The Market for Influences: How to Turn a Hobby into a Digital Phenomenon?
What is hidden behind each like? What are the most relevant figures in the influencer universe ? Which platforms are the most relevant to this day? The influencers have become the main ally of fashion companies to build their reputation and raise sales of products in the digital world. The sector has become professionalized and now a constellation of actors such as representative agencies and independent representatives make a link between influencer and fashion company. With the sponsorship of Launchmetrics, Modaes.es will carry out over the next few weeks a series of reports that analyze the phenomenon, while pointing out which are the most relevant characters of the sector in Spain and the rest of the world.
Fashion enthusiasts, art and travel with the soul of communicators, emerged thanks to the birth of tools for creating content on the Net as Tumblr and Wordpress. That's how bloggers were a little less than a decade ago. Today, many of these figures have turned their names into millionaire businesses, thanks to the money they generate from their collaborations with fashion companies to raise the visibility of their products and actions.
The professionalization of the sector has turned bloggers into figures spoiled by the sector, turned into machines to make money to blow of like and brief commentary. Around them, the industry has developed a constellation of intermediaries such as representative agencies and representatives, dedicated to hunt for talent to monetize their activity. These actors make a nexus between brands and influencers , dedicated to selecting the most interesting profiles for each brand and managing the details of each collaboration to ensure its success. With the sponsorship of Launchmetrics, Modaes.es starts today the series Influencers: the business behind likes , to analyze the business model of the major influencersIn the fashion sector.
The most emblematic case of blogger as a hobby turned into a successful businesswoman is the Italian Chiara Ferragni and her platform The Blonde Salad . The portal is now an online medium with its own editorial content and an ecommerce portal that generates two million dollars of estimated profit, through advertising and affiliate marketing. The shoe line that bears his name reaches fifteen million dollars in annual sales.
The professionalization of the sector has made bloggers into figures 'spoiled' by the sector, turned into machines to make money to blow of like and brief comment
"Chiara Ferragni and Leandra Medine have passed the title of influencers ; They are now megacompanies with a very loyal following of followers, "says Sarah Owen, head of digital content and marketing at the consulting firm WGSN .
One of the main intermediaries is Socialyte , a New York agency dedicated to the discovery of talents and the rent of their services. Its founder, Daniel Saynt , reveals astronomical revenues among influencers : annual profits of $ 50,000 to $ 250,000 for profiles with between 100,000 and 500,000 followers. Individuals with more than half a million fans on social networks are pocketed between $ 100,000 and $ 500,000. Finally, profiles that exceed one million followers in social networks have incomes of more than half a million dollars a year. "These figures fluctuate according to the type of influencer, The frequency and quality of the content, the interaction generated by its audience, its consecration in the press and if the profile has the ability to successfully sell the products it promotes, "says Saynt.
The agency of reference of the sector in Spain is Okiko Talents . Among its portfolio of represented are names such as Gala Gonzalez , Miranda Makaroff , Mike & Gabi ( Cup of Couple ) and Miguel Carrizo , among others.
Profiles that exceed one million followers in social networks have incomes of more than half a million dollars a year
But at what point did bloggers make the leap of amateur commentators to become the favorite contributors of fashion brands to raise the visibility of their products and actions? For Owen, the birth of Instagram in late 2010 and the rapid adoption of the platform by the bloggers put these figures as successful business models. "They realized they could use platforms to make money, encouraging a lot more bloggers to follow their trail," he adds.
In Spain, figures like Gala González (Amlul) , Alexandra Pereira (Lovely Pepa) , Aida Domenech (Dulceida) or the now well-known Pelayo Díaz (Katelovesme) were pioneers in the world of blogs and embraced all the social networks that emerged later. Despite the birth of thousands of profiles over the last few years, these names continue to be part of the reduced oem of the gods of like and online visibility in all existing social networks that have managed to turn their hobby into lucrative jobs.
"A brand can spend from 1,000 euros to 1,500 euros so that an influencer with a range of followers between 500,000 users and one million social networks upload a photograph sponsored in one of its channels," confesses Carlos Vidal , responsible for the team Of digital marketing in the communication agency Equipo Singular . Vidal leads ePR, the department that designs, controls and invests the budget for digital campaigns with bloggers and influencers . Although Team Singular has been working with these figures for nearly eight years, the ePR department was born less time thanks to the increase in the demand for services provided by bloggers and influencersBy the brands that Singular Team represents. "While a few years ago a blogger meal was organized two or three times in half a year, we now manage about three hundred actions with influencers a week," explains Vidal.
"A brand can spend from 1,000 euros to 1,500 euros so that an 'influencer' with a range of followers among the 500,000 users and the million in social networks upload a photograph sponsored in one of its channels," Carlos Vidal (Singular Team )
Market development and role of influencers
In recent years there has been an incessant growth in the number of influencers available in the market. However, the community begins to show signs of saturation. Owen of WGSN and Vidal anticipate that the figures already consecrated in the world of the influencers will become bigger and acquire still more relevance, whereas the profiles with numbers of followers of average rank (10.000-50.000 followers) will have it more difficult to survive In the long run or make their hobby a profession with stable incomes.
What kind of actions are attractive for bloggers and influencers ? According to a study by the consultancy Econsultancy , 69% of the marketing managers surveyed indicate that influencers play an important role in product launches. Also, 75% of respondents indicate that their role is important in the promotion and distribution of branded content.
Measuring the effectiveness of these campaigns was the first cause of contention between fashion companies and influencers , given the intangible nature of some of its benefits, such as brand reputation. However, there are concrete variables that help quantify the success of a collaboration. "In the brands we manage, they are very focused on ecommerce, the success of the campaign always has a lot to do with sales," explains the director of the digital department of Piazza Comunicación , Jesus Barreda . In addition to sales generated, interaction is the other fundamental pillar of collaboration. "The emphasis is on strong interaction. Those influencersWith an active community that gives likes and comments will have more opportunities to collaborate with companies, "says Owen WGSN .
"The emphasis is on strong interaction. Those influencers with an active community who gives likes and generate comments will have more opportunities to collaborate with companies, "Sarah Owen (WGSN)
Tous has collaborated with many of the national and international figures previously mentioned, among many others. "We were a pioneering brand, and we continue to be working with influencers internationally in different collaboration formats, combining global profiles with locals accumulating this 2016 reach of more than seventy million fans with these collaborations," says corporate vice president Rosa Tous .
In addition to the signing of influencers for specific collaborations, Tous and many other companies have tightened their links with these personalities until directly involving them in internal projects. In 2015, for example, Gala González designed a jewelry capsule collection for Tous that was "a success", in the words of his vice president.
The Krack footwear company has also made such collections in the past, designed with the support of influencers such as Lovely Pepa or Lady Addict. "The influencers have a lot of credibility because they are like friends who give advice, something that we see very powerful", recognizes Sebastián Troyas , manager of marketing and communication in Global Retail , parent company of Krack . Troyas is very satisfied with the results achieved, especially at the branding level. "We could never have done so with the same investment in other media." Krack invests 20% of its marketing budget in campaigns with influencers .
The professor of digital marketing at Esade business school in Barcelona, Franc Carreras , confirms the theory of Troyas in relation to the great effect of the campaigns with influencers . "Social networks have a frequency of visits of 150 times a day, which means that brands have 150 opportunities to reach their target," says the expert.
"Social networks have a frequency of visits of 150 times a day, which means that brands have 150 opportunities to reach their target"
Faced with the influential giants of the world , which will continue to grow and gain weight in the market, Owen and Vidal claim the role of microinfluencers . They have a relatively small number of followers in social networks (around 5,000), but they are nevertheless of great interest to a brand sector because they target a niche audience. Having a narrow audience, companies do not hesitate to hire their services because, although they reach fewer people, these are the most reliable reflection of the target of their products.
In parallel to the microinfluencers , the professionals consulted for the elaboration of this article point to a new profile in vogue: that of the youtubers and vloggers . These are mainly influencers whose favorite platform to broadcast their messages are video platforms. The rise of these figures is connected to the significant increase in the consumption of information through videos dedicated to the youngest. Vidal mentions Marta Rimbau and Patri Jordán , with more than three million subscribers on their Youtube channel, as two of the most important youtubers for the fashion and beauty sectors in Spain.
