How TJ Swim found success by becoming an essential social media brand

How TJ Swim found success by becoming an essential social media brand

There's certainly no shortage of fresh-faced brands on Instagram.

Scrolling through the website, it becomes quickly apparent that the social media platform has birthed a whole new world of e-commerce.

In many ways, it's far more important in 2018 to have a beautiful Instagram page than it is to have a shopfront at the local Westfield; after all, where else can you get millions of eyes hungrily looking for the next trend.

With accessibility comes mass proliferation, and as trends catch on it becomes harder to stand out from the crowd.

Defying the odds is Tara Jane (pictured left), the founder of a slick, 80s inspired bikini brand called TJ Swim.

Whilst receiving her Retail & Services Award at the 2018 Sydney Young Entrepreneur Awards Jane says she owes her success to Instagram; she isn't afraid of the association.

Tara Jane at the 2018 Sydney Young Entrepreneur Awards

And Jane has every reason to be proud. Since she founded the company in 2015, Jane has amassed approximately 223,000 followers on Instagram, and seen her company revenue increase at an exponential rate.

Jane founded TJ Swim after securing experience in the fashion and e-commerce fields.

Inspired, she went to study Fashion Business at FBI Fashion College and Business at the University of Technology Sydney.

Jane (25 years old) established her line of Brazilian cut bikinis when she was just 22 years old. Despite saying that her wardrobe was mainly filled with bikinis over other clothes, she says she could never find exactly what she wanted.

"I started TJ Swim because I was struggling to find a high-quality Brazilian bikini that would actually last longer than a season," says Jane.

"At the time I was travelling a lot and I found myself going through bikinis from season to season and I just really wanted to create a high-quality performance bikini that would last from season to season."

As an online only brand, Jane says nailing social media has been the most important element of her brand's success to date.

"What we usually do and what I've done from the beginning is really tackle influencer marketing," says Jane.

"I'd really recommend exploring influencer marketing, especially Instagram influencers, I've found they've been the most effective and that's what contributed to our huge online following that we've built up so quickly."

So far, Jane has dominated in the US, despite initially believing the brand would be a bigger success in Australia.

As for the future, Jane hopes to strengthen her position in UK and European markets.

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