A quarter of influencer marketing activity on Instagram is fashion-related, according to Business Insider.
They reported that 25% of all sponsored posts on Instagram are fashion-based. That was in 2019, when the global fashion influencer marketing market size was valued at USD 1.5 billion. It’s expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 35.7% from 2020 to 2027.
Fashion influencer marketing is big business because it works. Influencers provide brands with high-quality content, trusted recommendations and build awareness among new customers. They generate sales too. 55% of fashion shoppers have made a purchase based on a creator’s Instagram post. No wonder 78% of fashion brands now work with influencers.
But not all influencer marketing campaigns are created equally. And not all influencers can generate return on investment. So how can you ensure yours is a success story?
After almost six years of running campaigns for the likes of THE ICONIC, Selfridges, Gap and Russell & Bromley, we have the following tried and tested tips.
#1 Choose the right influencer
Selecting the best of the best can be daunting, especially when you’re spoiled for choice. So align the creators you choose with your campaign objectives. If you’re after mass awareness, choose creators with a large following. If you’re only looking to reach your local customers, select creators with a strong local audience. Or you might be after engagements, therefore you should prioritise creators who have a high engagement rate.
It’s also important you collaborate with a group of diverse creators who match your brand’s aesthetic. Consumers like to see what your pieces look like on all different body types. Vamp’s creator sampling tool can help your brand find the right type of influencers. Tell it what you’re looking for and our software will go through all of our influencer’s content and present the best fit. Learn more about how to select the right influencers here.
#2 Brief them correctly
Is there a certain way you want your pieces to be styled? Do you want content to be shot in a particular setting? Or maybe you want creators to share how your clothes are manufactured sustainably. These are all things your creators need to be briefed on, in order to create the content your brand desires. Don’t leave it to chance. The briefing process is a crucial component for the success of your influencer campaign, as it’s where you have the opportunity to tell creators what they can and can’t say or shoot.
Vamp’s briefing form makes this process easy. You provide creators with a campaign overview, the dos and don’ts they need to follow, plus we include a questionnaire that allows you to seek relevant information prior to selecting your squad. This makes for a smoother collaboration process later down the track. It’s the perfect tool to ask creators things like what size they wear or which pieces from your collection they would like to style in their content. Once they have the essentials in place, they’ll be free to add their own creative flair.
#3 Align with the latest trends
Observing and adopting the latest fashion and social trends is how you’re going to capture the attention of your target audience. When customers see your brand ‘get’ the trends they care about, it suggests that you care for and understand customers themselves. Not to mention, trending content influences buying behaviour. 83% of consumers on TikTok say that seeing trending content has inspired them to make a purchase.
Influencers are at the forefront of viral trends – because they’re the ones creating them – and can help your brand create content that grabs customers’ attention. They can also get your brand seen by millions, since trending content is so widely shared on platforms like TikTok and Reels. Like when @evelilycp jumped on the ‘What I’d wear front row’ trend and reached 1.2M Reels views. Or when TikToker @wisdm8 shares viral videos where he creates outfits out of emojis.
To keep up with the latest trends, check out TikTok’s Discover tab, follow popular creators within the space, keep an eye on emerging trends from Pinterest and sign up to Vamp’s newsletter to receive constant industry updates.
#4 Don’t forget to amplify
Just like a coffee can energize your workout, allowing you to train longer and harder, or fertilizer can make your plants grow faster and stronger, a boosting strategy can help supercharge your campaign results.
Paid media can amplify creators’ content to drive mass awareness, website traffic, engagements and return on ad spend. Boosted posts appear native – with the original content, caption and influencer handle – but can be targeted with precision to reach specific audiences, age ranges and locations. With fashion such a noisy market, with lots of competition, boosting will help your content reach the people you most want to see it.
It also helps to create a smooth path to purchase. The ‘Shop now’ button can be added to boosted posts. Once clicked, consumers are taken straight to your ecommerce site – turning social scrollers into shoppers in a matter of clicks. For maximum results, Vamp suggests putting spend behind content that is already performing well organically.
Best practise in action
This Vamp fashion campaign for Russell & Bromley encouraged customers to shop their latest season collection. It generated over 200 purchases and a 11.8x ROAS. In order to achieve these results, the brand focused on tip #4 and amplified the best organically performing content in a paid media strategy.
GAP has also had a success story after running a Vamp influencer campaign to promote their New Ease collection. They focused on tip #1, choosing a diverse squad that allowed for a large pool of their customer base to visualise the new pieces in their own wardrobes. Content was boosted – tip #4 – which achieved a whopping 44x ROAS.
When Selfridges partnered with creators for this campaign, they mastered tip #2. The campaign was to promote awareness and generate sales around the brand’s new sustainable shopping options. Vamp’s briefing and content approval tool was used to ensure all their posts explained how these new shopping options were more ethical ways to purchase clothes. After these posts were boosted by Vamp, the brand achieved a 92.6x ROAS.
