. 3.1. Social Media as a MarCom Medium Social media is reinventing MarCom and the dissemination of information. While b usinesses now have access to these rich channels, the true promise of social med ia lies in the direct connections between people who represent companies and the people who define markets of interest. Social media applications like games, co mpetitions, viral marketing, sharing corporate and brand news, getting traffic t o corporate and internet marketing web sites are among the main social media eng agement vehicles. The first role of social media is consistent with the use of t raditional IMC tools. That is, companies can use social media to talk to their c ustomers through such platforms as blogs, microblogs and social networking sites . These media may either be companysponsored or sponsored by other individuals or organizations. The second promotion-related role of social media is unique: cus tomers can use it to communicate with one another is an extension of traditional word-of-mouth communication (Mangold & Faulds, 2009: 358). The roles of social media in MarCom emphasize on creating conversation with consumers that is suppor ted by interactive relationship. Commercial information is also delivered throug h social network sites. They are a combination of personal diary and a social cl ub. The networks are easy to join in, and it is also easy to send messages to ot her members. Social networks have a trendmaking force among people (Moriarty, Mit chell & Wells, 2009: 104). A growing number of companies keep advertising on social networking Web sites su ch as Bebo, Buzznet, Facebook and MySpace. According to a research firm, namely eMarketer, in the year 2010, over $2 billion per year is spent on advertising on

these types of Web sites (Clow & Baack, 2010: 61). In 2011 report which publish ed in 20th June, only Facebook display revenues are about $2.19 billion (---, ht tp://www.emarketer.com/ Articles/Print.aspx?1008449, 29.06.2011). According to the data given, brands ar e aware of the power of social network marketing and the budget spent on social network marketing is increasing year by year. The power of social network sites in spreading word of mouth attracted many companies and institutions to take par t in the game. Today, many trade and nontrade institutions have profiles, fan pag es and launching applications especially in Facebook connected to other social m edia websites with different features like YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Friend Feed , Tumblr, Bookmarklet, Stumble, etc. 3.2. The Use of WOMM in Social Media IMC sometimes use nontraditional methods as well as the traditional ones. Word of mouth marketing (WOMM) is one of the most helpful non traditional MarCom method s. WOMM always has an effective power on consumers. When people naturally become advocates of a product because they are satisfied customers, its called organic w ord of mouth. When marketers launch campaigns to accelerate WOM, that is when it becomes WOMM; influencers spread the message. The key to successful WOMM is not h ow many consumers you please but rather how many influencers you reach to spread the message for you (Altstiel & Grow, 2010: 285). If consumers use the product a nd get satisfaction, they tell other consumers to have the same gratification. T his is the difference between organic word of mouth and word of mouth marketing. Users dont have to use the product to attend word of mouth marketing, an effecti ve creative idea or little persuasion is enough to spread the message. As mentioned before, social media has a trend making force among people. Users t end to share the products and services with the online communities that they bel ong to. If viewers or friends of a brand like the content in the page, it will of ten generate word of mouth buzz (Clow & Baack, 2010: 280). At this point, word of mouth marketing has an avalanche effect between individuals. The advantage of on line WOMM is that your message does not fade after a one on one conversation. It keeps multiplying, even if at a decelerating rate (Altstiel & Grow, 2010: 285). The continuing effect of WOMM keeps growing at online communities. Once users li ke the content, they start to share it within the social networks. The message m ultiplies lots of times by being shared. 4. SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT OF FASHION BRANDS IN TURKEY Social media is used by many Turkish brands as well as global brands to promote their products and services, to create a virtual community made up heavy users ( to create brand loyalty) or to construct an interactive relationship with target consumers. Marketers and advertising agencies utilize the members of social net works to reach their marketing and promotional goals. They embed the tools of Ma rCom mix to social media. Hence, the aim of this research is to find out which M arCom efforts match social media applications and practices. Social media appli cations are one of the best ways to reach the target audience and create convers ation so that their purchasing behavior can be configured. In other words, socia l media sways consumers minds. Therefore, research companies specialized in socia l media statistics such as comScore and Social Bakers are in demand for marketer s and agencies. Consequently, the sample group is chosen from the Social Bakers l atest engagement of Turkish brands report. Social Bakers is one of the biggest Facebook statistics portals in the world, provides a wide range of analyses and statistics for many different countries. The portal mentioned prepares a huge v ariety of data, including usage habits of consumers and interactivity reports of brands that utilize social media. Thus, the sample group of this study will be structured according to Social Bakers actual analyses. Facebook integrates all social media features in one platform and social network s are connected to other social media Web sites like Twitter, Filckr, Stumble, T

umblr, blogs, etc. As mentioned before, the brands that use Facebook as a social media application will be analyzed in this study. In other words, the limitati on of this study is analyzing fashion brands which are mostly active on Facebook . Facebook is a suitable platform to demonstrate clothes and create a visual ima ge of fashion brands like television and magazines with providing limitless spac e to publish or give connections to commercial photographs and videos. According to Social Bakers report, Turkey takes the 5th place among 213 countrie s in using Facebook. The sequencing from the top goes on like this: USA , Indon esia, U.K. and India. USA is the leader with more than 151 million users, follow ed by nearly 40 million by Indonesia, 30 million from UK and India (http://www.s ocialbakers.com/ facebook-statistics/turkey#chart-intervals, 29.06.2011). At thi s point, target groups come into question. Brands which target younger groups of consumers utilize the advantages of Facebook. According to latest age distribut ion of Facebook users age distribution in Turkey, more than a half of Facebook us ers are at the ages between 18 and 44. (http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-sta tistics/turkey#chart-intervals, 29.06.2011). Successful online marketing concepts such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and Twitter have connected millions and must continue to evolve to retain the loyalty of an increasingly fickle and tech savvy generation (Altstiel & Grow, 2010: 237). As seen, using the Internet i s very necessary for this age range. Online shopping is one of their consumption habits. As mentioned before, fashion industry grows fast enough to have the second place in terms of number of fans in Facebook pages. Hence, the scope of this study is limited with the fashion brands. Lauren Indvik states that marketers havent limi ted their social media use to big campaigns in the year 2010. In fact, many fash ion brands have released a steady stream of content on their companies websites, as well as platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and iOSvia mobile applicatio ns (2010, http://mashable.com/2010/10/05/fashion-social-media-2010/, 30.06.2011) . For example, Diesel is one of the global brands that use social media effectiv ely. With the help of social interaction on web, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouT ube, Blogs and e mails, Diesel builds up intra group communication quickly (Aktul u, Einli & all, 2010: 248). In the year 2011, these applications are improved by ma rketers, advertising creatives, fashion experts and social network members thems elves. Social Bakers publishes Facebook statistics weekly. At the first week of June, t he most popular fashion brands in Turkey are listed in this order: Table 1: Facebook Pages Statistics in Turkey Tagged As Fashion # BRAND # BRAND 1. OXXO 6. Aker Earp 2. Markafoni 7. LC Waikiki 3. Zhre Pardes 8. LTB Jeans 4. Armine 9. Alamarka 5. Matra Deri 10. Koton The classifications of the fashion brands, which are analyzed in this study, are made according to the data given by Social Bakers. As seen in Table 1, all bran ds in fashion category are not fashion brands indeed. Markafoni and Alamarka are web sites that sell many fashion brands on daily sales. Thus they are excluded from the sample of the research. The rest of them are all Turkish fashion brands . 6 columns are drawn in order to classify MarCom efforts in social media and so cial media engagement. As Solis stated, conversation seems to be contributing al l MarCom mix elements and word of mouth efforts and became the most important fa ct in social media engagement.Creating conversation is added to the matrix as a MarCom mix element instead of personal selling. The columns are advertising, pu blic relations, sales promotion, direct marketing (online shopping traffic is in cluded in) and creating conversation.

Fashion Brands(7-24/6/2011) Advertising (Total) Public Relations Sales Promotion Direct Marketing Conservation OXXO (466.888 fans) Messages:1 Likes:231 Comments:59 Messages:5 Likes:759 Com.:49 Messages: 20 Likes: 1721 Com: 737 All sales promotion messages are directed to website. : 1 Questionnaire Answer: 500+ Zhre Pardes (165.465 fans) Messages: 8 (Product displays are inc.) Likes: 6365 Com.: 700 Messages: 7 (Links to corporate blog inc.) Likes: 1331 Com:121 Messages: Likes: Com: - Messages: Likes: Com:- Messages: Likes: Com: Armine (132.975 fans) Messages:5 Likes:228 Com:24 Messages: 2 Likes:395 Com:45 Messages:43 Likes: 4853 Com:1579 Messages: Likes: Com:- Messages: Likes: Com: Matra Deri (129.515 fans) Messages:5 Likes: 228 Com:27 Messages: 1 Likes:26 Com: - Messages: Likes: Com: - Messages: Likes: Com:- Messages: Likes: Com: Aker Earp (115.829 fans) Messages: Likes: Com: - Messages: Likes: Com: - Messages: 8 Likes:1724 Com: 12154 Messages:4 Likes:480

Creating

Messages

Com:4298 Messages: Likes: Com: LC Waikiki (104.587 fans) Messages:9 Likes:1341 Com: - Online catalogue) Likes: 356 Com:58 Messages:2 Likes:288 Com:68 Messages: Likes: Com:- Messages: Likes: Com: -

Messages: 4

OXXO is a casual wear and young fashion brand. All of the clothes are designed i n Turkey and and 95% of them are produced in Turkey (http://www.oxxo.com.tr/ Kur umsal/, 7 24.06.2011). The homepages of the company web site and online shopping site contain both Facebook and Twitter buttons to connect visitors to social net works. The company is announced as the most social media engaged fashion brand i n Turkey. The number of fans is more than 500 thousand and they increased 13,65% during the research period. The social media applications of the company most o f the time aimed to announce sales promotion element in the MarCom mix. Lottery campaigns, discounts are the most posted messages in the wall of the Facebook pa ge of the company. Lottery campaigns lead consumers to online shopping site and to buy clothes from that shopping site. The lotteries are organized in the eveni ng hours when the users have enough time to follow the messages and directions t o attend. There were totally 737 comments under these messages. Fans of the page sometimes demonstrate their disappointments towards their loss in the lottery. They seem to have great excitement to win a discount or a present in the lottery . They also express their suspicions about the lottery that there may have been an unethical choice among the participants. So these suspicious expressions show the need for urgent regulations in the social media marketing campaigns. If the page admin fails to answer questions of the fans they give angry reactions to t he ignorance. OXXO also uses Facebook pages as online shopping customer service. They answer questions about venue of the shops and product defects. The company also uses the page for advertising in the MarCom mix. They announce a new colle ction by using product photographs. The fans make comments about the clothes fro m scarf to shoe by demonstrating their impression about the harmony of the colle ction. OXXO also uses Hootsuit.com to compose and track messages to the wall pos ts. (http://www.facebook. com/?ref=home#!/OXXO, 08.06.2011) Zhre Pardes produces quality cover clothings for Muslim women who wear conservativ e clothes, called tesettr. There has been 13.19% increase in the number of fans dur ing the research period. Zhre Pardes uses its corporate blog, zuhrekadin.com to comm unicate with consumers. The content of the blogposts are carefully chosen to dra w attention of the target audience of the company. They also use their Twitter a ccount (with 164 followers) to post the links of the Facebook wall posts and the blogposts. Wall posts in Facebook page is published in different languages like Arabic, Fre nch and English (http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/ZuhrePardesu, 7 4.06.2011). The admin also gives answers to the questions asked in comments in these languag es. They are using the page most of the time for advertising and public relation s in the MarCom mix. They are demonstrating the photographs of the products and getting comments about the products from the fans. The admin of the page publish es the names and addresses of the franchisers to the wall of the fans who asks t he venue of the shops that sell the clothes of Zhre. This seems an intrusion to t he fans own profile but the admin insists on publishing the adresses to create a

fake word of mouth by using the fans. Armine also produces conservative Muslim woman clothes and scarfs. The company u ses social media accounts for social media marketing and customer service purpos es. Questions about selling points in different cities are replied as soon as po ssible, sometimes in the same minute. The company uses especially Facebook page for sales promotion in marketing communication mix (http://www.facebook.com/armi nemoda ?ref=ts, 07 - 24.06.2011). Armine organizes lottery for discount and in t hese lottery campaigns Armine aims to create word of mouth by the recommendation of fans. One campaigns message was Recommend the page to 20 of your friends to ha ve a chance to attend 50 TL discount present. Another one is related with comment s of the fans- named Write the best comment and win a scarf!. Page fans are giving too much response to the wall posts related with the sales promotion messages l ike other companies fans. Theyre sometimes thanking the quality of the products, s ometimes complaining about expensive prices. Armine doesnt have a blog but it has a Twitter account with 347 followers. The number of Facebook fans has been incr eased 6.7% during the research period. Matra Deri (Leather) is a famous high quality leather garments and accesories bra nd. The brands origin is Turkish. Matra uses only Facebook for social media engage ment . The brands Facebook page is used for advertising, sales promotion to creat e traffic to online shopping site (http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/matrasder i, 07 24.06.2011). The brand rarely uses the page to publish its social responsi bility projects. The brand gave less emphasis to social media visibility during the research period so it is observed that the number of fans of Facebook page h as been declined 0.07% during the research. Aker Earp (Scarf) is a famous scarf brand in Turkey. The target audience of the b rand is conservative Muslim women. The Facebook page of the company has Youtube and Twitter connections. There are also videos downloaded in the Facebook page t hat are related with the products and production processes of the scarves. The c ompany uses Facebook page for the purposes of sales promotion and direct marketi ng in the MarCom mix. The interesting point is that Aker gives too much importan ce to online community relations. For example there is a video of the factory to ur of the Facebook fans of Aker. There are thousands of comments under each post . The comments have become a forum where Aker fans talk about the products and l ots of issues. The content of the comments ranging from their daily issues to na tional elections in Turkey. The admin of the Facebook page has also become the c lose friend of the fans. They are calling her (as an assumption) not only to sta rt the lottery but also to join the conversation. It can be said that the compan y is forming a virtual community and running relations with that community via F acebook account. The number of Facebook fans has been increased 3.16 % during th e research period. LC Waikiki is a casual wear fashion brand with affordable prices. The brands targ et audience is everyone in every age and collections vary from underwear to coat . LCW uses Facebook page for almost every type of marketing communication mix. L CW demonstrates the newest products, announces sales promotions, creates convers ation, publishes media announcements (http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/lcwaik iki, 724.06.2011). The brand also have a Facebook page for carrier with13.345 fan s (http://www.facebook.com/ ?ref=home#!/LCWaikikiKariyer, 724.06.2011). The wall posts are published and questions are answered by human resources department. Th e number of fans of the companys Facebook page has been increased 11.01% during t he research period. It can be said that social media engagement efforts of the b rand gave positive outcomes. 5. CONCLUSION

Fashion brands that use social media as a MarCom effort generally use similar ta ctics. Common features of the social media engaged fashion brands are listed bel

ow: Web sites of companies are all connected to the profiles in the social networkin g sites and to corporate blogs. All brands have online shopping sites and aim to create traffic to their online shopping sites. All brands post goodwill messages in special days like Fathers Day, Mothers Day, and Valentines Day. These messages not only create conversation opportunity with fans but also give ideas for presents in these days. The brands that have an effort to raise their social media engagement by publish ing posts to create traffic both to their online shopping sites and Facebook app lications have increased their number of Facebook fans. Only one of 6 brands Face book page has declined in the number of fans. Rest of the pages gained new follo wers ranging from 13.65 % to 3.16%. It is possible to say that there is a positive correlation between number of pos ts published on walls of Facebook and the percentage of increasing in the number of fans. Facebook page of Matra is the best example to show this correlation. All of them use Facebook, social networking site actively. Some of them use othe r platforms just to gain visibility in social media. These platforms are Twitter , Flickr, Youtube, Hotbooth. Profiles in these platforms are connected to their Facebook page. All of them have active admins to respond the questions of fans. Especially, Ake r, Armine and Zhre admins respond question in real time. The brands that are analyzed have common qualities. First of all, they all are g enuine Turkish brands. Secondly, they usually concentrate on sales promotion and advertising. By this way, they also use PR as a MarCom tool with the connection given to their own online shopping sites. In other words, they make PR to regul ate traffic between Facebook and functional, well organized online shopping site s. All of the brands use Facebook as a tool for PR executions. Although it is not s hown in the matrix, the content of the comments contains community relations, in teractions with consumers. Apart from that, brands provide social media optimiza tion to Facebook. This supports optimization (page rank) and generating communit ies. Likewise, some of these brands believe the importance of creating conversat ion with consumers. They use Facebook as an online customer service. For example , Zhre has a corporate blog to communicate with consumers; to achieve the most im portant features of PR, just like mutual understanding and reciprocity. Whilst building up social engagement, only Aker Earp uses direct marketing as a m arketing communications tool. The other brands dont take advantages of direct mar keting as well as other tools. The most important component that differentiates social social engagement from a classical MarCom process is creating conversation. Only OXXO uses this tool suc cessfully. A questionnaire is prepared for followers to answer and the brand get s more than 500 answers. Also Fathers Day messages in connection with sales promo tion and product recommendations counted in advertising created conversation amo ng fans via comments. Social media engagement comes into prominence in terms of marketing communicatio ns efforts of companies. Customers share their own brand experiences at online c ommunities such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. Especially Facebook is excell ent with its huge follower quantities. Fashion sector, which is at the second pl ace of the fastest growth in Facebook, uses social media engagement effectively not only to reach many people at the same time with a little budget, but also to create conversation between target consumers and brands. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aktulu, Il Karpat, Ayen Temel Einli & ten Duygu all (2010), A New Dimension in Bran mer Communication: E Catalogues A Study on Fashion Brands Sixth International Confe rence on Business, Management and Economics. zmir: Yaar University. Alikl, zlem Aman (2009), The New Publics: Building Online Communities and Awareness fo r Essential Integrated Marketing Communications, International Marketing Communic ations Symposium. zmir: Ege University. Altstiel, Tom & Jean Grow (2010), Advertising Creative Strategy, Copy + Design, 2nd Edition, Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications. Blythe, Jim (2006), Essentials of Marketing Communications, 3rd Edition, Essex: Pearson Education Limited. Clow, Kenneth E. & Donald Baack (2010), Integrated Advertising, Promotion and Ma rketing Strategies, 4th Edition, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prenti ce Hall. Indvik, Lauren (2010). How the Web Is Changing Fashion Marketing in 2010, http://m ashable.com/2010/10/05/fashion-social-media-2010/, 30.06.2011. Kotler, Philip & Gary Armstrong (2008), Principles of Marketing, 12th Edition, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. Mangold, W. Glynn & David J. Faulds (2009), Social Media: The New Hybrid Element of The Promotion Mix, Business Horizons, Vol. 52, pp. 357 365. Moriarty, Sandra, Nancy Mitchell & William Wells (2009), Advertising Principles and Practice, 8th Edition, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall . Solis, Brian (2010), Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Bui ld, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons . Vollmer, Christopher & Geoffrey Precourt (2008), Always On: Advertising, Marketi ng and Media in an Era of Consumer Control, New York: McGraw Hill. ---, http://www.emarketer.com/Articles/Print.aspx?1008449, [Accessed 29.06.2011] . ---, http://mashable.com/2010/10/05/fashion-social-media-2010/, [Accessed 30.06. 2011]. ---, http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-statistics/turkey#chart-intervals, [Ac cessed 29.06.2011]. ---, http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/160-fmcg-brands-are-the-biggest-category-o n-facebook/, [Accessed 04.07.2011]. http://www.oxxo.com.tr/Kurumsal/, [Accessed 07 24.06.2011]. http://www.facebook. com/?ref=home#!/OXXO, [Accessed 08.06.2011]. http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/ZuhrePardesu, [Accessed 07 24.06.2011]. http://www.facebook.com/arminemoda ?ref=ts, [Accessed 07 - 24.06.2011]. http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/matrasderi, [Accessed 07 24.06.2011]. http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/lcwaikiki, [Accessed 07 24.06.2011]. http://www.facebook.com/ ?ref=home#!/LCWaikikiKariyer, [Accessed 07 24.06.2011].