Have you ever been scrolling through your Instagram or Twitter feed and see that celebrity you love posing with a new trendy clothing item, advertising a hot new company? Do you ever wonder if those endorsements actually help the company?
Amanda Thomas. Founder of Luv Aj.
Well, Amanda Thomas, founder of Luv Aj, says it does. Luv Aj is a company that sells trendy, edgy Jewelry. Thomas had the idea for this company at age 16. Now 25 years old her 21,000 Instagram followers can attest to the success of her company. How she has gotten her success is through partnerning with celebrities such as Gigi Hadid, Beyonce, and Emily Ratajkowski. These celebrities are sent items from Thomas and are asked to post pictures of them and the product on their social media platforms.
However, not all of her success is solely from social media, Bloggers are a key influence to the market. Thomas says this about the influence of the Blogosphere, “I’ve also learned that my number one source of traffic are bloggers who wear Luv Aj and link to my site, so it’s not necessarily via Instagram where you can’t click to buy. And some of the top tier bloggers that post about me are not as great for traffic as some of the more random or niche ones” (Bender). As entrepreneurs try to launch small businesses and get the ball rolling for their company, using people of influence to promote your product on a large platform is an incredibly successful tactic.
Creating connections and networking with people in high places, celebrities, and people of influence creates the space for your company booming. Advertising and marketing yourself is super important for your company but small business starters need to consider the impact of using others success to bring you success, and social media is a great outlet for that.
Bender, Melanie. “Luv Aj Designer Amanda Thomas Sold Her First Collection at Age 16.” Fashionista, 27 Sept. 2013, fashionista.com/2013/09/luv-aj-designer-amanda-thomas-sold-her-first-collection-at-age-16.
Talbot, Kate. “Meet The Millennial Entrepreneurs Slaying The ECommerce Game.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 27 Apr. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/katetalbot/2018/04/26/meet-the-millennial-entrepreneurs-slaying-the-ecommerce-game/.
Even though I’m very aware that celebrities are endorsing products as a marketing technique, I am much more likely to take interest in a product after I’ve seen it on their social media. I’m not surprised at the success of consumerism in social media platforms. Very nice article.
This is an excellent example of great advertising. Influencer marketing is becoming more and more popular, and as we see from this example, it works very well. Companies can use traditional advertising, and it will get them traction, but celebrities have a huge influence on thousands, if not millions of people. If customers see their favorite singer or actor using a certain product, it creates a large amount of PR and credibility for the company. If done right, a company can gain a huge following.
Great job on this post. It is so cool to see how someone can use an idea they had when they were just 16. She has taken this idea and ran with it to make quite a successful startup for someone of her age. Nice work.