Social Listening: Depop

Depop is a global marketplace app with over 21 million users. Anyone can go to buy, sell, or just look at fashion (handmade, preowned, vintage, designer), shoes, art, books, home decor, records, and more. The app has been described as a hybrid between Instagram and ebay so it is already a very social app, it can function as its own form of social media. Depop has a huge presence online due to it’s generation Z target market. The public seems to love Depop due to it’s versatility in prices, things being sold, and the user friendly app. I was interested in learning more about Depop’s marketing strategy because I am a current Depop seller and want to know how the app is working to bring traffic and what their overall image is. 

The main users on Depop are between 15 and 24 year olds which is one of the youngest target markets across all social media platforms. This keeps the app up to date with trends because of gen Z’s constantly growing and evolving styles. Fashion and style in general has gained huge popularity in the younger generations and Depop makes the ever changing fashion industry just that more accessible to the public.

I found three things that tend to be very popular topics when people talk about Depop. The first being the variety or trendy things you can find on the app. Next I found that many people comment about the individual sellers and their conditions or descriptions of products being sold, and/or their overall unprofessionalism. Lastly I found many success stories about Depop changing people's lives. This is a money making app for some people and it has changed hundreds of peoples lives on the money front. 

On the Depop about page they comment about the app being a place where you can sell, buy, and like things from people you're inspired by. Besides handmade and new products, Depop is full of reworked, vintage, and pre-loved items, which helps reduce waste as well.

Depop’s main content on social media is reposting the coolest things posted on the app by the users, just on a larger platform for people to see. They comment on items as if people are missing out if they don’t purchase them because items are oftentimes one of a kind or vintage and rare. Their strategy is using their users' talent and trend keeping attributes as well as letting people know about rare items that they ‘need’ to have. This works as a win win, to promote user products and also show what the app is about. On top of reposting items from the app, they also use influencer marketing and paid social media advertising. The main goal is to bring attention and traffic to the app and sell as much as possible for maximum profits. 

Depop is very active on social media, including responding to hate, and problems with the app. Depop has a separate Twitter from there main account just for answering users questions, @askdepop. I think it’s very important for Depop to remain active on social media and it was a good decision that they start responding straight to users. They are a media based company and them responding shows that they care and want to keep up with their young demographic.

From this I’ve learned once again that if you find a niche/ target market that is underrepresented, that's your shot for success.