ZINE analysed over 60 fashion brands who utilise influencer marketing as part of their wider marketing strategy. We wanted to see the current trends forward-thinking brands implement to drive new audiences to their social pages and generate interest and awareness around their brand.

We studied the influencers fashion brands work with, the content they create together and the engagement these posts generate on social media.

From this research, we identified three core trends fashion brands should consider if they want to level up their influencer marketing efforts moving forward in the coming years.

At ZINE, we’ve got a wide range of fashion influencers who are available to work with. We’ve also covered the topic in extensive detail. For more information on our fashion coverage, check out our content.

Top 10 fashion influencer

Top fashion brands influencers talk about 

Everything you need to know about fashion influencers 

Guide to working with influencer during London fashion week

Top UK fashion influencers on ZINE

What is a sustainable fashion influencer

There’s no denying the fashion industry is huge. Across various industries, the total global fashion industry is worth 3,000 billion dollars.

Fashion influencers make up a large proportion of global influencers online. For brands working with these creators, there’s a clear shift to brands wanting to work with the best influencer for their brand (72% say relevancy is more important than reach), rather than the influencer with the most followers. However, following that, 73% say that identifying the right influencer is a challenge they face.  

Data from our influencer marketing survey showed brands plan to increase their influencer marketing budgets. It’s therefore more important than ever that fashion brands who want to succeed with influencer marketing consider the pitfalls, strategy and challenges to be aware of to make it a success.

A recent report from McKinsey stated that brands should “move up the influencer funnel, partnering with individuals” who live ”the lifestyle and can tell an authentic story, rather than blindly paying popular more generic influencers to promote their products”.

You will learn:

• How fashion influencers on social media help improve the diversity problem within the fashion industry
• Why brands working with influencers should consider sustainability as part of their business ethos and within their marketing campaigns
• How to increase the lifespan of influencer content within the fashion industry
  

Working with fashion influencers on social campaigns

Brands may work with influencers for their campaigns for several reasons. They might want to launch a new product line and get in front of a whole new audience. Or perhaps they want to show their products worn on people who consumers relate better with.

It’s also another way for brands to generate tonnes of content they can use across channels. Influencers have grown their audience – they’ve understood the nuances of the social platforms they use and they have a keen eye for the type of content that does and doesn’t work on social media. 

Because of this, they make a significant addition for any fashion brand who wants to showcase their products in an alternative way to a new audience.  

Next steps

The ever changing trends within the fashion industry cause brands to pay attention. The beauty of influencer marketing is the implementation potential of their skillsets. Brands will be better served, integrating influencer campaigns to their overall marketing strategy. 

Instead of thinking of it as a separate standalone issue, consider how the power of influencers can support all your business goals. 

Fashion brands need to stand out and as a result, there are no clear-cut ways of working with influencers. With so much competition online, it’s clear for fashion brands to win with influencer marketing, they need to consider influencer relevancy over everything. 

If your brand plans to adopt a more sustainable approach to fashion, then the influencers you work with should reflect that too. Consumers are savvy to when brands work with inauthentic influencers and the end result is a less successful campaign. 

If you do plan to work with more diverse influencers, understand this is a long term strategy that should be entrenched into your business objectives and ethos. In doing so, it opens doors for you to work with influencers on a long term basis, perhaps through ambassador programmes, allowing you to learn new ways you can make your brand more representative of those you sell to.

It’s time for fashion brands to stop thinking of influencers marketing as an auxiliary strategy and instead, something intrinsically valuable for improving all business targets.

If you’d like to speak with a member of our team about how your fashion band can get started with influencer marketing, please get in touch.