Fashion influencer
A fashion influencer is a personality that has a large number of followers on social media,[1] creates mainly fashion content and has the power to influence the opinion and purchase behavior of others with their recommendations.[2] Brands endorse them to attend fashion shows, parties, designer dinners[3] and exclusive trips[4] and to wear their clothes on social media. If a salary has been involved, the influencer may be required to label such posts as paid or sponsored content.[2] Before social media "they would have been called 'It girls'".[5]
Business magazine Forbes identified fashion influencers as "the new celebrity endorsements". However, influencers seem to have a closer relationship with their audience than traditional celebrities. As marketers Jung von Matt, Brandnew IO and Facelift point out: "Daily interactions across multiple channels, through photos, stories or live sessions, create a form of closeness and trust" that make influencers "often more tangible than traditional celebrities".[6]
Criticism[edit]
Fashion influencers have been criticized by journalists for their lack of transparency on sponsored posts.[24] The lines between posts in which influencers share product recommendations for free or because they are paid for it are often blurred.[25] Influencers are supposed to mark a sponsored post with hashtags such as #ad or #sponsored, but often use less-obvious hashtags like #sp or none at all.
Due to this lack of transparency, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sent out dozens of warning letters to Instagram influencers in the beginning of 2017, giving further indications to influencers and marketers on how to disclose advertising and sponsored posts. Following the rules of the FTC, hashtags like #ad have to appear before the "more" button and are not allowed to be buried in a flood of other hashtags.[26] Thus, "anyone endorsing a brand must "clearly and conspicuously" declare connections to it, for example, if products have been given free, if a payment has been made for the endorsement or if there is a business or family relationship".[27]
in June 2017, Instagram launched a new disclosure system with which users can tag sponsors in a post. If the brand confirms the commercial relation, the post is marked with a "paid partnership" tag at the top.[25]