In today’s digital world, a social media presence is vital for brands trying to remain competitive. Without a digital footprint, it’s nearly impossible to spark engagement and create sales. But with the rise of social media, brands can now engage directly with their audiences, build communities, and communicate in real time. As mentioned in Social Media ROI by Oliver Blanchard, a social media program can provide companies with instant, detailed feedback, but also align with business objectives.

Platforms such as Instagram can help brands to showcase lifestyle content and highlight partnerships, all of which help create lifelong customers. One brand that does this well is Roxy. They focus on surf and snow apparel for women, with 1.6 million followers on Instagram. For years now, I have seen them grow and put out amazing content that always seems to inspire me. Their marketing and social media strategy is strong, and it’s no coincidence that the brand has managed to stand out in a flooded market.

Looking at Roxy’s overall social media presence, you’ll notice that they use a combined strategy that relies on both organic and paid content. On Instagram, you’ll see their posts promoting their clothing and even user-generated content. This is organic– free and algorithm driven. In the summer, posts focus on their swimwear and in the winter, posts are ski and snowboard related. For their paid ads, they usually partner with influencers/athletes that wear their clothes and allow them to tell a story, not just model it. Some of my favorite paid ads involve brand trips, where we get to see content showing these athletes doing their sport, while also showing off their new Roxy gear.

Within these paid ads, the company boosts engagement by asking followers to guess what country Roxy will be in next and slowly shows us content of the trip as it unfolds. These types of posts encourage people to comment and start conversations. In many of their ads, there’s a quick link to purchase the same jacket or swimsuit. Allowing us to be taken from social media right to their website for an easy purchase. While this is a common technique for most clothing brands, Roxy seems to grab my attention first with the quality of content but then also shows me what’s for sale. A sneaky but effective tactic.

Taking a look at their metrics, they seem to prioritize engagement with collaborators and followers and focus on product clicks. I say this because pretty much all their content I see online involves either a sponsored athlete or will lead you to their website to shop. They seem to know what type of content works best for them, and they keep producing it. The posts with the most likes and comments are also the ones where clothing items are tagged, which naturally sparks conversations in the comment section and encourages sharing with others. They seem to be more interested in starting a conversation than getting just a quick “like”. I personally admire this strategy because it makes Roxy feel genuine while also showing off the lifestyle part of their brand.

The Roxy brand is a great example of using Instagram the right way for business. Roxy specifically targets a certain demographic with a variety of ads and posts and then ensures that their presence is always noticed by posting often. A combination that helps business reach the right customers and generate sales, according to The Marketing Campaign Playbook.

Overall, I think Roxy is doing a great job with their social media strategy. My only suggestion would be to improve engagement with the video content they share. It seems that these types of posts don’t have as many likes and comments. This may be because people lose interest after a certain amount of time. So, limiting or changing up the video content could help general engagement. Otherwise, it’s page is beautifully curated and will remain one of my favorite brands. It’s easy to see how Roxy has remained on top. They have built a loyal community, all while staying true to their identity as a lifestyle and action-sports brand.