The Impact of Influencer Marketing within the Beauty and Fashion Space

The social media space has changed in a multitude of ways in the last 10 years, and this has revolutionized the advertising and marketing space. Single Grain defines influencer marketing is defined as, “A strategy that businesses use to promote their products and services by partnering with popular social media users or bloggers.” Marketing and advertising especially within the fashion and beauty scene has greatly benefitted from the use of influencer marketing- inspiring much of the growth many brands are currently seeing thanks to their Gen-z audience. Geyser reports that the influencer marketing industry is set to grow to approximately $16.4 billion by the end of 2022 and that 54% of the firms working with influencers operate eCommerce stores. Not only does this provide a glimpse of the impact that influencer marketing has had in a social space, but it also provides businesses with a valuable and new way to engage with their customers. Here are a few ways influencer marketing has positively impacted the beauty and fashion space.

?4 Ways Influencer Marketing Positively Impacts the Beauty & Fashion Space

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Seek Out the Right People

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???????????As a brand, when looking for influencers to market your products, there are a variety of things to consider before sending that message. A few questions that you can ask yourself as you are evaluating to hire a content creator:

1.????Is this person using my preferred platform(s) to spread their message?

2.????Does this person’s niche fall into the realm of products that your brand produces?

3.????How well does this person engage with their audience?

4.????Is this person’s vision and expectations align with your brand’s values?

5.????Do this person’s rates for content creation align with the brand’s marketing budget?

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There are many different things to take into consideration before asking someone to represent your brand- there needs to be some type of vetting process that will ensure whoever you hire to create content for your brand executes in a way that drives positive engagement to the brand page and its affiliates. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy when taking on a task like this since many individuals can represent the same brand but in different ways. A brand that executes this well is Fenty Beauty. For example, Fenty Beauty hires a wide range of influencers to represent the brand and though all of them advertise the same product- many content creators execute it in a way that is unique to them. Many South Asian creators have leveled-up their content posts by meshing parts of their culture into the advertisements such as styling the beauty looks created from using the products and adding a personal touch to pictures and videos with their own traditional Indian clothing and jewelry. Not only does this execute perfectly when reaching their niche audience, but it also provides brands a sense of flare and inclusivity that may not always be seen at the surface level which can inspire individuals from different backgrounds to accept and evolve brands into what they are today.

Create Valuable Campaigns

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???????????Campaigns are the very center of the marketing that brands are looking for. Anyone can create a campaign, but are the content campaigns providing value to the audience consuming it? This can be something brands and influencers can both ask themselves, as now is a better time than ever to refine the content that you’re putting out. Since the start of the pandemic, users have been more conscious of the content they consume. Many modern brands like The Ordinary, Yitty, Skims, and Topicals all have a large gen-z customer base and are drifting away from ads that are glossy and overzealous. Younger audiences want to know that a product really works, why, and how; native ads have proven to be the most effective way to deliver this message while remaining authentic.

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???????????According to Smith , even different channels in the marketing industry such as affiliate marketing have been taking a greater interest in influencer marketing due to the massive growth and popularity within the past few years. Another company that has done increasingly well with creating valuable and variable campaigns for their brand is Nike. Nike released the Air Vapormax’s in 2017 and they were an instant viral hit. Not only are they one of the top users of influencer marketing, but they had earned $34 billion in revenue that year following the release of these shoes alone. As a way to promote the shoes, Nike teamed up with a Youtube channel called “What’s Inside” that shows their viewers what materials are inside an object, and they cut open the shoe to show their viewers on their channel. Not only is Nike elite for creating diverse ads for its consumer base which unites consumers of different backgrounds, but in this example, by cutting the shoe open this shows how authentic Nike is to adamantly share the contents of the inside of their shoes- almost like it is a metaphor for having transparency with their consumers.

?Track Metrics

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???????????We are always told to write down our goals and the same is to be said for brands. As a business, it’s crucial to track progress especially when you are employing newer marketing techniques such as influencer marketing. The Influencer Marketing Hub reported that, “nearly 50% of today’s consumers depend on ‘influencer’ recommendations and an astounding 40% of people have said they ended up making a purchase after seeing it promoted or endorsed on Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok.” It’s no surprise that we have made the shift to be more present online and the tech industry advancing as the years progress has proven to provide new tools to the playing field. Tracking your metrics for influencer marketing specifically can be done through Saas platforms such as LTK and Metapic that allows influencers to earn an income from sharing fashion recommendations. Metrics can be tracked within applications with tools to look at different insights such as reach, saves, likes, impressions, and how many profile visits were generated after viewing a specific post. Metrics can also be via influencer codes/tracking links in a CRM system that will analyze how many sales are made in each time frame, rate at which sales have increased/decreased, and the type of consumers that are purchasing. Geyser states that consumers typically have to shop with you 3-5 times before they are converted over to a long-term customer. Keeping up with your performance-based metrics can help with staying within an allotted marketing budget, increase paid per click engagement, ROI and increase overall conversions.

Stay Adaptable

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The art of being adaptable has been a quality has human beings that has served since the beginning of time. As brands and businesses, be ability to adapt to market and consumer needs are crucial to your success- especially in industries like beauty and fashion where there are new trends happening every day. As Kastenholz has put, “there are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen.” An example of having to stay adaptable as a brand are partnerships. As we all went under lockdown during the beginning of the pandemic, Deepika Mutyala CEO and owner of Live Tinted had just released her most recent makeup line and was working on her next project. Then, a few months later announced her makeup collaboration with the popular Netflix series “Never Have I Ever” will drop in the preceding months. Deepica took a look at ways to stay relatable and authentic to her target audience [Gen-z] and using the Netflix series off the basis that both Mutyala and the show’s protagonist are of the same South Asian background, navigating the same lived experience- connecting the dots only made sense. The released collection included a mineral spf, a hue gloss, and a pair of under eye masks. This embodies consumers who want a fresh, simple, and effortless beauty look which is what Live Tinted represent and what beauty looks are represented by the girls on the Netflix original. Mutyala knew though that a collaboration like this is something that hadn’t been done before, that is not unattainable- she understands that she has increased her market value as a brand by doing

something that hasn’t been done before and adding meaning to a collaboration that helps spread representation for her community. Forbes agrees that, “brands that embrace new advertising strategies will make substantial market gains; those that are not moving with the times are likely to be crushed. The past few years rewarded digital brands with exceptional growth opportunities, but the next few years will punish those that lag.”?Another dynamic example that falls under the range of adaptability has to do with major fashion brands. Luxury brands like Gucci have both thrived off of the “faceless brand” niche for many years, but the market undeniably has shifted to favor brands with trusted faces and those who truly recommend their products. Brands like Chanel have collaborated with models such as Lily-Rose Depp. Chanel has built a 7 year long-standing relationship with the 16-year-old star by dressing her at events throughout recent years and have aligned Rose’s brand image of crazy nights out, modeling shoots, flamboyant outfits, and fun with friends to now be synonymous with the Chanel brand. Luxury brands are now taking reliable faces from the internet and making their brands more accessible to a larger audience to evolve their brand image.

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All in all, there are many ways in which influencer marketing positively impacts the beauty & fashion space. Understanding the right individuals to reach out to, what works to generates value for your brand, setting goals and tracking metrics, and staying adaptable on an ever-changing market are all keys to starting and maintaining consistent success for your brand and raising brand awareness