The ultimate guide to influencer marketing in men’s fashion

Menswear influencer content

Influencer content is known for being unpolished, unposed, and breaking through the facade of perfection. Men’s fashion influencer content strikes a balance between quality photography and what still feels raw and authentic. Male influencers have their own unique personal style and theme and tend to have a cult-like following — which is why they are so effective at brand awareness.

To show off their style and creativity, men's fashion content includes:

• Careful, aesthetic composition 
• Quality static imagery 
• Full outfit photographs
• Eye-catching locations 
• Spontaneous video posts
• Live stories and streams 
• TikTok and Instagram try-ons
• Reels with trending music 
• OOTD (outfit of the day)
• Lookbooks

Fashion influencers have built their business on their own personal styling, so each influencer you include in a campaign brings their own take on how to style your clothes and accessories. 

Whether you’re a luxury men’s brand or streetwear, the right mix of men’s fashion influencers can help you scale, drive brand awareness, and increase sales.

Overcoming influencer marketing challenges 

Many menswear brands seek influencers on an independent basis. This approach can be tedious and overwhelming because you need to narrow down 60 million influencers to find best fit.

With substantial influencer data from an influencer marketing platform, the right men’s fashion influencers can help you regularly reach niche audiences, spread brand awareness, build brand identity, and set your menswear brand apart in the marketplace.

By leveraging an influencer network platform and expert in creator management, you can confidently execute a successful influencer marketing strategy based on unmatched influencer data in the men’s fashion sector.

What influencers want from men’s fashion brands

To uphold their personal brand as they give recommendations, male influencers expect the best from brands they work with. They want to work with a brand that is a good collaboration partner, providing stock-level updates, content inspiration, and clear communication. 

Here are the top qualities men’s style influencers want in fashion brands:

Best practices for casting men’s fashion influencers

Casting influencers can be a complex process. 

As you search for the best men’s style influencers for your brand, remember these best practices. 

1 Do some brand introspection

Ask yourself a few questions: How do you view your own brand? Who is your target audience? What is important to them? And what is the main message you want an influencer to convey to them? In order to get to the right set of influencers, you need a deep understanding of your brand, consumers, and goals. Here are a few things for fashion brands to consider:

• If you’re high-end luxury, do you prefer influencers who mix high-end with low-end? Or do you prefer only luxury influencers? 
• If you’re a sustainable brand, will you want to work with influencers who feature fast fashion 50% of the time?
• Are you looking to target Gen Z? Or are you focused on an older demographic? Or both?

2 Bring in female fashion influencers

It’s a common mistake for brands targeting men to use only male influencers. But incorporating female content creators can be highly successful, too.  Our decade of influencer data is clear: With many women as household decision-makers, female influencers can reach women, educate them about men’s products, and drive positive ROI for men’s fashion brands. Casting female fashion creators to feature their male significant others in their content can drive conversions and meet your revenue goals. 

Bonobos, for example, successfully used social media influencers to raise brand awareness and revenue. LTK recommended incorporating female influencers into their campaign to promote male products to their audience.

3 Cast micro-influencers

The micro-influencer is someone who has between 1,000 to 100,000 followers. While they’re often underestimated by brands, they’re often highly effective in their niche. While a mega influencer with 1M+ followers may have low engagement and few conversions, a nano influencer with 10,000 or fewer followers may have higher engagement for their niche, and stronger influence for conversion.

Micro-influencers also appeal to Gen Z, which now makes up 40% of global consumers and has $143 billion in spending power according to McKinsey research. Whether it’s a TikTok try-on haul or an Instagram live review, micro-influencers serve as modern-day best friends and deepen trust in the path from product post to purchase. 

4 Take the guesswork out of payment

Determining influencer pay has always been a challenge for brands. Do they place value on impressions, engagement, followers, or other metrics?

Brands need visibility into audience worth and a deeper understanding of metrics and attribution to make payment decisions. Gain the highest level of influencer transparency by working with an influencer marketing management platform. 

5 Consider user-generated content

Find fashion influencers who inspire followers to repost, share, and tag content. This social proof creates a steady flow of organic content that validates your brand in the eyes of the male fashion buyer.

Which fashion brands benefit from influencer marketing?

The short answer: all fashion brands. From streetwear to high-street, and luxury to fitness, successful brands use influencer marketing to reach their consumers. 

In 2021, streetwear and fitness brands are the biggest trends, as many people work from home.

Influencer marketing for smaller men’s fashion brands

Influencer marketing can put a small brand on the map by spreading brand awareness across social media. In particular, small fashion brands with great products and the right price point can gain huge wins using the right mix of influencers who have historically driven revenue for that vertical. 

It happens all the time: a highly engaged influencer features a product from a small fashion brand, and their audience latches on. 

Influencer marketing has helped some brands reach audiences in different parts of the world, or even led to discovery by multi-brand retailers. 

Don’t have the budget for a full influencer campaign? LTK offers other placements at lower flat fees to help spread brand awareness.