Client: MARLOW (DTC women’s fashion brand)
Brand personality: Warm, self-assured, slightly irreverent for women who got dressed in five minutes and still look like they thought about it
Scope: Full social media management across Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok
Timeline: Ongoing monthly retainer
The Brief
MARLOW was at that awkward in-between stage. Past startup. Not yet established. They had a loyal customer base that genuinely loved the clothes, but their social media told a completely different story.
Instagram was inconsistent — a product flat lay here, a quote graphic there, radio silence for nine days. Facebook was an afterthought. TikTok didn’t exist yet.
The products were good. The brand voice was missing.
My job was to build the entire social system from the ground up — strategy, voice, content, community management, Reels, and reporting — so that every platform worked together and actually sounded like the same brand.
What I Delivered
- Full content strategy document (positioning, voice, platform-specific approach)
- Audience research (who’s buying, who’s following, where the gap is)
- Competitor analysis (5 brands in the mid-price DTC fashion space)
- 30+ monthly posts across three platforms
- Reels strategy with storyboards
- Community management plan (comments, DMs, stories)
- Monthly reporting dashboard
- Growth recommendations for month two and beyond
The Strategy
MARLOW’s audience isn’t looking for fashion advice. They already know what they like. They’re looking for a brand that gets them — one that doesn’t talk down, doesn’t over-explain, and doesn’t treat every post like a billboard.
The voice I developed is confident without being loud. It says “I threw this on” with the quiet understanding that throwing it on still looked great.
I built the content around four pillars, each doing a different job:
1. Story — 25% of content The human side of the brand. Who made it, why it exists, what happens behind a product photo. Not polished origin myths. Real, slightly messy, relatable moments.
2. Product — 30% of content New arrivals, styling ideas, collection launches. But never “Shop now! Link in bio!” energy. More like your friend texting you a photo saying “okay but have you seen this.”
3. Community — 25% of content Customer spotlights, UGC reposts, polls, conversations. Content that makes the audience feel like participants, not spectators.
4. Reels — 20% of content Short-form video built for reach. Outfit transitions, behind-the-scenes moments, trending audio done in MARLOW’s voice — not chasing every trend, just the ones that fit.
Platform Approach
Each platform gets its own version of the brand. Same voice. Different behavior.
Instagram — The main stage. This is where the brand looks and sounds its sharpest. Grid posts, carousels, Stories, and Reels all work together. The grid has visual rhythm — not obsessively curated, but intentional enough that a profile visit feels cohesive.
TikTok — The looser sibling. Less polished, more personality. This is where MARLOW can be funny, fast, and a little unfiltered. Trends get used here first. Comments get wilder replies. The goal is reach and discovery — TikTok brings new eyes, Instagram converts them.
Facebook — The steady workhorse. Product-focused posts, customer reviews, collection announcements. The audience here is slightly older, slightly more intentional, and closer to purchase. Less conversation, more conversion.
Sample Posts
Post 1 — Story (Instagram) Topic: How a bestseller almost didn’t happen
Caption:
Fun fact about the Arden Blazer.
It almost got cut from the first collection. The sample came back and the fit was wrong — too stiff in the shoulders, too safe in the silhouette. It looked like every other blazer on every other website.
Our designer sent it back with one note: “Make it the blazer you’d actually grab on your way out the door.”
Three rounds of adjustments later, it became our most-sold piece in the first year. Sometimes the things that almost don’t make it are the ones that matter most.
The Arden Blazer is back in stock in all sizes. For now.
[Link in bio]
Hashtags: #behindthebrand #fashionstory #bestsellerrestock #marlowstudio
Post 2 — Product (Instagram) Topic: New collection launch
Caption:
The Soft Hours collection is here.
Five pieces. All neutral. All built around one idea — clothes that feel as calm as they look.
This isn’t the collection that shouts across the room. It’s the one that makes someone lean over and quietly ask “where is that from?”
The linen wide-leg pant. The draped tee in three weights. The unstructured blazer that works with everything and tries too hard for nothing.
Available now. Sizes run XS to 3X.
[Tap link in bio to see the full collection]
Hashtags: #newcollection #minimalistfashion #neutralwardrobe #softhours #marlow
Post 3 — Community (Instagram) Topic: Customer spotlight
Caption:
This is Nadia.
She bought the Arden Blazer for a job interview seven months ago. She got the job. She also wore the blazer again the next week. And the week after that. And to her friend’s birthday dinner last Friday.
Her words: “It’s the only blazer I own that doesn’t make me feel like I’m borrowing someone else’s personality.”
We didn’t plan that as a tagline but honestly it’s better than anything we could’ve written.
Nadia wears a size L. She’s 5’7″. She did not ask us to say any of this — we asked her and she said yes.
Hashtags: #customerspotlight #realstyle #ardenblazer #marlow #womensupportingwomen
Post 4 — Community (Facebook) Topic: Conversation starter
Caption:
One piece from your closet. You wear it at least once a week. It goes with everything. You’d be genuinely upset if you lost it.
What is it? Tell us. We want to know what that ride-or-die piece looks like for you.
Post 5 — Product (TikTok) Topic: Styling a single piece three ways
Hook (first 2 seconds): Text on screen: “One blazer. Three lives.” Audio: Trending sound — something with a clean beat and a transition cue.
Scene 1 — Morning meeting: Arden Blazer over a white tee, tailored trousers, loafers. Hair clipped back. Coffee in hand. Caption: “the one where you mean business”
Scene 2 — Friday night: Same blazer, open, over a slip dress. Gold earrings. Hair down. Caption: “the one where you didn’t go home to change”
Scene 3 — Saturday morning: Blazer with a vintage band tee, straight-leg jeans, sneakers. Caption: “the one where you just grabbed it on the way out”
CTA (text on screen): “Which life are you wearing it in? Comment below.”
Caption: The Arden Blazer wasn’t designed for one occasion. It was designed for all of them. Which look are you stealing? 👇
Hashtags: #outfitinspo #blazerstyle #onepiecethreeways #fashiontiktok #marlow
Reels Storyboard — Behind the Scenes
Concept: 30 seconds inside a MARLOW product shoot — the unglamorous version.
| Timestamp | Visual | Text/Audio |
|---|---|---|
| 0–3s | Close-up of hands steaming a garment, slightly rushed | “What a product shoot actually looks like” |
| 3–8s | Model laughing between takes, someone adjusting a collar | No text. Natural audio. |
| 8–14s | Quick cuts: someone pinning fabric, a coffee cup on a light stand, a laptop with the grid layout open | “90% problem solving. 10% pretty photos.” |
| 14–22s | The actual final shot being taken — model in the look, clean background | Pause. Then: “okay fine. the 10% is worth it.” |
| 22–30s | Side-by-side: behind-the-scenes chaos vs. the final polished post | “Follow for more behind the feed.” |
Why this works: Behind-the-scenes content humanizes the brand, performs well with the algorithm because of high watch-through rates, and gives the audience a reason to feel invested in the product before it even launches.
Community Management Plan
Content gets the attention. Community management keeps it.
Comments (every post, within 90 minutes): Reply to every comment with something real. If someone says “I need this blazer,” don’t reply “Thanks! 😍 Link in bio!” Reply with “The blazer needs you back. What size are you — I’ll tell you if it’s still in stock.” Make the comments section feel like a conversation, not a bulletin board.
DMs (daily, 15 minutes): Product questions get answered within a few hours, not days. If someone’s asking about sizing, send them a specific recommendation based on what they’re telling you. If someone shares a photo wearing MARLOW, ask if you can repost it. Every DM is a relationship, not a ticket.
Stories (4–5x per week): Polls (“this color or that color for the next drop”), question boxes (“what’s one piece you wish we’d make”), “this or that” slides, and casual behind-the-scenes moments. Stories are where the brand gets to be a little less polished and a lot more personable.
UGC strategy: Encourage customers to tag @marlow in their outfit posts. Repost the best ones with credit and a genuine caption — not “Love this! 😍” but something specific about how they styled it. Make being featured feel like a compliment, not a marketing tactic.
Goals and How We’d Measure Them
| Goal | What success actually looks like | How we’d track it |
|---|---|---|
| Strengthen brand awareness | More people discovering MARLOW who’ve never heard of it before | Reach, impressions, profile visits, and follower growth — especially from non-followers |
| Increase engagement | The audience doesn’t just see posts — they respond to them | Engagement rate per post. But weighted toward comments, saves, and shares. A post with 40 saves is doing more work than a post with 400 likes. |
| Support product launches | New drops feel like events, not announcements | Track traffic spikes to the site on launch days. Measure how much of that traffic came from social. Compare launch-week sales with and without the campaign. |
| Build customer loyalty | People who bought once feel connected enough to come back | DM volume, UGC submissions, repeat customer mentions, and Story interaction rates. Loyalty shows up in how people talk to the brand, not just about it. |
Visual Assets Included
- 6 ready-to-post Instagram graphics (designed in Canva — on-brand, visually cohesive, mix of product and lifestyle)
- 3 Reel storyboards (fully scripted with timestamps, visual direction, and captions)
- 30-day content calendar (color-coded by pillar, broken out by platform)
- Monthly analytics dashboard (what to track, where to find it, what “good” looks like)
- Growth strategy presentation (month-one learnings → month-two recommendations)