6 Ways to Collaborate with Beauty and Fashion Influencers

People often showcase their best side on social media, and Instagram is one of the channels which promotes the sharing of beautiful photos. Of which, beauty and fashion influencers play a leading role, making Instagram their personal fashion runway and beauty parade. 

Influencers are now increasingly relevant when it comes to beauty marketing. Consumers turn to how-to tutorials on YouTube where they can watch influencers apply products and find inspiration, while on Instagram, influencers constantly “wow” followers with pretty packages and videos. By clicking on the product tagged on posts, consumers can also be directed to purchase the product from an influencers’ #ootd (Outfit of the Day), generating immediate revenue.   

Interested to leverage on influencer marketing to drive better engagement? Read on to find out 6 ways your brand can collaborate with beauty and fashion influencers!

1. Showcase the Difference

Last month, Loreal Paris launched a breakthrough campaign, #DontStopMeNow, with popular beauty influencers in India on Instagram, including @lifestylewithpriya, @sejalkumar1195, @shauryasanadhya, @malvikasitlaniofficial, @sonakshisinghrawat, and @mehakghaiii. The photos use a “Before-After” comparison of using Loreal Paris’ foundation to showcase the difference made by the product. The difference between the “Before” and “After” photos was a clear contrast and @malvikasitlaniofficial received over 25k likes on Instagram. 

Hence, brands can consider using this classic, yet practical strategy to demonstrate the effectiveness of their products. Using a visual comparison, consumers are thus invited to undergo a transformative experience by using the product.

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2. Be Pretty (and) Bold

Besides beauty brands, photo and video editing app @picsart also collaborated with various beauty and fashion influencers to showcase its fantastic effects. The app was able to help influencers beautify their images, making them look completely out of this world!  

Well-known influencer @aakritiranaofficial created a visually bold image revealing her abdominal area to show a skeleton graphic. Many were encouraged by her message of self-love and self-care which tied in neatly with her photo. Thereafter, her comments section was flooded with positive comments, as most of her followers were amazed by the creative idea.

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Another beauty influencer, @gelangelicca also stood out from the crowd in her collaboration with @perfectdairyofficial. Her unique makeup look created using @perfectdiaryofficial’s Explore Palette served as an inspiration to many of her followers. Playing around with vibrant blue, orange and lilac shades, @gelangelicca showcased her bold sense of style. By breaking out of the ordinary, it helped to demonstrate just how versatile the eyeshadow palette can be!

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Learning from these two examples, it is important for brands to think out of the box and come up with visually exciting posts when working with beauty and fashion influencers. Engaging key opinion leaders to come up with fashionable makeup looks is also a great way to capture the audience's attention and encourage them to get creative with makeup.

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3. Work with Male Influencers

Nowadays, male beauty influencers and creators are becoming more prominent, making up 41% of influencers in ASEAN. With male influencers on the rise, brands are taking this opportunity to scale new markets and bring something different to the crowded beauty space. 

And if you’re already on the lookout for male influencers to collaborate with, check out these two millennial influencers in Singapore! @kevintristan and @titusslow are among the trending male beauty and fashion influencers in Southeast Asia. According to Affable’s Influencer Discovery tool, their followers are mainly made up of Gen Z and millennials.

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Both in their early 20s, they connect well with Gen Z and millennial consumers through a modern aesthetic and relatable content. While @kevintristan engages his audience through artistic photos, @titusslow fills his feed with a series of handsome photos and a touch of self-deprecating humour in his captions. 

Curious to find out more about the world of male beauty influencers? We keep you up to date with why and how brands should collaborate with male beauty influencers in our other blog posts.

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4. Sell Stories, Not Products

With pretty outfits and a glamorous photo, you are definitely halfway there to a successful influencer marketing campaign. However, brands have to keep in mind that consumers are looking for more than just a nice product shot. 

To put the cherry on top of any influencer marketing campaign, brands can encourage influencers to create a story around the product. This can be as easy as thinking of a use case for the product, or tips on how to use the product. 

Collaborating with @labelritukumar, Indian influencer @santoshishetty rewarded her followers with a graceful and elegant pose in her dress. But beyond just that, she helped her audience imagine where they could go with this beautiful dress - from a cocktail party to a beach vacay! She even gave suggestions on how to layer up the dress as an outfit idea, which was well-received with her post reaching over 20k likes.

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Another perfect example is Singaporean micro-influencer @justinng156’s collaboration with @gastonluga. As an avid photographer, it is no wonder he captured the photo in a unique angle by being in the flatlay himself! Besides the eye-catching photo, @justinng156 further mentioned how he’s looking forward to bringing the backpack to the gym. By selling stories and not products, learn how your brand can create influencer marketing campaigns that appeal to consumers’ needs and emotions.

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5. Motivate and Empower your Audience

Brands are realising that outer beauty is not enough. Beauty should come from the inside too and influencers that showcase inner beauty are now winning the hearts of their audience. ‍

Whisper India launched a wildly successful influencer marketing campaign with popular beauty influencers in India sharing their motivational story of female empowerment. Beauty influencer @riturathee’s post alone generated over 144k likes as followers were proud of her for sharing her story and spreading positivity. Followers were also tasked to put on a green cape and share their #SuperSheroes story to encourage user-generated content.

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Leading luxury beauty brand, Lancome, also became the most active brand in Singapore for August 2020 by launching an influencer marketing campaign,  #LiveYourStrength. The brand partnered with 100 inspiring female influencers including micro-influencers @lianmeiting and @constancelaujm. Other female influencers in Singapore also joined in to share their personal stories of finding their inner strength and living with it. 

The campaign aims to inspire and encourage women to discover their strength from within and live up to it to conquer all challenges in life. Learning from Lancome’s success, beauty brands can similarly step up to spread inspirational messages and forge a stronger connection with followers!

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6. Promoting a Healthy Lifestyle

Lastly, you don’t have to be a beauty or fashion brand to collaborate with beauty or fashion influencers. Staying pretty requires a healthy glow as well. Health food brands can partner with beauty and fashion influencers to decode what keeps them at the top of their game - A healthy lifestyle. An example is @kinohimitsusg recent collaboration with @xinlinnn to promote beauty supplements. The secret behind her beauty? @kinohimitsusg’s Detox enzyme which helps her to reduce bloating! 

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@thevintagevision is another beauty influencer in Singapore, who collaborated with @shakefarm to promote their healthy food and drinks. And it is no mystery where she got her amazing figure from!

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BONUS: Creative Campaigns

Lastly, who says you have to put the product in the picture? Partnering with Magnum, beauty influencer @munahbagharib posted a photo of herself in a dress that resembles the new Magnum Ruby ice cream. She also challenged followers to create their #MagnumRubyLook and turn their home into a high profile fashion runway with #RubyCarpet, generating high engagement rates.

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Feeling inspired by these examples? There are still many ways your brand can collaborate with beauty and fashion influencers. Reach out to us for more information or request a demo to find out how to run a successful influencer campaign!