Accounting for almost 50 percent of all e-commerce sales in the U.S., Amazon has become a major disruptor in fashion and beauty retail.
With thousands of brands now looking to stand out on the site, some brands have started looking to target micro-influencers to generate traffic. Stack Influence, one of the first influencer agencies in the Amazon Industry, caters specifically to established brands on Amazon, such as Anne Klein and Eu Natural, to facilitate these connections to a network of targeted micro-influencers.
Through social media campaigns, Stack Influence has driven high-valued traffic to brand’s product listings, increasing sales and seeing higher rankings on the Amazon marketplace. William Gasner, cofounder, and chief marketing officer at Stack Influence, shares insight on how marketers are tapping into influencers during and after New York Fashion Week in the age of Amazon.
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WWD: How does Stack Influence thrive in the Amazon age?
William Gasner: Stack Influence is one of the first influencer agencies in the Amazon industry. We cater to established brands that are seeking to give away products at scale in exchange for market assets such as social media posts, product feedback, video testimonials and more. We leverage an in-house platform powered by AI to meticulously manage campaigns from start to finish and facilitate growth in brand equity for our clients.
We specialize and focus on Amazon marketplace merchants since they almost control 50 percent of all e-commerce sales in the U.S. and are continuing to expand their market share. With our strong network of vetted influencers, proprietary management software and cash-back rebate program, we’re now helping some of the top sellers on Amazon accrue curated digital content, create brand awareness and drive high-valued traffic to their product listings resulting in increased sales and higher rankings on the Amazon marketplace. Our campaigns can also generate organic product reviews as a value-add for our clients, but due to Amazon’s TOS, we never guarantee reviews or solicit them from our influencers.
WWD: How many influencers does Stack Influence work with? What credentials do they have?
W.G.: Influencer marketers now come in all sizes. As the world of technology has become more advanced and social media platforms have expanded, influencers as followed suit. Our agency works specifically with micro-influencers or social media users with around 1,000 to 50,000 followers.
We’ve found these social media users to be the ideal candidates for influencer marketing campaigns since their followers are usually much more engaged than larger Influencers. Micro-influencers’ following base often consist of a mixture of close associates and loyal fans who are engrossed with a particular subject matter. These influencers also know their subjects extremely well and their opinions are highly trusted since they interact a lot with their audience and are relatable (being primarily normal people and not celebrities).
Micro-influencers are also very targeted in their posts. They have strong bonds with their audience and have garnered a devote following by becoming masters of their topics and creating engaging, quality content within a specific niche. Stack Influence has access to more than 10 million micro-influencers in the U.S. Our micro-influencer community predominantly consists of social media users with 1,000 to 20,000 followers. Our network of micro-influencers are fully vetted, ensuring they have high engagement levels with their audience, post intriguing content and are very active on their preferred social platforms.
WWD: How did Stack Influence strategize its social media posts around New York Fashion Week?
W.G.: NYFW is the apogee of events in the world of fashion so it is an ideal hub to attract fashion enthusiasts and celebutantes alike. We’ve developed in-house platforms to identify and target social media users who employ NYFW hashtags and specific fashion week location tags within their social posts.
We also run targeted advertisements focused on distinct fashion week venues to attract fashion fans, models and social influencers to join our community. We subsequently [reached] out to identify individuals who [participated] in the NYFW events via social messaging or e-mail depending on what avenues [were] available and applicable.
WWD: How are you engaging both fans and fashion influencers after NYFW?
W.G.: As previously mentioned, we will target ideal fashion-centric micro-influencer candidates during the NYFW events through social and online advertisement targeting methodologies. During the week, fashion aficionados reach their zenith of influence on the world. In order to seize this opportunistic occasion, we will work with fashion clients who have a presence at the events to educate uninformed consumers about paramount shows which will feature the products being promoted.
Along with informing followers about significant shows, we curate content and post tags that blossom an allure around our clients’ products. This pursuit intends to entice consumers’ inquisitive nature aiming to inspire an interest in our partners’ products and engross them with a brand’s message and new style releases.
After NYFW has concluded we will discern which brands were a sensation during the week and begin to target their following bases through social and online advertising means. We also try to partner with brands and fashion influencers that were a tour de force during the shows. We, thereafter, activate successive influencer campaigns to leverage the hype surrounding these products in order to proliferate their brand awareness, social engagement and online traffic. These follow up campaigns will additionally encourage new micro-influencers to join our creator community.
WWD: What are the biggest faux pas a marketer can make during a major moment such as NYFW?
W.G.: The biggest faux pas a marketer can make during NYFW or other similar events of international stature is to simply not make a presence or promote during the affair. It’s far and few between when happenings like NYFW occur; people flock from across the globe and the world watches with reverence. Missing any opportunity to pursue a marketing campaign during an occasion at the caliber of NYFW is a fault of the benighted.
Other mistakes marketers commonly make during major moments such as NYFW is to strictly rely on physical presences at event functions, spending an arm and a leg to be in the front of the congregations. If a marketing budget facilitates a large physical presence then that strategy can be apropos.
Marketers should never forget to pursue alternative promotional tactics, such as online targeting leveraging hashtags and location tags as well as location focused advertising campaigns. Marketing success manifests where preparation and opportunity meet and there’s no better moment in the fashion industry than NYFW.
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