Gone are the days when people got their fashion fix exclusively from glossy magazines. In modern marketing, you don't need to throw big bucks at a centre spread in Vogue to get your fashion brand noticed - digital influencers are here to stay, and they offer up a much more authentic range of brand exposure.
Modern fashion icons aren't just big-name celebrities and carefully put-together It girls. Online influencers cross every genre and subculture of fashion there is, vlogging and blogging from bedrooms and small-town high streets around the world.
With businesses reporting that they're making their money back six times over when it comes to influencer marketing spend, it's time to look at how influencers can help your brand.
Influencers do it better
Online and offline, people's day-to-day lives are saturated with advertising. Consumers have fallen out of love with everyday adverts, proving to be an increasingly invasive, unwanted and untrusted way to sell your products. Enter: the influencers. Supported by extensive followings of loyal viewers and readers, successful influencers like Zoella (see the video below) and Helen Anderson (pictured above) are deemed to be believable voices offering genuine opinions among the noise.
From the ultimately most-trusted 'Micro-influencer' to the aspirational, '#goals' influencer superstars, third party reviews and promo are much more trusted than ordinary brand ads. There's a social media sensation for every budget, and it isn't just their immediate network your brand gets exposed to. Much in the way that you might hear about a great product because a friend of a friend recommended it to someone who recommended it to you, influencer's networks carry on far past their followers.
Get visual, get relatable
Fashion marketing is all about visuals. Nobody ever bought a piece of clothing based on a product description alone - strong imagery is crucial. With an influencer, you don't need to worry about hiring a photographer, a set designer, a stylist. These are people who spend their days working on that perfect shot, be it for a diamond ring or a new pair of flip-flops. All you need to do is hand over your product, and the rest is taken care of. In the image above, it's clear from the caption that Matthew Williamson have provided the influencer pictured with this outfit - which has then been shot in a sleek, faux-candid image and promoted to tens of thousands of followers.
One of the other important factors in influencer marketing is relatability. Even the most sleek and sophisticated social media personality will resonate better with their audience than a page-turning celeb. Micro-influencers and mid-range targets work well because they max out that relatability factor, offering a 'real-people' vibe. This shows your audience that, yes, this product is something that they can look fantastic in; it isn't just for elite 'fashion model' types.
Even mid-range influencers (those with 2.5K to 25K monthly visitors) garner engagement up to 16x higher than paid media alternatives. If you're looking to boost your brand with cost-effective, highly efficient marketing, the winning choice is clear.
Traffic and exposure
An influencer photo or video featuring your product isn't just a good-looking, believable advert. Genuine stories and experiences pick up momentum, which means a YouTube video that reaches 50,000 followers is going to go so much further than 50,000 pairs of eyes. Loyal audiences share with related networks, increasing your online exposure and building brand awareness in the process. As content gets 'liked', reacted to and re-shared, site traffic increases and conversions start to rise.
Take cosmetics brand NYX, who've become a multimillion-dollar brand through organic social media influencer engagement. NYX send out free samples every month, and consumers have leapt at the opportunity to respond with everything from straight reviews to application techniques. For fashion brands, sending out samples of upcoming lines to Instagram and YouTube stars is an easy way to get people clamouring to purchase the goodies when they're released.
Fresh ideas
Of course, it isn't all about traffic and sales. Influencer marketing can help you build your brand identity as well as your brand awareness. Take Mejuri, who reinforced perceptions of their minimalist aesthetic by working with six emerging influencers on a new jewelry range - including @Michelletakeaim in the image below. They chose influencers with a range of diverse, engaged audiences, but not just any big name that they could find. Instead of focusing on jewelry bloggers, they focused on people whose whole aesthetic aligned with their desired brand identity. Voila - the new jewelry got promoted to a huge, relevant audience, who now know Mejuri as a minimalist brand.
From lifestyle images to giveaways and competitions, the range of content influencers can produce for you is huge.
Think about how your brand can work with relevant influencers to bolster everything from pageviews to interactions and product purchases. What are your goals, and how can an influencer help you achieve them? Your brand might hope to:
- Add to your mailing list
- Increase brand awareness
- Boost profits
- Encourage conversations
- Improve your marketing ROI
Whatever your target, a clear influencer marketing plan can help you get there.
