By Kelsie Ring
Mallory Ottariano, Founder and Owner of Shop Youer in Missoula, MT has a social media presence that has made an impact, both in her business and community. Mallory bought a sewing machine in 2012 and began making clothes and designs in her parents basement. By using thrifted materials to create, she carried this on until finding a space finally to create her clothes.
Of course then 2020 came along, which inspired her to rebrand and rebuild after the chaos of the pandemic. With a new name, and a new factory, Shop Youer became a team of individuals making all designs and pieces right in the U.S; something more and more difficult to find. Mallory uses her social media to share what it’s really like being a female business owner doing all operations in the U.S., while still marketing her brand in an authentic way.
University of Montana student Kelsie Ring recently interviewed Ottariano about social media and what follows in a transcript of their conversation, edited lightly for brevity and clarity.
Q: We know that social media marketing is huge on our platforms today, but how do you approach social media to tell a story about your brand rather than just selling something?
A: I really believe that people buy from people, so for my strategy it’s all about building trust. Nobody really NEEDS our clothes. They want them. So we don’t need to sell the product to them, we just have to create a great relationship with people so that they choose to buy from us. At the end of the day, I’m still selling – I’m just selling a closeness that’s created through educational content and bringing the customer into the journey.
Q: When it comes to social media, what is one practice that you do that always seems to find the right engagement? (IE- videos of you talking, interesting graphics, fun photography?)
A: 90% of the content I put on social is video, and the videos that always engage the most are my series called Slow Fashion Math – it’s a once a month video where I break down every cost that goes into making a specific item of clothing at our factory here in Montana – a different one every month. They’re insightful, thought provoking and often kind of shocking!
Q: Our society can get caught up in the likes and stats of social media, but how do you receive feedback about the power of your social media outside of that?
A: I totally get wrapped up in the stats too, but I think the most important measurements for me are 1) awareness outside of social. When someone recognizes our clothes or people who work for the brand outside in the wild that’s super cool and validates that our reach is powerful. 2) when people comment about how much they’ve learned about how to be a mindful consumer! I love when we get to see the impact our content has on people.
Q: What is the most challenging part of telling a story through social media? What parts are the hardest to convey and which parts do your audience struggle to resonate with?
A: A challenging part of storytelling is when your content ends up getting in front of people it wasn’t made for. When a video goes viral, inevitably there are lots of people with lots of judgy comments. Often, our Slow Fashion Math videos get in front of lots of people who have a lot of opinions about why we shouldn’t make clothes in the US. But honestly, every bad comment means greater reach for us! The hardest part is knowing that you’re vulnerable to criticism. As the ‘face’ of the brand on social, I’m an actual person who people can attack which has been hard to deal with sometimes. But I’m learning to disconnect the comments from the emotions.
Q :If you could give one piece of advice to someone who wants to truly showcase the story behind their brand on social media, what would you say?
Mallory: Consumers are thirsty for content that doesn’t waste their time – give people something tangible and interesting to sink their teeth into. And give your marketing a face. Put someone in front of the camera and start establishing relationships with your community – it will totally pay off. Don’t worry about being perfect, imperfection and ‘realness’ is what forms connection.
Q: When starting your social media journey, did you want to lean into story telling or did that just come naturally?
Mallory: It just came naturally! It felt really silly to try and write canned captions for photos that fell flat and didn’t engage. I love writing, and there’s so much that goes into our work so I wanted to share that with people because I’m a consumer who likes learning too.
Q: How would you say the engagement of your “paid ads” vs your non paid content play out?
Mallory: Until last month, we had actually never run paid ads – it’s a really new thing for us! And the ads we run are actually pieces of high performing organic content that we then turn into ads. So really, the relationship is synergistic – we wouldn’t have high converting paid content without strong organic content.
Q: Finally, what is one social media “practice” that you think would bring much more positivity to the social media world?
A: I think social media can be a really positive place! Of course, every platform has its dark corners, but when people voluntarily hit a button to follow you, they’re signing up to see what you’re doing because they like it. It’s easy to take negativity personally, I’ve certainly done it, but when you stop and reframe ‘troll’ comments as just ‘algorithm boosting’ actions, then the whole thing becomes much more lighthearted. We’ve taken troll comments, rolled with them to make new content and gotten soooo much more reach and attention with them than we ever expected to.
This Q&A is part of a series created by students in Courtney Cowgill’s Social Media and Audience Engagement course at the University of Montana School of Journalism. Students sought out creatives who are doing social media for good to offer tips and insights into the ever-evolving landscape of social media.
Montana Journalism 