How one blogger could score River Island 223% more customers

Top fashion bloggers now have more influence on buyers than celebrities and even rival established fashion media titles such as Vogue, suggests new analysis from SocialBro.

Six years after launching her fashion blog, Chiara Ferragni has managed to build a social media empire with an influence score greater than the youngest member of Forbes 100 most powerful women Taylor Swift, and has projected revenue of over $9m for 2015.

And in five short years blogger Leandra Medine has built an engaged fashion audience of over 1.3 million on social media for her Man Repeller blog.

Brands that fail to connect with high-powered fashion influencers on social media are missing out, suggests SocialBro’s analysis.

For example, in failing to connect with Man Repeller’s Twitter audience, River Island are missing out on increasing their fashion audience exposure by over 223%.

Brands like Topshop and H&M – who have previously collaborated with Man Repeller – enjoyed a 26% and 25% crossover in audience.

Brands need to be strategic in their use of this data, using it to leverage influential users and uncover collaboration opportunities to expand their audience exposure. The strength of association between an influential blogger and a brand could be the difference between someone choosing your brand or a competitor’s.

Customers no longer take a brand’s word for how good their products are, they want affirmation from other sources. 84% believe recommendations from friends and family are more effective than any form of marketing or advertising. Word of mouth is still one of the most trusted channels available to brands, and public displays of approval online can be leveraged to help with further sales.

Figures are correct as of 26/05/2015. Audience analysis is based on the Twitter users interested in fashion, this is defined by users with fashion, style or designer in their Twitter bio.