A fashion influencer is a online personality that has a very large number of followers on social media, creates mainly fashion content and has the power to influence the opinion and purchase behaviour of others with their recommendations. Brands endorse them to attend fashion shows, parties, designer dinners and exclusive trips and to wear their clothes on social media. If a salary has been involved, the influencer has to label such posts as paid or sponsored content. To reach influencer status the individual would have at least 10,000 followers.
Fashion influencers generate income through brand co-operations and affiliate links. Principle sources of income are brand co-operations in terms of product placement. Fashion influencers are paid to pose with specific products on their social media channels and must mark them correspondingly using the type of tags shown below in my primary research. The economic value of a fashion influencer is most commonly measured by number of followers. Successful fashion influencers generate an income through their social media activities that enables them to quit their jobs and focus solely on their social media career. German fashion influencer Xenia Van Der Woodsen left her full-time job at an investment trust, when she realised that she could earn more money with a single Instagram post as opposed to working a full day.
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| Instagram Influencer (Source: Screenshot by Blog Author) |
Fashion brands use the reach / positive reputation of influencers by implementing influencer marketing. Influencers spread brand messages, increase brand awareness, contribute to a positive brand image and ultimately increase sales within a business. Influencer marketing is a form of marketing in which focus is placed on influential people rather than the target market as a whole. It identifies the individuals that have influence over potential customers, and orients marketing activities around these influencers. Influencer content may be framed as testimonial advertising where they play the role of a buyer themselves, or they may be portraying a third-party.
In my brand it could prove beneficial to utilise an influencer in order to build up a social following. The influencer could ultimately drag traffic towards the social media account and the web store. If I register my brand I would need to ensure adequate funding is in place to market my brand with the use of influencers. To do this I’d also have to find the correct influencer who I believe reflects the ethos of the brand, therefore I’d be looking for people such as: Mathew Pike, Mike Quyen, Carl Thompson. I would use these influencers as they reflect the ideal size / shape for my clothing, I further believe my clothing would work well with the current social following these individuals have made.
