H&M Vs.

Forever 21: A Comparative Analysis and Case Study of Social Media Practices
CJ 491

Hannah Codling and Emily Simonson

Executive Summary

● Analyzed both Forever 21 and H&M’s social media platforms which included Instagram,
Pinterest, Twitter, and their websites.
● We put ourselves in the shoes of the prospective buyer, throwing all previous biases out
the window, acting as though we had never seen either of each company’s social media
pages before.
● We then did research on each of our companies to get background information on
● We looked at each company separately, then came together to compare and contrast the
aspects of each company’s social media brand/image.
● Both companies have the same general target audience, however, each company had
different strategic objectives on their social media platforms.
● We learned that Forever 21 is much more colorful and fun while H&M is more monotone
and sophisticated.
● This makes sense because although both companies are targeting the same demographic,
they want to target different personality traits to set themselves apart.
● We also learned how important that social media has on a brand or company in today’s
society.
● Upon analyzing each brand’s social media accounts, we found that H&M came out on
top when it came to their social media presence overall.
● The only social media platform where Forever 21 outperformed H&M was on Pinterest
because Forever 21 had more followers and activity or “pins.”
● We also found that out of all the social media platforms, Instagram was the most popular
for their target audience. Twitter was the second most popular, while Pinterest was
overall the least popular.
● The websites of each company were very similar when it comes to setup; having a search
bar at the top of the page, tabs for navigation, and social media icons linked up to each
individual site at the bottom of the page.
Comparative Analysis

The case study first began comparing Forever 21 and H&M’s pages by gauging how many
followers each brand had on each social media platform. On Instagram, H&M came out on top
with 23.5 million followers compared to Forever 21’s 14 million followers. H&M also had more
Twitter followers at 8.7 million compared to the 2.3 million people following the Forever 21
Twitter. Forever 21 had more Pinterest followers with 462,482 while H&M had 292,230. On
Instagram, H&M averaged more likes and comments on their posts than Forever 21 did. Upon
looking through their posts, H&M also tended to reply to people asking questions on their posts
far more than Forever 21 did.

Even though H&M has a lot more followers on Twitter than Forever 21 does, there was not a
huge difference on their engagements on their tweets. People retweeted and favorited H&M’s
tweets slightly more than they did with Forever 21’s. Neither brand interacted much with
customers. They exchanged very few tweets with concerned customers and each brand mainly
utilized their Twitter pages for advertising.

On Pinterest, Forever 21 keeps their page much more update and they post much more than
H&M does. Forever 21 definitely focuses on their Pinterest page more than H&M. They do have
relatively the same amount of boards, however, Forever 21 has many more pins, more followers,
and more people engaging and repinning their posts.

Overall, we concluded that H&M has the higher social currency. Even though Forever 21 won
out when it came to Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram are much more popular forms of social
media for their primary shoppers and target audience. Neither brand had many followers on
Pinterest compared to their other social media outlets. H&M had many more followers on
Twitter and had slightly more people engaging with their tweets. When it came to Instagram,
H&M had almost six million more followers than Forever 21 did, and many more people
interacting with their posts. H&M was also much better and communicating with their customers
and answering their questions on Instagram.

Strategic Objectives

Forever 21 is a clothing store primarily for both boys and girls ages 13-25. It was founded by Do
Won Chang in 1984 and its headquarters is in Los Angeles, California. Forever 21 specializes in
clothing for women, men, and girls, accessories, The store only sold clothes for women
originally, but later expanded to menswear as well. It is known for its trendy clothing and its low
prices. The company uses Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and their own website to market their
brand.
The theme of Forever 21’s Instagram page was ​real ​girls in their clothes. They have girls of all
shapes and sizes send in pictures of themselves in the clothes and then they post them on their
pages. Seeing real girls in the clothes that Forever 21 sells, rather than having models in the
clothes giving girls unrealistic body expectations. This was a refreshing outlook on social media
in the clothing industry. The objective of the company’s Instagram page is definitely to
emphasize the importance of their customers in their clothing.

The Twitter page for Forever 21 was different from the Instagram page, as the Twitter page was
filled with ads for deals and new products that they have at the time. The Twitter page seemed to
fit the general demographic of Forever 21’s target audience. There were many pictures of their
clothes as well as graphics of current deals going on. Forever 21 is pushing to make their deals
and new items seen and it is pretty evident throughout their Twitter.

The Pinterest page of Forever 21 was very organized. There were specific boards such as swim,
now trending, active, shoes, denim, etc. This makes it easier to shop online based on what buyers
are looking for. Forever 21 also embeds the link to their website of the individual item in the
specific picture making it a “rich pin.” For example, if there is a picture of a shoe that a buyer
sees and likes, they can click on the picture of the shoes in the pin and they will be directed to the
specific website page where the shoes can be purchased. It is evident the goal of Forever 21’s
Pinterest page is to stay organized and make it very simple for buyers to navigate and get ideas
based on the boards.

The home page for Forever 21’s website was filled with the newest trends to hit their store.
There were also big and easy to see pictures all over the home page. There is a search bar right at
the top of the website. There are also tabs to narrow down your search. The bottom middle of the
home page has all of the social media links for the company so customers can click one and be
taken directly there in a new tab. The marketing strategy behind the website is to make the life of
the shopper easier and assist them in feeling confident while shopping or surfing online. This is
their goal due to the fact that their stores are an average size of 38,000 square feet so it could be
easy for a buyer to get lost on a website with all that content.

H&M is a fashion forward brand owned by Stefan Persson and Karl-Johan Persson, that markets
their products toward the young, trendy, and sophisticated shopper. H&M is known for their
trendy work appropriate clothing as well as their fashionable yet casual clothing. H&M has
really taken off over the past ten years, and stores have been rapidly popping up across the
country. The brand uses Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and their website to draw potential
customers to purchasing their products.
The H&M Instagram page utilized the story aspect of Instagram, to advertise daily deals or sales
on clothing. Instagram stories can only be viewed for twenty-four hours, therefore they use this
feature for their short term sales. Their Instagram posts are all dedicated to modeling clothing
that can be purchased on their website. The H&M Instagram is more about giving shoppers
inspiration, and they do not utilize direct links to their products often, however their Instagram
page is clean, organized, and easy to navigate. The main purpose of the Instagram page is to
display their products in a stylish way, such as on models, that will make people want to
purchase from them.

H&M’s Twitter page is where customers can find more direct links to products that they want to
buy. The Twitter page is used more to post advertisements for featured products and coerce page
viewers to visit their website and shop around. Their Twitter is also well organized with easy to
find links, vibrant images, and creative gifs. They use these to convince people to visit their
website and ultimately purchase that product. H&M uses their Twitter page in a very product
specific way. They want you to see an item on Twitter, click on the link, and purchase that exact
item.

H&M uses Pinterest as style inspiration. Most of their pins are of their own products, so they
also use the rich pin feature. They feature boards such as “H&M Home, “H&M on Trend”, and
even “H&M Loves Music” which combines new artists and music with style. Pinterest is often a
less popular form of social media, but they still find a way to use it to their benefit and draw
potential buyers to their website. Pinterest is usually a site for very creative people looking for
new ideas. They tailor their Pinterest toward those people by making boards such as “H&M
Home” which give people inspiration, but can also draw them to buying the products in the
pictures.

The homepage of their website is very easy to navigate. They include easy links at the top that
will lead visitors directly where they want to go. Their homepage is filled with their latest trends
and newest items. They include large clickable advertisements on their homepage to promote
these new items. It is an easy to navigate website setup to help the shopper find exactly what
they need. H&M also includes links to their social media pages on the bottom of the page.
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