March 31, 2016
Victoria’s Secret crowns social media stars
For the first time, Victoria’s Secret honored three social media mavens in three categories as part of its “What Is Sexy List.”
The 11th annual ranking of “all things sexy” typically awards celebrities, such this year’s winners: Kerry Washington (Sexiest Actress) and Jennifer Lopez (Forever Sexy). Some quirky categories included Sexiest U.S City (Nashville) and Sexiest Furry Friend (Model Chrissy Teigen’s dog Pippa).
But the lingerie chain this year asked customers to vote for their favorite YouTube stars or bloggers in three categories: Fitness, Beauty and Fashion. Four finalists were announced in each category last week and fans were given 24 hours to vote for the winner.
The three winners were:
Sexiest Fitness Star: Hannah Bronfman, HBFIT.com.
The 28-year-old runs the wellness website, HBFit. With 309,000 followers on Instagram, she is regularly seen in the front row at fashion week.
Sexiest Beauty Star: Zoe Sugg, YouTube. Known as Zoella, the 25-year-old has more than 10 million subscribers for her YouTube channel, 4.4 million Twitter followers and 1.4 million followers on Instagram.
Sexiest Fashion Star: Sonya Esman, ClassIsInternal.com. The 20-year-old has 1.5 million YouTube subscribers and 1.1 million followers on Instagram.
In 2015, there was only one Sexiest Social Star, beauty vlogger, Tess Christine.
Bloomingdale’s, Target, Amazon and Macy’s have all tapped social influencers to promote fashion offerings. Aeropostale and PBteen have collections linked to social stars.
In a poll conducted last year of 125 online marketers from Tomoson, influencer marketing and e-mail tied for the most cost-effective online customer acquisition channel (22 percent each), followed by organic search (17 percent),
An AdWeek article from last fall on tips for using social influencers suggested seeking out influencers for their engagement rather than number of followers, establishing longer-term partnerships with them, and making sure they like the brand. Kimberly Yarnell, VP of digital media for Macy’s, told Adweek, “[We] find the influencers, frankly, that like our brand, like the story we’re trying to tell.”
- Victoria’s Secret Reveals The 2016 What Is Sexy? List – Victoria’s Secret
- What is Sexy – Victoria’s Secret
- Victoria Secret Launches Award Sexiest Social Stars – Roccoreport
- Youtube star Zoella nominated for Victoria’s Secret award for being sexy after her knicker selfie – The Sun
- Victoria’s Secret has crowned these three millennials as the sexiest stars on Instagram
- PBteen Unveils Exclusive Collection With Youtube Star Meg Deangelis Of Maybaby – PBteen
- Luxury department stores use fashion bloggers to attract consumers – Luxury Daily – Luxury Daily
- Amazon debuts talk show ‘Style Code Live’ to boost fashion cred – Retail Dive
- Influencer Marketing Study – Tomoson
- 4 Things Brands Can Do to Make Influencer Marketing Work for Them – Adweek
BrainTrust
Kenneth Leung
Retail and Customer Experience Expert
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Are social media stars becoming more influential over brand choice than celebrities? How would you rate the advantages and drawbacks of social influencers versus using celebrities?
Poll
Social media is a place where the 21st century consumer may go to learn about products and suppliers. The interest in fan-based opinion is largely secondary to the need for item-based data. I suspect this trend will continue to expand in the coming years as the Millennials and Generation Z grow in economic wealth and purchasing power. The consumer of today wants to know what other consumers are experiencing and thinking with no regard for the opinion of the mainstay media stars.
The big social influencers are celebrities in their own right.
Social media is where the next generation of celebrities will come from. Best to tap in early. Social media does have drawbacks with unwanted popups, unwanted cookies and history, hoops to go through to see what you want. My personal experience is that something must be very compelling for me to dig deeper into social media. One turnoff, I don’t forget it, and don’t go back.
In today’s age, social media creates celebrities in its own right. When the top influencers in social media (assuming the followers are mostly real) are drawing as may eyeballs as conventional media celebrities, there is no difference where the reputation comes from.
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Social media is a place where the 21st century consumer may go to learn about products and suppliers. The interest in fan-based opinion is largely secondary to the need for item-based data. I suspect this trend will continue to expand in the coming years as the Millennials and Generation Z grow in economic wealth and purchasing power. The consumer of today wants to know what other consumers are experiencing and thinking with no regard for the opinion of the mainstay media stars.
The big social influencers are celebrities in their own right.
Social media is where the next generation of celebrities will come from. Best to tap in early. Social media does have drawbacks with unwanted popups, unwanted cookies and history, hoops to go through to see what you want. My personal experience is that something must be very compelling for me to dig deeper into social media. One turnoff, I don’t forget it, and don’t go back.
In today’s age, social media creates celebrities in its own right. When the top influencers in social media (assuming the followers are mostly real) are drawing as may eyeballs as conventional media celebrities, there is no difference where the reputation comes from.