Rihanna: The Ultimate Fashion Influencer
Okay, I know a lot of you have probably seen this meme (or a variation of it) and maybe you laughed at it or thought it was funny. But Rihanna’s influence in the fashion and beauty industry is no laughing matter. The accuracy of this meme to Rihanna’s presence in the fashion industry is uncanny, and her social media has supported her to become an ultimate influencer. From pop star to fashion powerhouse, Rihanna has become one of biggest celebrity influencers online. Rihanna’s use of social media has allowed to achieve great success with her partnerships and creations within this industry. She is constantly posting photos posing to show off her unique outfits, showcasing her partnerships with other brands, and has even become a creator herself. This is one of the key aspects that allows Rihanna to be so powerful. She takes on the role as both a creator and an influencer in this industry, allowing for the Fenty brand to become a household name and Rihanna to have revenue streams on both sides. Talk about an icon!
If there is one celebrity who knows what she is doing on social media, it’s Rihanna. Her following is no less than astounding with 61.7 million followers on Instagram, 80.9 million likes on Facebook, 29 million subscribers on YouTube, and 87.3 million followers on Twitter. But what’s more interesting is how many different pages she has. Her content is strategically posted on separate accounts. Along with her personal profile (@rihanna on most platforms, except for Instagram where she is @badgalriri), Rihanna takes up four other handles:
- @perfumesbyriri: an account dedicated to her perfume launches
- @fentyxpuma: for her collaboration with Puma
- @fentybeauty: for the makeup line she recently launched
- @fentycorp: the overall account for all of her ‘Fenty’ business ventures
By having separate accounts for each of her products, it allows for Rihanna to separate her identity as a creator and an influencer. Her followers are not overloaded with posts about each and every product Rihanna is promoting, and instead they can choose to follow which accounts they want. This gives fans the ability to personalize their relationship with Rihanna. For example, if someone were to be uninterested in Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty makeup range and does not want an abundance of posts on their feed, they can still follow Rihanna without having to be overloaded with posts. Additionally, it allows for Rihanna to maintain her own personal brand on her own page. This gives her the ability to partner with other brands outside of her own Fenty brands and use her profile from the perspective of an influencer to brands like Dior and Tom Ford.
One major aspect of Rihanna’s entire career is her value proposition. Rihanna offers diversity, inclusivity, and innovation in all aspects of her career. This works especially well on social media since it is already so prominent in her work. It is practically effortless as it is truly a part of who she is and the work she has done. Rihanna and her team have done an amazing job of ensuring every project she is involved in comprises of these values. This makes her brand image consistent and relatable to those following her.
Although we have come to love Rihanna for being an iconic pop superstar, the past few years we have seen her focus more and more on fashion instead of music. By just doing a quick scroll through Rihanna’s personal Instagram, you can immediately see the switch. In almost every photo you will see Rihanna posing to showcase her outfit, in an appealing layout overall. Rihanna is constantly seen on her Instagram posting photos of her in designer outfits, making sure to tag the designer with a clever caption and effective use of hashtags. In an interview with Tom Ford, he says ““…customers don’t care anymore about reviews or hard-copy publications. They care what picture Rihanna just Instagrammed while she’s naked in bed, what new shoes she has on, how she’s talking about them. That’s what they respond to”. Rihanna has become one of the biggest influencers in the fashion industry. At the end of 2017, Rihanna has become the largest celebrity influencer surpassing other stars like Selena Gomez, Bella Hadid, and even the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton. Rihanna can post a photo on Instagram with a simple caption (if there is even one at all) and it has the power to influence millions of people around the world. Often times Rihanna doesn’t need a caption at all. Several of her photos just tag the designer or brand.
One of Rihanna’s most notable partnerships has been with the athletic brand Puma. In 2014 Puma announced that Rihanna would become their new creative director and almost instantly the company began to see an increase in net income. Together they launched they Fenty X Puma collection. Like I already said, the collection is so popular is has its own social media page allowing Rihanna to separate her identity as a creator and an influencer. The Fenty X Puma Instagram clearly showcases Rihanna’s identity as a creator. Much of the content of their posts do not include Rihanna, but instead the use of hashtags is prominent to feature the Fenty name in every post. Back on Rihanna’s personal Instagram, Rihanna takes on an influencer role. She will pose for a photo that prominently features the collection and tag the Fenty X Puma account. The social media strategy perfectly works in her favour to keep her identities separate and keep followers engaged.
Similar to her collaboration with Puma, Rihanna’s social media strategy for her makeup line is similar. Rihanna launched the Fenty Beauty makeup line in September of 2017 and it has since achieved great success. In the first month after the launch the line had revenues of $72 million and was named as one of Time’s Best Inventions of 2017. The social media strategy of the brand is likely why they achieved such success. Not only are the products good quality and incredibly diverse in shades, but products were sent out to influencers to post tutorials on YouTube. These videos received over 132 million views in the first month alone. Once again, Rihanna took on an influencer role on her own social channels as well. Again, by having two accounts to separate her identity as a creator and an influencer, Rihanna becomes immensely powerful.
Although Rihanna is a massive celebrity, she does exhibit many of the characteristics of other influencers. Of course, some of them come naturally with her celebrity status. She has high level of connectivity that comes easily from her massive following of dedicated fans. An affiliative bond is created as well since we have seen Rihanna grow up in the media for years. We already feel like we know her pretty well. But although she has a large following, Rihanna attempts to interact with followers and create meaningful engagements to make the fan base stronger.
She has previously posted fan artwork on her Instagram and interacting with fans. She responds to fans with witty remarks full of sass and attitude. She will also help fans seeking advice and offer support where she can. Although interacting with every single person of her massive audience is next to impossible, Rihanna makes personal interactions happen wherever possible. Personal interactions like these can replicate having a massive influence over a small group, which Rihanna does exceptionally well. Additionally, Rihanna replicates the interpersonal nature of sharing photos and video by utilizing Instagram as her main platform and posting photos that make her appear as part of the leisure class. Many of Rihanna’s photos are just her posing in luxurious outfits in fancy settings. Her photos are taken as face value, although many of them are likely to be staged and not as candid as they may seem. She encapsulates all the characteristics of an influencer but on a much larger scale, giving her an immense amount of power.
To recap:
- Rihanna has all the characteristics of an influencer, with her celebrity status adding to audience base.
- She doubles as both a creator and an influencer in the fashion and beauty industry, giving her twice the money-making opportunities.
- She has an unbelievably strategic content strategy, using several accounts to post content to keep the creator and influencer identities separate.
- She offers a unique value proposition that is consistent across all aspects of her career, creating a cohesive, uniform image on her social channels.
There is no doubt that Rihanna is one of the most powerful celebrities in the digital age. Her ability to use social media to enhance her career is remarkable. Her social strategy is complex, well thought out, and incredibly well managed. Her influence in the fashion industry has become so large that the “it’s ugly until Rihanna decides it’s not” meme isn’t even just something funny someone wrote online. It’s the truth, and her social media strategy has allowed her to achieve just that.
