Visual Communication | Fashion - Rise of the Influencer

It's becoming more and more common nowadays for brands to promote their products on social media with the use of a popular influencer rather than a traditional celebrity might have done before.

Particularly on Instagram, "ordinary" men and women are being paid or offered discount by brands to feature their products, from clothing to beauty and beyond and we, as a consumer, are lapping it up. With the addition of products being featured on Youtube in video form, we feel like we are seeing these products in use first hand and like we are more connected to the people trying to sell them.

I think the idea of brands using influencers as opposed to celebrities to show off their products is such a clever way at targeting their audience and I think it makes us more likely to buy said product as it seems a little more attainable.

I discussed in my previous post about Kourtney Kardashian for Pretty Little Thing and other celebrity brand collaborations and their selling power, and I still stand by that, but I think using influencers and people who we feel like we know on a more personal level through social media have an advantage in that if we buy that product, we can achieve that lifestyle as well. Influencers to me are more relatable than celebrities in that they are probably ordinary people when the camera is switched off and they lead relatively normal lives. It makes their lifestyle seem so much more attainable and we're often given a lot more of an honest review and a less polished look at the product and how it would be seen in everyday life. 

I think it is a very clever way of visually communicating with an audience as we are seeing a dress worn on a "real" person or a beauty product actually being tried and tested rather than us being told we should simply just buy it and nothing else.


*photos courtesy of www.instagram.com/sarahhashcroft and www.instagram.com/ellenextdoor