Luxury Influencer Marketing: The Top Tips to Work With Creators

Luxury influencer marketing is how you can connect with high-value Gen Z customers on social media. Here are our top tips for the perfect luxury influencer campaign.
Fanbytes | Luxury Influencer Marketing

In 30 seconds:

  • Be ultra-prepared for your luxury marketing strategy with these expert tips on luxury influencer marketing.
  • Utilising influencers is all about building trust. TikTok is the most authentic app on the social media scene, and we’re sharing an exclusive report on luxury marketing on it.
  • With influencer marketing on the rise, we talk about how your luxury brand should be accessing its many benefits.


Being a luxury brand means bringing authenticity, quality and allure to your customers time and time again. But how can you create fool-proof marketing strategies that deliver on this promise?

Let’s talk about trust

Building trust with luxury customers is vital, especially in e-commerce, where they may not have encountered your product in real life. It’s especially important for Gen Z shopping for high-end brands. They’re young in the workplace, so their cash is dearer to them. 

That’s where influencer marketing can help. 92% of Gen Z consumers trust an influencer more than an advertisement or traditional celebrity endorsement. Luxury influencer marketing is a tried and tested method of delivering successful luxury marketing campaigns that communicate exactly what customers will love about your products.

So, how can you use luxury influencer marketing to make your brand sparkle?

Luxury marketing on the most authentic platform yet

Trust and truthfulness go hand-in-hand. 

Globally, an average of 53% of TikTok users say they trust others to be their true selves on the platform. It’s stats like these that mean Gen Z regards TikTok as the most authentic social media channel. 

TikTok influencers can create a direct, personal connection with their audience, like a knowledgeable friend. TikTok is where you can communicate deeper messages and explode your brand awareness and reach.

Over half of Gen Z are using TikTok. It’s the fastest-growing content creation app. This is the next generation of luxury customers to target, and they are hungry for innovative campaigns that capture their imagination (and their custom). 

To learn how to win at TikTok in your luxury marketing strategy, read our report on the best luxury brands on TikTok. It’s free to download – you’ll find it here:

Why should luxury brands use influencer marketing?

Almost half of Gen Z has made a purchase directly based on a recommendation from a social media influencer

And Gen Z are integral to the growth of luxury brands: Gen Z and Millennials will contribute 130% of luxury market growth between now and 2025.

China is the most important market for luxury goods, with Chanel, Cartier and Hermès driving huge sales in the country. Notably, Vogue China has embraced the power of Gen Z, and in conjunction, the influencer marketing industry. The magazine appointed 27-year-old social media influencer and blogger Margaret Zhang as its new editor-in-chief.

But it’s not easy to find the perfect luxury influencer to represent your brand. We’ve lined up our best tips on working with top tier content creators to help you nail your luxury marketing strategy.

Fanbytes | Luxury influencer marketing tip - Define your goals

Luxury influencer marketing tip 1: Define your goals

As a luxury brand, it’s crucial to know precisely what you want to achieve with social media influencers. There are numerous types of digital influencers, and aligning your choices with your marketing goal is essential. Saint Laurent and Gucci’s influencer marketing, for example, has a clear target of increasing engagement and brand awareness.

Who are you aiming to reach?

Gen Z are very active on TikTok and other sites like Instagram and Twitch, but it’s not just about targeting an age group. Consider niche audiences and interests in this demographic and how they may interact with your brand. For instance, Harrods and Louis Vuitton are exploring luxury fashion’s links with skateboarding.

Where are you driving traffic?

If you are seeking brand awareness, selecting influencers who can promote user-generated content (UGC) is the way to go. Equally, if you want to increase traffic to your website, this will determine the kind of influencer and brief you use. 

Are you looking to grow followers or boost engagement?

Knowing this will help you find the right creator for your influencer marketing campaign. Accounts with higher numbers of followers often increase awareness, whereas micro-influencers tend to draw higher engagement.  

Fanbytes | Luxury influencer marketing tip - Find the right influencer for your brand

Luxury influencer marketing tip 2: find the right influencer for your needs

Often brands will make the mistake of choosing an influencer simply for their sizable following. It is vital to find an influencer who chimes with your brand identity and brand’s values

So, what do you need to think about when sourcing a luxury influencer?

1. The right niche

Understanding exactly the influencer category you want to be found in and associated with is essential. It’s not just fashion influencers out there: there are influencers for almost any niche you can think of. 

For example, realtors and luxury interior design brands should know that luxury real estate is thriving on TikTok, with estate agents turning into high-impact influencers with enormous followings. @arianaberson and @erikconover are examples of how luxury influencers can use video to sell the story of an interior. 

Think about how your brand intersects with your influencer’s niche and aesthetic. For instance, luxury beauty brands can focus on polished natural aesthetics like @ysumaya for Shiseido (Take a look at exactly how their content works in our TikTok luxury marketing guide) – but you may want to explore a more relatable side. Take @mikaylanogueira’s videos, for instance. Her brand collaboration reviews of high-end beauty products from Nars, Shisheido and Dior have a fun, conspiratorial quality.

Whatever route you choose, it’s essential to hone down the right person for you. 

@stylehard #ad Listen to your mom, watches are never a bad investment @ebay #partner #ebaypartner #ebay ♬ original sound - Fashion Mom

2. The right alignment

Making sure an influencer fits with your brand’s ethos is crucial. The whole point of influencer marketing is to allow creators to build trust for your brand. If their heart isn’t in it, their followers will know. 

Luxury brands can use TikTok influencer marketing to promote the quality of their products. Partnering with with an influencer who concentrates on this, like fashion blogger and TikTok luxury “fashion mom” @stylehard is a great example. 

A luxury content creator like Andrea Cheong (@andreacheong_) would also be a brilliant collaborative option, with her informative fashion industry education videos that cover the construction of garments – and whether they’ll stand the test of time.

Consider Gen Z‘s priorities aside from your brand, and you could be setting yourself on a course for incredible engagement. We cover what Gen Z loves about TikTok here. Luxury brands that can capitalise on this (such as Burberry) can create stand-out influencer campaigns that Gen Z remembers.

3. The right metrics

We at Fanbytes have a few rules you should follow to find the perfect luxury influencer for you, based on what their data already shows.

1. Views and engagement

Make sure you look at each influencer’s average views and engagement rates. You can see this through their profile, and it tends to fluctuate post to post. You can divide the influencer’s follower number by their average number of ‘likes’ or ‘views’ on each post to get a very rough idea of their engagement rate yourself. Or you can get in touch with us, as we’ve developed the Bytesights tool to get an accurate view.

2. Reliability

Look at the influencer’s previous collaborations and how they’ve been received by their followers. When brands work with us at Fanbytes, we make sure to use trusted influencers who nail their partnerships every time.

3. Effectiveness

Using a cost-effective influencer is essential for any successful marketing campaign. You don’t always have to go big. Weighing up engagement, followers, and alignment is how you know you’re going to hit the right note every time. Again, we at Fanbytes do this for you with all our savvy Bytesights tool.  

Through Bytesights, we can easily see essential data on each influencer. We can also manage outreach and influencer relationships, and also use our data to help you come up with an impactful idea for your campaign.

Get in touch with us and we’ll talk you through how we’ll pave the way to your luxury influencer marketing success. 

Fanbytes | Luxury influencer marketing tip - Contact with care

Luxury influencer marketing tip 3: Contact with care

When talking to influencers for brand collaborations, it’s essential to approach them correctly. 

If you can access an email, this is a preferable form of communication. If not, messaging through a social media channel is acceptable if done in the right way. Make sure not to send a blanket message out. You want to cover why you think they are the perfect influencer for your brand, talk about a rough scope of the project and why you want their help. Detail what it means to work with you and your company’s ethos. 

This will help you get the right luxury influencer on board and ready to go. 

You can read more about working with influencers to establish a great relationship in our article here.

Fanbytes | Luxury influencer marketing tip - match the influencer to the right campaign

Luxury influencer marketing tip 4: match the influencer to the right campaign

So you’ve identified the right content creator and established a connection. It’s time to get the creative juices flowing and form the perfect luxury influencer campaign. We’ve got a few ideas to get you started:

@mercedesbenz Join us for the #MBStarChallenge and show us how you let our star shine! #MercedesBenz @Jamesllewis ♬ Shape like a shining star - Mercedes

1. Create a branded hashtag trend

Using influencers to promote branded hashtag challenges can boost your exposure. In our TikTok luxury marketing guide, we talk about how Burberry achieved over 57 million views with their #TBChallenge.

UGC is key here. Luxury influencers can interact with their large followings to start a domino effect of organic TikTok video content that can explode your brand awareness.

Vogue recently created the #voguemacarena trend featuring Bad Bunny, throwback Y2K fashion and plenty of famous models dancing to the Macarena. #Dance got 181 billion views worldwide on TikTok in 2020, so creating dance trends on TikTok is an excellent method to gain exposure. 

Mercedes Benz’ #MBStarChallenge asked TikTokers to recreate their logo. The luxury car brand kickstarted the challenge by inviting popular TikTok content creators to showcase their versions, resulting in 180million video views and a 30K increase in followers. 

You can read more on how luxury brands are creating branded hashtag challenges with influencers here

2. Make a series

Fanbytes put some of the UK’s top influencers together in the “Bytehouse” to create highly engaging content. Find out more about that journey here

Fenty Beauty did something similar: the luxury brand collaborated with influencers to live under one roof in the #fentybeautyhouse and create a series of tutorials on their products. These amassed 102.4million views. 

You don’t have to be a beauty brand to make the most of the popularity of tutorials and series on TikTok, however. Consider Stella McCartney’s example: the luxury fashion brand gifted influencers including Rose Langtry (@rosebrownlangtry) end-of-season stock to up-cycle through a series of tutorial videos. 

Up-cycling is a sustainable fashion practice. Gen Z are passionate about sustainability. By engaging with sustainable influencers on TikTok, Stella McCartney has supercharged brand sentiment

Luxury brands with surplus outdated stock should consider this kind of marketing as it unleashes influencer creativity and reduces waste.

@ralphlauren Life is about winning. 🏆 Show us how you’re #WinningRL ♬ Clap - Official Sound Studio

3. Host a giveaway or competition

Hosting a giveaway or competition is a great way of adding incentive for UGC. Brands should partner with influencers to spread the word and grow their following. Contests help brands access an average of 34% of their new customers; this is because over 60% of users share the contest with friends.

Ralph Lauren created the #WinningRL campaign where they asked users (promoted by “Booksmart” actress Diana Silvers) to post videos showing how they are “winning in life”. The three videos with the highest engagement won Ralph Lauren US Open apparel. 

Luxury brands are at an advantage when it comes to running competitions, as the core of a successful contest boils down to a desirable prize (and a fun competition). Your luxury product is going to be something Gen Z wants to compete for.

Giveaways like these push users to create content organically and imaginatively. If you can use influencers to encourage TikTokers to participate in your giveaway or competition, you’re onto a serious win. 

@violetezedimora Ad Might be late to the thrifting game, but I’m loving it 🥰 click link in my bio to download the app @Vestiaire Collective #vestiairecollectivehaul ♬ Get Into It (Yuh) - Doja Cat

4. Get them demonstrating

For Gen Z, TikTok is not just an app to connect with peers: it’s a tool to discover richer information about brands’ products and services. This is why tutorials work so well – but it’s also why brands can gain high numbers of clicks from letting TikTok influencers demonstrate why your products deserve the limelight.

In our recent work with Vestiaire Collective, we used influencers to demonstrate how they found the items of clothing they are wearing on the brand’s app – and how they are styling their finds. 

TikTok influencers are experts on their niche, so they’ll know how to serve the needs of their audience. They can create engaging content that demonstrates exactly what it is about your product that their followers will love. 

If you’d like to read more about how influencers can use their trusted status to encourage users to purchase your products, we cover this in our report on Luxury brands on TikTok here.

Winning at luxury influencer marketing

So now you have some of the hottest tips in the industry on luxury influencer marketing, what next?

It’s time to plan your next luxury marketing strategy, utilising influencers and everything they can bring to your brand. Luxury influencer marketing can be complex to crack, especially if you want to use a platform as new as TikTok. So we want to get you ready for anything. 

If you’re ready to step into the world’s fastest-growing social media platform, take a look at our Guide to Luxury Marketing on TikTok – or get in contact with us. We’d love to discuss how we’ll use luxury influencer marketing to unleash your brand’s potential.


Check out the links below for more tricks to help you build a full-proof luxury influencer campaign from scratch:


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