4.6 • 770 Ratings
🗓️ 8 October 2024
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
The influencer landscape has shifted dramatically over the last decade. While the image of influencers posting flawless selfies on exotic, brand-sponsored trips still resonates, the reality has become far more complex. Influencers now host live shoppable streams, publish newsletters on Substack and engage in intimate group chats. Their goal is not just to build a following and wait for brands to come calling, but to establish multiple sources of income through affiliate links, brand deals, and subscription models.
“Influencers and creators have realised that they need to diversify and be on multiple platforms. They need to be connecting with their followers in multiple ways and have a deeper relationship with their followers,” says Diana Pearl, senior news and features editor. “Even five years ago, there were people who didn't really take this industry very seriously and didn't realise the difference they could make for their brand. Now it is impossible to ignore.”
Key Insights:
Additional Resources:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the debrief from the business of fashion, where each week we delve into our most popular B.OF professional stories with the correspondence who created them. I'm executive editor Brian Baskin. |
0:18.0 | And today we're talking about influencers. |
0:25.7 | For most of us, the image that comes to mind is if a young person dancing on TikTok or posting impossibly perfect selfies on a brand-sponsored trip to some exotic destination. |
0:31.6 | But that stereotype is increasingly outdated. |
0:35.1 | Today, the most successful influencers host shoppable live streams and |
0:39.1 | intimate group chats and publish daily newsletters on substack. They're independent operators in a way |
0:44.8 | that wasn't possible even a few years ago. At the same time, they haven't entirely broken free |
0:50.1 | of the whims of the algorithm. With me to discuss all of this is senior news and features editor |
0:54.9 | Diana Pearl, who has followed the changes sweeping the influencer world closely. Hi, Diana. |
1:00.0 | Welcome to the debrief podcast. Hi, Brian. Thanks for having me. So before we dig into the ins and outs |
1:05.7 | of affiliate links and substack economics, tell me what fascinates you about influencers. I have followed the influencer |
1:13.1 | world before influencer was even like a word in our cultural vernacular. I first started following |
1:19.1 | then bloggers when I was in college. So this was around like 2010, 2011. And at the time, |
1:24.4 | it was a totally different space. Most people weren't making money off of it. |
1:28.4 | Instagram didn't exist. Instagram didn't exist. You know, bloggers were just starting to go to fashion week. So you had, you know, the early, like, fashion bloggers, like a Brian Boy or Kiara of the blonde salad. But then you also had people like Rachel Parcell of Pink Piennys, who is a mom, |
1:46.1 | wife, now clothing brand owner in Utah or Julia Engel of Galmeans Glam, who just showed their |
1:53.0 | life. And it was all very casual and off the cuff. And I think it really just either exposed people |
1:58.4 | to a world that they weren't familiar with. You know, |
2:01.5 | like, I'm not a Mormon in Utah, so I was interested in learning more about what their lives |
2:06.0 | might be like or, you know, gave people a peek at something that was aspirational to them. Like, |
2:10.8 | I followed when I was in college a lot of people who were, you know, out of school and living in |
2:16.2 | New York and doing what I wanted to be doing |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Business of Fashion, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Business of Fashion and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.