The micro influencers of streetwear

Kent Hadi, Mandy CJ, Andreas Ivan, Elden Yoliva, Kimberly Chrisya, and Sally Lesmana talked to TFR about how they establish their social media presence and how they use their influence to build their career.

Amanda Christie Jodie or Mandy CJ (@mandyc.j) started her social media career from posting her paintings on Instagram. “Before joining Urban Sneaker Society, most of my social media content were about art. My style was heavily influenced by art,” said the 17-year-old graphic design student. “I acquired more followers when Carissa Perusset bought my paintings and posted it on Instagram. Then Brandon Salim and Teuku Rassya bought my paintings too and posted them on their Instagram.”

The transition from art to streetwear happened when Jodie joined Urban Sneaker Society in June. Since then, she has appeared in Guess x A$AP Rocky and G-Shock campaigns. Although she hasn’t let go of the artsy side, Jodie admitted she had to ride along the wave because her audience consists of hypebeast aficionados. “There is a persona you have to maintain on social media,” said Jodie.

Sally Lesmana (@slylsmn), Kent Hadi (@kenthadi), and Kimberly Chrisya (@kimberlychrisya) became influencers by coincidence. “I started out with helping friends to promote their products,” said Chrisya. Lesmana, however, has no idea when her social media started to grow, “I don’t know when but I suddenly found myself in the USS community. I’m actually doing it for fun, as long as I love the products.”

“I used to post sneakers photos. My pictures were reposted by OOTD page. Then I started to post pictures of my outfits. The biggest bump I got was when I held a giveaway sponsored by Tokopedia. I gained 1,000 to 2,000 followers,” said Hadi, who is also working on his own brand and managing social media content at Shop at Velvet.

Elden Yoliva (@18thvisuals) started out as a photographer. “When I was travelling to Sydney with my friends, they bumped into Jejouw and asked him to take pictures. I didn’t even know who he was back then. After that trip, we occasionally went on photo hunting. I was in a group called ‘the humans of photos.’” said Yoliva. Through USS, Yoliva met Andreas Ivan (@andreasivann) who is now working together with him to build a production house. Unlike the others, Andreas Ivan got a head start from editing videos and taking photographs. “There weren’t that many videographers when I first joined USS. I was approached to edit videos. I’m also keen on streetwear so it’s a good thing.”

While their followers haven’t reached millions, their average engagement per post is 8% to 10%, some even goes up to 20%. “It feels so weird when people approached us in real life. When I was in Bandung, someone asked me to take a picture with him. He went like, ‘Are you 18thvisuals?’” said Yoliva.

The sponsored content they bag is as impressive as their engagement rate with brands like Heineken, Tag Heuer, Guess, and G-Shock under their belt. “You have to maintain your standard and take time to reply to your followers,” said Hadi. The results from the endorsement are beyond expectation. More than 50 Guess x A$AP Rocky t-shirts were sold in a week after the members blasted photos on social media, according to Jejouw.

The strategy has certainly shifted on marketing budget. Instead of paying millions to one macro influencer, brands are spreading out their budget on several micro influencers. “Micro influencers have to join hands to raise the awareness. Right now, brands are thinking it’s better to spread out 10 products to micro influencers than sending out a product to one macro,” said Yoliva.

“Once you have 100,000 followers, the way you present yourself is broader, but when you are a micro, you are very specific and you have to open up to your followers,” said Jodie. “You also have to reply to your followers,” Hadi added. Engaging in conversation with followers is one of the ways to maintain relevancy and engagement rate. “I often get questions about the brand of my outfits. Sometimes even style advice or which shoes to buy,” said Yoliva. “I study my followers. I notice the pictures get more likes when I upload my selfie or OOTD compared to sneakers or landscape photos. When I was regularly posting, my followers went up to 3,000 and I got more than 70 DMs. That’s when I stopped replying,” he added.

At the same time, relevancy is haunting influencers. While these influencers are enjoying stellar growth with streetwear, many industry insiders are speculating when the streetwear bubble will burst. “In 2014, travel influencers were on top of the game. Nowadays, the top travel influencers in 2014 don’t get as many likes as people who post Supreme on Instagram even though they have 10,000 or more followers. Everything is based on hype,” said Yoliva.

“I’m not gonna lie. I’ve always wanted to be an influencer. This question of relevancy honestly scares me. I’m only 17. If it dies down in 5 years, I will only be 22 and I have a long way to go,” said Jodie.

On the other hand, it doesn’t bother Hadi, Ivan, Lesmana, and Chrisya that much. “Influencer is a good business because more companies and brands are investing in KOL marketing. If you are like me who is building a brand, having a large following base is beneficial. You can direct the followers to the brand,” said Hadi.

“I’ve always worn skater style outfits before streetwear is in. If it fades, I’ll continue dressing up according to my taste. I can’t always keep up with hype,” said Ivan.

Meanwhile, Chrisya and Lesmana echoed in unison, “It doesn’t really bother us because we got into this influencer job for fun.” Lesmana is currently working as an airline stewardess while Chrisya is working at USS office.

According to Yoliva, influencer cannot be a permanent job. It comes and goes. The pay is not stable. He intends to use his influence to build a graphic design agency with Ivan. Ivan voiced the same opinion as Yoliva, saying they could not rely and ride on USS forever. “It is definitely a good start but we know we have to work on something else,” said Ivan who’s managing social media content for Kick Avenue.

“The peak of your career is when you are a micro influencer on your way to be a macro,” said Jodie. Jodie also highlighted that the problem is fuelled with influencers who accept every endorsement deals. “People cannot relate to some influencers because they have too many endorsement,” said Jodie. Jodie’s opinion does hold some weight to the industry. When KOL marketing is rapidly growing, brands are replacing actors and actresses with influencers because influencers are approachable and relatable compared to actors with managers and publicists answering their e-mails. There is a different connection when people get to speak directly to their idols.

But according to Chrisya, talent management and managers are starting to shape influencers into movie stars. “In the future, influencers might as well be actors or actresses,” said Chrisya. “If we assess the way influencers work, it’s already heading towards there with management and managers supervising their posts, outfits, and contracts. The difference is probably the medium.”

“If you ask me, I’ll only endorse people who love my products. There’s no point in paying people to wear your products if they don’t like it,” said Hadi. Chrisya and Lesmana hold the same principle, “We don’t want to be a walking advertisement.”

Jodie further added, “Many Indonesians don’t take social media as a serious job. Perhaps Indonesia should start regulating social media influencers, especially when people can easily buy followers, likes, and verification sign. Once you have regulation, everything becomes safer for both parties. We are more assured and customers are more assured that the products are safe.”

After all, according to Jodie, influencers grow because they are unique and they are not afraid of expressing themselves.