Business

Retailers Hire Social-Media Influencers

By Isabella Ji

Spectrum staff

On a Monday in April 2020, Kaitlyn Zayas, 19, sat in her living room, recording a social media post about the “happiness” bath bomb and the “luau” facial and body soap bar that had arrived in that day’s mail from one of the retailers she represents online.

“Honey West Co & Beauty is a sustainable brand … and all of their products are natural! 😍,” typed the college student from Butler, N.J., lifting those products up for the camera she was using for her TikTok video.

A couple days later, she was reviewing more products she’d gotten in the mail. That time, on Instagram, she wrote: “So grateful for this company’s heart and mission … obsessed,” read the words she texted in her 15-second post.

Zayas has devoted part of her time in Covid-19 lockdown to building her name as an influencer by testing, modeling and helping to sell clothes and cosmetics for online stores. She is one in what seems like a small army of teens and young adults doing what she does for national chains and hometown boutiques, including ones in Monmouth County, N.J. Some boutique owners say these online pitches have helped them stay afloat at a time when retail spending has fallen and several major retailers have filed bankruptcy.

Kelly McCoy, 25, has been managing Lucki Clover for four years, in downtown Red Bank, N.J. It’s been using influencers. “We all follow bloggers or influencers just for pleasure,” McCoy said. “So, I just feel like it just gets the word out there. And, then, you have those followers who come back to shop at your store … It all just works out.”

A variety of retailers are using influencers, everyone from national chain Billabong to Wanderlust, a locally owned boutique in Shrewsbury, N.J. The more than 20 photos of Monmouth County teen influencers on Billabong N.J.’s Instagram advertised beach cover-ups, rompers, sweaters and other items.

Though Rare Cargo and Metropologie, a boutique in Manasquan, N.J., does not yet use that method of advertising, the manager, Lee Sanders, 22, understands the benefits of it.

“The internet is a very powerful marketing tool,” Sanders said. “And that is why I am implementing more ways to advertise our products through social media and the internet.”

What the influencers do is making a difference, some said. “Given the feedback from everyone, I have definitely inspired a lot of people … Like, my style. I have definitely inspired people,” said influencer Nicole Neissany, 28, a content creator and blogger in Hazlet, N.J.

The influencers like the idea of helping a business stay open. They also like having a chance to shine. “It was really cool. I mean, I was kind of excited,” said Leena Abdulrahman, 17, in an early Instagram post about a pink peplum halter top sold by Lucki Clover.

A few weeks into being in an influencer, she told The Spectrum that she’s excited and kind of awed that she gets people’s attention.  “When I first posted [the pink halter top,” said the Newton, Conn. high school student, “someone commented, like, ‘Oh my god, I love your shirt.’”

She added, “If I see, like, an influencer or someone that I look up to or is my friend in a post with a shirt on I would be more inclined to buy it.”

This kind of marketing isn’t always a win-win situation. Though Dileiny Rodriguez Baron, 37, an influencer from Jersey City, receives almost daily offers to collaborate with stores, she doesn’t accept all of them. “[It] doesn’t matter how much money I’m offered, I’ll never promote anything that I wouldn’t use for myself.”

Nevertheless, these social media role models gain from these experiences in their own ways.

“I’m totally on the small business train,” Zayas said. “I’m always trying to find more ethical and sustainable businesses to shop from and I’ve just worked with the most wonderful and sweet little startup businesses. So, I just really love it.’