I love it, 1st time on ALS – brilliant. All the ideas resonate with us.
MODEST WOMEN’S CLOTHING
MAJIDA
This ALS was presented by Majida who runs Anaqaa Apparel, a business that designs and makes modest clothing for women and is based in FC Designer Workspace, a shared space run by Islington.
The business has a focus on empowering women and girls from disadvantaged ethnic minorities and was formed out of the charity Jannaty, which Majida also runs.
Jannaty has a community sewing group which teaches women to sew and helps them develop skills and achieve a qualification and at Anaqaa Apparel they employ some of the women who they have supported through Jannaty.
Majida defined her challenge as “How do we make sales through social media to the public?” Probing questions began with trying to establish her existing social media presence, such as whether she had Facebook, Instagram or TikTok and how many followers and likes she gets on these platforms as well as the kind of content she is putting out.
The members then started delving deeper to discover if Majida is aware of the demographics of those engaging with her posts and who she is trying to target. This gave them a thorough picture of the marketing done so far and gave them ideas for any improvements that could be made.
Questioning then became more detailed about things that could be implemented, such as whether Majida had considered using the story behind the brand in more detail and the women working in it. She was also asked whether she could connect the charity to her business marketing and show the social good that the brand does.
This ALS had an incredibly rich discussion and that gave Majida lots of to think about and some actions to consider taking forward including:
- Think about using hashtags when posting and see which ones garner most attention.
- Look at the algorithms more closely to see what is working.
- Make more use of TikTok as that is where a lot of impact is generated with little activity so far.
- Use more interactive posts and live feeds during events at her shop.
- Increase the number of relevant people and influencers they follow.
- Demonstrate the human value of the brand more clearly as a unique selling point.
- Communicate the social good delivered by this brand more thoroughly by highlighting the use of upcycled materials and the women that are supported.
The feedback was incredibly positive, with many members being able to relate to Majida’s challenge and therefore valuing the actions that could be taken away just as highly. Ideas which seemed to resonate with many in the set, were the benefits of telling each business’s story so people can connect better with a brand, as well as paying more attention to the algorithms to maximise the reach of each post.
For some, it was their first time attending an ALS but they could quickly see how much learning could be covered and shared within the session.
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