ATTENTION: This session requires advance signup to attend. For Online Schedule: Please utilize the RSVP link below the description to reserve your seat. For SXSW GO App: Use the RSVP 'Find a Timeslot' link. You must have a SXSW Interactive, Gold, or Platinum badge to attend, and, you must have an activated SXsocial account (social.sxsw.com) to reserve a seat. If you have any issues with signing up, please email support@sxsw.com. VERY IMPORTANT: Because of the limited space, we recommend you arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the published start time of this session. If you have not checked in at the room you RSVPed for at least five minutes prior to the session start time, you may lose your seat to an attendee in the waiting list line.

With the proliferation of analytics that have recently emerged in social media, there has been significant growth in the establishment of best practices for fashion brands and retailers alike, along with a push towards a more formulaic development of content focused on optimization based on past performance history. While these analytics are certainly helping many brands & retailers develop their content calendars and grow their audiences, it is largely homogenizing fashion content in social media and discouraging out-of-the-box thinking and against-the-grain initiatives, making it even more difficult for brands who are all optimizing based on similar data to cut through the clutter and differentiate themselves from other brands. During this session, we intend to discuss how fashion brands & retailers can find a balance between incorporating key learnings from their data & best practices while still allowing room for creative thinking and unprecedented initiatives based on intuition.