New found respect for influencers

[Sweetwindinmyhead]

Ok, hear me out please. I used to think - not much about influencers, but lately I have realised how much work it is to actually be an influencer. I started a little side hustle for myself online and social media is my only marketing tool. Although I don’t have any budget for influencers yet and I have had to do some posts on social media by myself which is clearly not working 😂 I have realised how much work it is! Gosh, I’m starting to see how much effort goes into it. So now I have a little more respect for them. Anyway, that’s my chat for this evening x

They’re no different from Claudia Schiffer advertising hair dye. I mean anyone who believes a multi millionaire married to another multi millionaire uses box dye when her roots need doing has no critical thinking skills.

She’ll be going to a high end salon in London and I don’t blame her.

It's not like advertising. It is sometimes not clear that they are being paid to promote the item.

Some teeny #ad hidden under the message bar or in a corner. There are so many at it. Drives me mad.

Along with the tiny #afflink or linking but not making it clear there is a financial benefit to them in you clicking on the link even if you don't purchase the item.

It’s really hard to share my thoughts on your new business, because I haven’t got a clue what you sell!

If you’re selling your own product, I think you already have an integrity that most influencers completely lack. Likewise you know your product and truly believe in it. This is the holy grail of influencing. This gives you a head start as a lot of us really value and support small businesses.

Regarding confidence, see it as a job and you’re the CEO. Essentially, you can then put on a work coat and play a role, where you can be a stronger, more confident version of you.

Really push being a small and independent business, use your locality, ingredients etc etc to give your brand its unique identity. Emphasise your knowledge, maybe you have decided to create your product because you couldn’t find it anywhere else, or it wasn’t ethical, too expensive, poor quality, high carbon footprint etc etc.

You can even choose to be a quirky, fun brand if it suits your business. Who is your product for?

Only very successful influencers are paid in money. The average instagram influencer is essentially paid in products in exchange for a review. If you go down this route be careful not to cheapen your brand. Choose people carefully. They need to bring more than a single (not necessarily authentic) review.

@Fairyliz its a clothing line I have started aimed at women 25 years and above. I get them made in small batches so my stock count is not massive at the moment. I have tried to offer some influencers a free dress but only heard back from one. The response was massive on her page but not much for me 😔Will keep trying. It is all very new for me.

So annoying when it's a white "aff" on a white background of a story.

I just don't get the appeal of wanting it as a job

@Itsalwaysthelasttime thank you for the insight. It is all very new to me and I find it all very overwhelming. I try and post but I think the lack of followers is the reason why I’m not getting a lot of interaction or business for that matter. I will take your points ok board and restart. Thank you!

It's definitely just another way of doing marketing but I did read a study showing that influencers who are using selfies to promote the products have quite high narcissistic traits. Those who just take pictures of products don't. This isn't just for influencers though, it's anyone who frequently takes and posts selfies.

My advice would be to look for posters who have say 10 - 20000 followers and a similar style to your clothing. Is the range trendy/classic/hippy/environmentally friendly? People like this are generally happy to post in return for a free dress.
Generally people have followers who have a similar style and so you will be hitting your target market.

You'd never get me as a customer that way. And I'm obsessive about clothes and I've got disposable income for non high street.

The only way you would reach me would be if your work was carried by a local independent shop (Godiva in Edinburgh for example carries stock from local designers/ fashion students) or at a craft fair, or and this isn't as weird as it sounds, at the bigger agricultural shows who have clothes exhibitors (they aren't just Dubarry and Barbour)

@NatashaDancing thank you for the insight. I have an independent shop selling my dresses, however I wanted to keep my prices as low as possible. Shops have to pay rent and that brings up the costs of the products so they buy from me in wholesale rates which is very very low! But I know what you mean. Touch and feel is very important for me too. I suppose it will be some time before my brand takes off. I truly do believe they are nice dresses (I know I am biased)

I used to like watching middleageminz a couple of years ago she started, she was so funny, with her bull dog in her car and her mother, driving around London, she did a little on fashion, she seemed real, but now she promotes a new face cream nearly every week, each one is like a miracle cream , she says, the free clothes she gets too, I don't blame her, but it puts me off so I stopped following.

The way Godiva works is that they keep a small selection of a designer's work and a stock of the designer's cards. If a customer likes something by a designer but it's not quite right or the right size they will give the designer's card out so a customer can contact the designer direct.

They just ask that when contact is made the customer mentions that Godiva made the introduction as the designer should give them a small payment as commission.

I honestly can't think of anything I've bought just because someone famous is "endorsing" it. In fact if it was someone I admired it would make me think less of them and put me off the product

Same here. But lots of people are that gullible.

It's not about being gullible It's about advertising reach.

Lots of people especially younger people don't watch much conventional T.V, or buy magazines or newspapers. But they do consume SM. This is one way to reach them.

You don't necessarily need 'endorsement' with something like clothing you just need to see people wearing it.

We all know about clothing items going viral.

I respect influencers who have a skill or extensive knowledge base and use social media as part of their business strategy. There's a lot of time and effort that had gone into developing enough knowledge/skill to add value. They're the people I follow on social media. I'd not be inclined to buy something because an influencer had it, but would consider following the brand account and looking into it more.

The other types of influencers who post all about them and then flog their 5p bikini line from some ultra fast fashion brand, not so much.

@Sweetwindinmyhead have you thought about a competition get your clients to post photos of themselves in one of your dresses then either the photo that gets most likes and shares wins or random draw.

@sunglassesonthetable you are absolutely right. Not just younger people I think a lot of people in their 40’s and 50’s are also slowly moving away from conventional sources as well now. Mostly for the ‘ease’

@Itsalwaysthelasttime i literally have 300 followers 😂would it work?

It’s not. It’s predicated on the fact they have enough followers - sometimes more than the brands they promote - to showcase products to a wider audience. Ones with 50k+ followers can easily charge £3k for a single Instagram post.

But in order to get to a point where you have enough followers to charge that, you’ll have had to build up your account from nothing, without anyone paying you to do it. You need to find a niche that works for you and commit to it, edit your own content and forward plan it, keep up with trends in the relevant industry and form opinions on them, engage with followers, basically devote several hours a day to building a cohesive online brand that eventually other companies will pay you to leverage. It is hard work. It might not be contributing anything particularly helpful to society or be mentally taxing or even interesting, but it does take dedication and strategy.

But it's still predicated on the opinions of the "influencer" being worth caring about.

The fashion influencers I follow do the hard work for me. They weed out the good stuff from the shops I like and put great outfits together. I don't follow them for their 'lifestyles' just their fashion knowledge and kudos.

The Gardening people I follow are just about gardening, lots of tips and information.

I don't have that much interest in 'lifestyle' people I like people who have specific knowledge.

Friends of mine ( who are now millionaires) built their m'up brush company initially, purely from instagram. Every time one of their customers received one of their beautifully packaged purchases in the post they asked them to take a pic and share with a hash tag. So spreading their reach further and further.

I have no time for influencers but it is not any different to adverts that are on TV. Various people paid to pretend to like some shite or other.

Isn't the whole point of SM advertising that the influencer shares their life with you & "builds a relationship" with you & then markets things to you?
I don't know anything about the actors driving a car or jumping on an Ikea sofa in a TV ad

I don't believe Emma Watson only wears Prada and I don't particularly "respect" those adverts either

She likely will wear Prada in some form be it clothes or fragrance as she's being paid to be the face of it. I don't think it's quite the same as an influencer getting paid to take a photo in a Shein skirt & never actually wearing the stuff.

@Sweetwindinmyhead I think you need to look at all the ‘credentials’ of your brand whatever they may be for example, ethics, independent brand and slow fashion and look for accounts that are all about those things.Maybe try a collab whereby it’s your dress, their bag and someone else for jewellery. Rather than an ‘influencer’wearing your dress, you should. I know absolutely nothing about marketing though! Personally what I hate is the fact that a brand targets people in the same time period so you get ten influencers in two weeks plugging the same brand. I also hate the fact that you know they have been given the product for free.