The Influencer Toolkit – Interiors With Ciara Elliott
The second instalment of Elevate’s new InstaLive series, The Influencer Toolkit, featured interiors influencer and editor of House and Home Magazine, Ciara Elliott. Ciara’s experience in traditional media, coupled with her 30K+ Instagram followers, makes her uniquely qualified to discuss the relationship between legacy print media and new and social media.
Ciara explained that many journalists are now content creators, photographers, and stylists all in one. The content created must move seamlessly from print to digital and vice versa. Instagram, in a way, behaves like a glossy magazine. Both worlds are visual, informative and a break from reality. Ciara says that people are making a concerted effort to make buying magazine a part of their buying habits, as it adds a bit of excitement and gives us a break from our screens.
Advice Ciara gives for brands who want to engage with influencers in the interiors space:
- Do your research: Work out which influencers align with your brand? Using the right influencer to market your brand allows you to reach your target audience efficiently and effectively. Influencers must also choose brands wisely, as if the interests and values of the brand don’t align with their own, they appear less ‘authentic’ and stand to lose following and engagement.
- Make a connection: Reach out to the influencer and collaborate to create the best content for both your brand and theirs. Figure out how you can make your business relationship a successful one.
- Get it on paper: A clear and detailed contract allows both parties to get the best from the situation, without room for miscommunication. This is regardless of whether the promotion is compensated with money or substantial gifting/ a contra deal.
These collaborations are symbiotic relationships. Both the content creator and brand can get what they want. The brand gets a more authentic form of advertising, as well as beautiful content they can use on their own channels and platforms. The content creator gets to monetise their skills, or substantial gifting is given.
Ciara moved on to the current trends in interiors:
- Stay sustainable: followers are no longer a passive audience and now more than ever will make their true feelings known. For this reason, ‘whistleblowing’ on excessive turnover in an influencer’s makeup bag, wardrobe or sitting room will be called out. Thrift stores and platforms such as Facebook Marketplace are the way forward, as well as ethically sourced investment pieces and extra points for supporting a small business in the process.
- More is more: A new wave of interiors has begun, pushing out the ‘modern minimalism’ and making room for more colours, textures, and shapes. Ciara says it doesn’t have to go as far as maximalism, but the re-addition of colour and personality to the world of interiors is coming back strong.
- Bringing the outdoors in: Covid saw people spending more time than ever in their own homes, and now that the winter months are upon us, the line between exterior and interior is almost non-existent. Houseplants have become a massive trend in interior design
Check out the full IG Live here and watch out for future Influencer Toolkit episodes next year when we will meet other lifestyle influencers to discuss their tips and trends.