Wk6 - Influencers Compared to Brand Ambassadors

For a clothing company, the use of representatives who represent the brand is best for longer-term strategies than individuals that are simply called upon as a short-term business arrangement sometimes referred to as "Influencer". The representatives who represent the brand build loyalty towards are much more of a "ride or die" type of fan where you will continue to build rapport with that person for extended periods of time months or years and they will continue to support your product. These high levels of support and understanding allow them to promote your brand in an authentic way and will help to establish a community for the fashion line. When searching for candidates to represent the brand, I would focus my efforts on micro-influencers who have between 1,000-40,000 followers as the highest engagement rates number of people that view and interact with the influencer and have niche expertise relative to the industry. I would review Twitter and Instagram to identify individuals who are currently engaging with the company through the use of the @mention and hashtags. This will provide the necessary validation for the individual to have the "credibility" and "authenticity" needed to influence others in an effective manner. Conversely, the value placed on trust (as opposed to having a high number of followers) in an influencer may be far greater than they currently possess. In evaluating these types of candidates, I would place emphasis not on their reach, but rather visual quality and engagement rate. Since 93% of consumers consider visual appearance the most important factor in their purchasing decision, visually appealing and high-quality content that follows the fashion line's style guide must be produced. Incentives (free products and social media shout-outs) should be utilized as rewards for the ambassadors to produce daily and weekly content to promote brand awareness and drive sales