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In this blog post, we will discuss the importance of fashion influencers and how to find them. Fashion influencers are people with an established presence on social media who have a large following of followers.
They create content that is relevant to their audience and can help you reach your target market by using their platform as a way to promote your products.
Good influencers also provide product insights that allow consumers to make informed decisions about what they purchase. They play an important role in modern fashion PR.
What is a brand ambassador vs a fashion influencer?
A brand ambassador is a fashion influencer but who works for a company long term, posting content eg every month or week as opposed to just once. They tend to establish a deep relationship with the brand and through regular posting, the idea is that the ambassador’s network gets a closer relationship with the brand than a one-off post. This in turn can promote better brand awareness and brand recall.
How to pick the right fashion influencer?
The first step in finding a fashion influencer is choosing which type of clothing or accessory item, collection, message or promotion you want them to focus on promoting for your business.
Once you figure out what category best suits your needs, it’s time to start looking for possible candidates!
Finding fashion influencers
A good place to start is by researching your competitors. You want to have a good idea of the kind of influencers they are having success with. A long-term relationship suggests that they drive profit to your competitor, otherwise, they would have cut ties with them already.
Check the number of followers, the engagement on their posts and the demographics of the influencer’s audience. Then look for someone similar and start reaching out to them.
Researching hashtags related to your products is another way to find relevant influencers. Using the proper hashtags suggests that they know what they are doing and could drive qualified traffic to your webshop too.
Look to your existing social media platform for influencers who are already part of the community.
If you have a specific style that resonates with people, posting on your brand Instagram may be one way to find fashion influencers in this category.
Ask yourself: Who is my target market? What kinds of clothes do they like wearing or what kind of posts do they like seeing in their feed? From there, you can start building a list of Instagram influencers and learn what type of content resonates most with your audience.
Contacting influencers
Once you have an idea about who to reach out to, it’s time for the second step: outreach!
When reaching out to brand advocates or potential influencers, you should always introduce yourself first and then explain why your business is interested in working with someone.
Make sure to be very clear about what types of services they’ll be providing for you along with other details like how long the relationship will last, where their content will appear (website/social media), etc.
Also include the products or other compensation offers they can expect from you.
It’s a good idea to provide your potential influencers with information on how they can get in touch with you.
Following up
After that, the final step is following up! If someone doesn’t reply within a day or two, it might be time to try another candidate for this particular project.
During the process of outreach and following up, you may also come across people who are more interested in working with your brand.
When this happens, make sure to create a contract that ensures both parties know exactly what they will be doing and how much it will cost for these services.
What are the benefits of working with influencers?
There are several benefits of working with fashion influencers, including:
– Improving brand awareness (they can bring your products/services to people who might not be aware they exist)
– Enhancing customer relationships by providing helpful content and encouraging customer loyalty
– New photography – great content creators and photographers. As part of an agreement, you can ask to gain usage of content produced during a campaign for your own marketing.
– Brand association – being associated with a big-name influencer can build your brand trust and caliber by being associated. If you get permission, you can share this on your own channels and marketing “as loved by xxx influencer or celebrity ” – this can boost conversion rate and trust.
How to start working with a fashion influencer?
The most important part is to make sure you are clear about what type of content they will be creating for your business including the number of posts on each channel.
Make it easy on them by providing a list of specific guidelines or expectations that can help guide their efforts once the relationship starts!
Make sure you include a deadline in your communication, it makes it much easier to push back if they are late posting content.
And remember, an influencer who works with dozens of companies at one time might not be the right match for your business.
Your best bet is likely an influencer who focuses on one specific genre of content or has particular knowledge about a certain industry topic that relates to what you are looking for in terms of promotion.
Once everything is in place, make sure you have all materials ready before starting any projects so there’s no question about what you need from the influencer.
What are some of the red flags to look out for when finding fashion influencers?
There’s nothing wrong with working with multiple brands, but it’s important to make sure your relationship is mutually beneficial and not one-sided if things progress past an initial partnership.
For example: if an influencer is working with many different companies and promoting them all in a similar way, then that can be a negative sign!
It’s better if your partnership involves unique content or product reviews.
The last thing you want to do is have someone promote products/services without including real information about the business behind them. It makes the whole process seem less authentic, which is not what you want.
If an influencer has expressed interest in working with your brand but doesn’t follow through on the details (e.g., they don’t provide examples of their past work), then it’s probably time to move on and find someone else who can deliver what you need!
Getting help with this process
Does all this sound like a lot of work? That’s because it is! If you feel like you don’t have the time for handling this whole process yourself or if you are not sure about how to do every step, Press Loft can handle it for you!
We offer an influencer relationship service as part of some of our packages. Make sure to check the packages out and start your free trial today!
