Micro-Influencers on Instagram
Delivered March 30, 2020. Contributor: Esther M.
Goals
To establish examples of brands that have leveraged micro-influencers to improve their brand presence with Instagram.
Early Findings
Sperry
- By leveraging fashion influencers and brand enthusiasts, Sperry has managed to attract a considerable following on Instagram.
- The brand is popular for designing boat shoes. However, Sperry needed to raise more awareness for wet weather or cold shoes, in a bid to position the brand in a more fashion-forward angle.
- To achieve this, the brand engaged micro-influencers in a two-week campaign.
- Sperry paid these fashion influencers to engage their followers. Influencers would wear Sperry boots and use the hashtag OOTD (outfit of the day). Using micro-influencers was helpful and successful, mainly because Sperry engaged micro-influencers to create an authentic connection between the target audience and the brand.
- A review through Sperry’s Instagram account, shows that the page has over 300,000 followers.
- In 2019, the brand generated net sales of $46.3 million.
Forever 21
- As a fashion brand, Forever 21 is a household name with a varying target audience. To attract and raise awareness for their plus-size audience, the brand used plus size fashion influencer, Kristal Heredia.
- Heredia, a micro-influencer is popular on Instagram for her bold and fearless sense of fashion, which primarily focuses on promoting body positivity and embracing her curves.
- Heredia, was, therefore, the ideal micro-influencer for Forever 21, as the brand sought to promote the plus-size collection.
- Forever 21 shares her posts routinely, and it has proven to be a success as the brand capitalized on a highly engaged micro-influencer with a plus-size fan base.
- By engaging Heredia, Forever 21plus has grown a following of more than 800,000 followers, which proves that the brand has built trust with its target audience.
Proposed next steps:
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The initial research has provided some of the brands that have used Instagram micro-influencers to attract an audience and increase their sales. We’d propose further research to identify 3-4 brands with the most following on Instagram, such as Zara, Tiffany & Co, Away and WeWork. For each of the brands, we shall provide the number of followers/web traffic, recent campaigns, and sales volume generated in the past year.
Further, we propose 2-3 start-up brands such as Inspirato, using Instagram micro-influencers to gain followers and promote their products. We will look at how they are targeting their audience using popular micro-influencers and the feedback so far. Further, we will provide an overview of how each of the brands interacts with their audience, such as using promo codes and discounts offered.
We also propose research to look at 2-3 ways to select the right influencers on Instagram. Examples may include the number of followers and influencers with content that does not compromise the brand, among others.