FP Me: 10k photos uploaded to Free People’s online style network since March launch

Since its launch three months ago, users have uploaded 10,000 photos to FP Me, a so-called “online style network” from clothing lifestyle brand Free People, a division of Navy Yard-based Urban Outfitters.

FP Me has been valuable for Free People, an Urban Outfitters’ brand, said spokeswoman Katelyn Brehony, making consumers more likely to make purchases in one visit to the site. This has been shown by a 42 percent improvement in the  “same session conversion rate,” though Brehony declined to share the conversion rate itself. (Think of  a “same session conversion rate” as consumers buying when they walk through the door, rather than shopping around.)

The site is a brand-based take on fashion social networks like Chictopia and lookbook.nu. While those sites are open to every brand, FP Me encourages users to upload photos of themselves wearing Free People clothes and allows them to interact with other users’ photos by commenting and liking the photos. Each photo includes links to buy the items featured.

FP Me has also been a way to track trends. The system shows that this slip dress has been featured nearly 450 times and that this dress has been featured nearly 100 times.

Each Urban Outfitters brand has its own social media team, and Free People has been one brand that seems to be interested in the social media marketing space. It previously launched a crowdsourced, social photo campaign to promote a new denim line. Free People presented the campaign at a fall Philly Tech Meetup.

It’s also an interesting step in the idea of content strategy, in which brands are leveraging content from customers to curate a conversation to sell.