The following ideas will help you craft influencer marketing campaigns that hold your target audience’s attention:
1. Branded Hashtags
Branded hashtags are a subtle way to increase your brand awareness. But branded hashtags aren’t limited to using your brand’s name in hashtags.
If you’ve got a new line of clothes, you could have a special branded hashtag to promote that.
Image via Instagram
How can you use branded hashtags in fashion influencer campaigns?
For fashion marketing campaigns, branded hashtags can seamlessly be inserted with relevant captions. By using branded hashtags, you can amplify your brand’s presence.
At the same time, when an influencer uses your branded hashtag, it gives your brand more credibility.
Along with branded hashtags, you should also consider using trending hashtags relevant to the fashion industry. This can help you increase the reach of your posts on social media platforms even further.
To find such hashtags, you can use tools like HashtagsForLikes. This popular hashtag finding tool helps you identify the ones that are relevant to your niche (fashion).
It also gives you insights into the reach and popularity of those hashtags.
Image via HashtagsForLikes
German accessory brand, Paul Hewitt, uses branded hashtags regularly in their fashion influencer marketing campaigns. Their hashtags #getanchored and #paulhewitt are used in more than 80,000 posts on Instagram.
2. Promo Codes
If your goal is to boost sales through your fashion influencer marketing campaign, then promo codes can work well.
While influencers can promote your product in their posts, promo codes give their audience a call-to-action.
This fashion influencer marketing strategy is a win-win for everyone involved —the fashion brand, influencers, and the audience.
Promo codes allow influencers to give back something to their audience as well, keeping them engaged.
Image via Instagram
To make the promo code easily rememberable, you could use the influencer’s name as the promo code itself.
3. Style Them Up
Show, don’t tell. That’s a golden rule in the fashion industry. Instead of telling your audience how great your new line of clothing is, just showcase it to them. An easy way to do this is to style influencers with your products.
Some influencers also love to make this type of content more interesting by adding fashion tips.
For instance, look at BCBGeneration’s fashion influencer marketing campaign with Andrea Christina.
Image via Instagram
Not only does she model their clothes but also inspires her followers to try out a different combination. Instead of looking overly promotional, this comes across as a fashion tip.
4. Events
Want to create a buzz on social media platforms?
Throw a party or plan an event. Invite all the best fashion influencers to the event and let them be in charge of the publicity department for you.
Events can be powerful branding tools, especially if you manage to invite multiple fashion bloggers and influencers. Every year online retailer, Revolve, plans a star-studded event at the Coachella.
Revolve Festival is an invite-only party where you can find influencers, celebrities, and other A-listers mingling together in everything from Louis Vuitton to Tommy Hilfiger and New Balance.
Image via Instagram
From Kendall Jenner to Shay Mitchell and Angelica Black, everyone attended the festival and posted about it.
What was the result?
Revolve Festival was trending on social media platforms for the weekend.
It created such a good buzz that people demanded that the organizers open the festival up to the crowds.
Revolve’s Co-Founder, Michael Mente, and Chief Brand Officer, Raissa Gerona, told Instyle that people have even offered to pay $1,000 to just attend the festival.
Because of the demand, Revolve Festival decided to add some of their fans to the guest list. They ran a contest where a lucky winner would get the opportunity to attend the festival with a friend.
Even before the festival began, this contest gave Revolve a lot of social media traction and engagement.
This year, Revolve Festival booked an entire hotel and invited almost 150 influencers. Not all fashion brands may have the budget for this.
But that’s okay. Initially, even the Revolve Festival started as a single room party with just a few influencers.
5. Interviews
While sponsored content and branded hashtags are everywhere, influencer interviews are an underutilized strategy.
It’s surprising because interviews give a lot of creative freedom to influencers and brands to steer the conversation in any direction.
What does this mean?
For the audience, it provides a more personal connection than other sponsored content. Interviews can give the audience a sneak peek into the influencer’s personality, not just their lifestyle.
To plan a great interview, prepare all of your questions beforehand. But you don’t always need to stick to what you’ve prepared.
Also, leave some room for spontaneity. Either way, focus on keeping the interview genuine and not promotional.
Image via West Coast Shaving
Take a look at luxury grooming brand West Coast Shaving’s fashion influencer marketing campaign. They collaborated with fashion influencer, Denny Balmaceda, for an interview that revolved around men’s styling.
The campaign was very subtle in its promotion.
Throughout the interview, the focus of the conversation was on grooming, not on West Coast Shaving’s products particularly.
But the brand’s values about the need for proper grooming products for men were highlighted well.
6. Social Media Takeovers
To keep your target audience engaged, you need to create content that is unique and interesting.
Not sure how you can create fresh content every day?
Let your influencers take charge of your social media accounts.
On a daily basis, they create content for their own channels and brands. You can trust them to understand what kind of content works for the audience. Social media takeovers are all about cross-promotion.
Influencers can directly engage with your brand’s audience and promote the takeover on their own accounts. Through this, influencers’ audience is redirected to your brand’s page.
It’s a common influencer marketing strategy, but how are fashion brands using it to their advantage?
Harper’s Bazaar used this strategy innovatively to cover its fashion shows.
Apart from photos and articles about the event, they wanted to give their audience a feel of the backstage as well.
So, they collaborated with model, Jaime King, for a social media takeover.
Image via SoTrender
While getting ready for the Dior Cruise show, she interacted with Harper’s Bazaar’s social media followers. From hair and makeup tutorials to modeling, she touched upon all the topics during the social media takeover.
7. Team Up With Kid Influencers
For fashion influencer marketing, age is not a deal-breaker. If your brand’s target audience is kids and their parents, creating content can be confusing. Kids want content that is relatable for them.
The same content may not work for the parents. That’s where kid-influencer content comes in. It appeals to both generations.
This fashion influencer marketing strategy has already caught the attention of big brands across the globe.
Image via Instagram
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP estimates that the digital media market for the under-13 age bracket is growing at a rate of 25 percent every year.
It’s hardly surprising that big brands like Target, Covergirl, Gucci, Burberry, and other luxury brands are also jumping on this trend.
8. Promote with CGI Influencers
Fashion influencer marketing is going through an exciting and experimental phase. The latest influencers to catch the attention of fashion brands aren’t real influencers. They are computer-generated imagery or CGI influencers.
What are CGI influencers?
CGI influencers are designed by a team of graphic designers and programmers. If you look at their social media profiles, you will see them doing the same things as other influencers.
They wear stylish attire and travel to exotic destinations. But none of that is real, it’s all crafted.
With CGI influencers, brands can have full freedom in the way they want to showcase their product.
Created by British photographer Cameron-James Wilson, Shudu is the world’s first virtual supermodel.
In her lifespan of two years, she has already been featured in Cosmopolitan magazine and Vogue Australia.
Image via Instagram
Lil Miquela, one of the first CGI influencers to be created, has partnered with Prada in the past. She is also seen wearing Diesel hoodies and Moncler jackets.
9. Leverage Influencer Blogs
Most influencers are most active on their social media channels. But some of them also have their own websites which they update frequently.
How can you leverage influencer blogs?
Using sponsored posts and photoshoots.
Sponsored content is one way to leverage their website’s audience. It’s a commonly used strategy across different industries.
You just need to discuss the kind of blog posts that you want to write. For fashion brands, articles curating the latest trends with a brand’s new clothing line work well.
Another way of producing content for an influencer’s blog is through a photoshoot. The best part is you can also use the photos as social media content.
For inspiration, take a look at fashion blogger Julie Sariñana’s blog, Sincerely Jules. In her sponsored content, she blends in her personal style while showcasing a brand’s products.
Scunci, a brand of hair accessories, took their collaboration with her to the next level.
Image via Sincerely Jules
They came out with a whole new festive collection that was designed by Julie. This fashion influencer marketing strategy is bound to appeal to the influencer’s fanbase.
Since it’s designed by Julie, it adds a whole new charm to the collection.
10. Advertise on Fashion Blogs
Another smart way to reach out to an influencer’s audience base is to showcase your products on their websites.
Along with text and video content, some influencers also have a separate category for shopping.
In this section, users can find clothes and accessories that have been showcased by the influencer in sponsored content.
People look up to fashion influencers for recommendations on what to wear and how to carry it.
By advertising on an influencer’s fashion blog, you’re giving your audience exactly what they’re looking for.
You can add your products to their blogs and link them back to your own website. This way you can add a call-to-action.
Andreea Christina’s website has a whole page dedicated to outfits from different brands. From H&M to Express, you can find top fashion brands on her “Outfits” page.
She hasn’t showcased a lot of the outfits seen in this section. But they are reflective of her personal style statement.
Image via Simply Andreea
11. Showcase Collaborations
Even after your influencer marketing has ended, you can reap the benefits of your collaboration.
How can you do this?
By showcasing your partnerships on your own website. You could also showcase testimonials from influencers or give a link to your influencer marketing campaign.
This will add some credibility to your products and improve brand perception.
German brand, Kaptan & Son, has a separate section introducing all their brand ambassadors across the world.
When you click on their profile, you also a short interview of them along with their favorite items from the brand.
Image via Kaptan & Son
