Report: Influencers and Social Media Markers

DATA4500

Social Media Analytics

Executive Summary

This report has provided an analysis and a shortlist of two prospective influencers, Elodie Russel and Crystal Bellotti, who were analyzed and selected for a digital marketing campaign for Divas Brows targeting young, fashion-forward consumers. The goals were to find influencers who could present the brand well and reach its core audience on social media, especially Instagram. Following an evaluation of a variety of influencers, Elodie Russel was selected as a priority due to her high engagement (3.2%), authentic content, and expertise in brow-related beauty tutorials. Crystal Bellotti was selected second, as she has a much wider range with 323k followers and a very strong presence in skincare and beauty content. 

Influencer selection criteria were based on the engagement rate, relevancy to the audience, content quality, authenticity, values and tone alignment with the relevant brand. A social media Audit was conducted on both influencers to study audience engagement and detect potential follower fraud through industry benchmarks and research-backed tracking measures. Results confirm both representatives with a good level of audience engagement and little concern regarding the presence of inauthentic accounts. Campaign activity recommendations were tailored to the content styles of each influencer and the key interests of their followers to communicate the message with the highest possibility of success. It was recommended that product demonstrations, Instagram Reels, and limited-time giveaways should be done with Elodie, and Crystal can focus on GRWM events and skincare collaborations for the campaign. In summary, both influencers proved well suited as brand ambassadors, while Elodie is the strong first suggestion based on niche affiliation and the quality of engagement.

 

Table of Contents

Criteria for Influencer Selection 4

Social Media Data Accessed & Analysed 5

Influencer Campaign Activities 6

Challenges with First-Choice Influencers 8

Backup Influencer: Crystal Bellotti 9

References 10

 

Introduction

In this current age, where presence in the digital space determines business success, influencing people when it comes to marketing has become a very effective promotional tool that beauty and fashion brands utilize. With popular products and services in eyebrow styling, Divas Brows wants to launch a campaign concerning the company to be able to reach out to the young, beauty-conscious consumers through influencer marketing. This report records the entire process of selection and evaluation of two social media influencers whose values and marketing goals are aligned with that of the brand. Performance metrics among these influencers are analyzed, and suggestions of relevant campaign activities are put forward based on content patterns, platform engagement, and size of the audience demographic. 

Criteria for Influencer Selection

Figure 1: Instagram Profile of Divas Brows

(Source: Divas, 2021)

Picking the right influencers is an important factor in deciding the success of Divas Brows’ marketing campaign, while the following criteria can ensure all considerations are data-driven and aligned with the brand selection process: 

1. Follower Count and Authenticity: 

First, follower count and authenticity were checked to maintain reach, without bot inflation. Goyal et al. (2024) checklists were for assessing whether there were any markers for suspicious activity, such as inconsistent comment patterns or follower spikes. Elodie Russel’s audience was deemed largely authentic, while Crystal Bellotti’s was found to show signs of niche segmentation, though remaining in acceptable margins of authenticity.

2. Engagement Rate: 

Second, the engagement rate was determined by measuring likes and comments against the number of followers. Higher engagement rates are often indicative of the more topical interest of an audience (Nkegbe and Abor, 2023). Elodie seemed to do more or less consistently across the board.

3. Audience Alignment with Brand Demographics: 

Third, alignment with the target audience of Divas Brows, primarily young females interested in makeup and grooming, was analyzed based on content themes and visible follower interaction. Both influencers do cater to beauty enthusiasts, but Elodie’s content was much more closely aligned with the niche focused on brows. 

4. Past Brand Partnerships: 

Fourth, their previous collaborations with brands were assessed. Elodie had previously partnered with up-and-coming beauty brands, showing that she could drive visibility without coming across as overly commercialized.

5. Platform Relevance: 

Finally, platform relevance was considered, with a primary emphasis on Instagram due to its visual-first approach, which is critical for beauty content (Ringborg and Ohlsson, 2024). Elodie presented a stronger performance on Instagram, whereas Crystal had added strategic wiggle room with TikTok. 

6. Brand Values and Tone Alignment: 

The influencer’s style, tone, and personality should align with Divas Brows’ brand—assertive, stylish, and empowering. If the message is constant, this will further strengthen brand identity in the long run, engendering consumer trust.

Social Media Data Accessed & Analysed

In arriving at a social media analysis for Divas Brows, hypothetical tools such as HypeAuditor, Social Blade, and Instagram Insights were used for fine quantitative and qualitative listings. These provide insights into the decent scopes of influencers’ performance, audience behaviour, and content efficiency.

Quantitative aspects:

Figure 2: Instagram Profile of  Elodie Russel

(Source: Elodie Russel, 2025)

Elodie Russel (@elodierussell) boasts 149,000 followers on her Instagram account, which is full of high-quality makeup content, mainly focused on brow transformations and tutorials, besides being very connected with Divas Brows’ core products. The engagement rate of her last 10 posts has calculated from the last 10 posts as follows: 

Engagement Rate (%) = (Likes + Comments) ÷ Followers × 100

With an engagement rate close to 3.2% on average, it was rated good among the mid-tier beauty influencers (Syed et al. 2023). However, the difference in like-to-comment ratio showed that over 90,000 likes, some posts had below 200 comments hence indicating shallow viewer involvement regarding those types of content.

Her account was evaluated under the criteria of Goyal et al. (2024) to check for follower authenticity, such as patterns of engagements, relevance of comments, and historical growth of followers. The analysis shows very little red flags suggesting a mostly organic and relevant audience.

HypeAuditor assessed audience demographics. Elodie’s audience is primarily female (89 percent), aged 18 to 34 years, and mostly from the UK and US—fitting almost closely with the target audience of Divas Brows.

Qualitative analysis:

A content review revealed that it was highly relevant because of consistent beauty-related posts and tutorials. The tone was confident and relatable, fitting with Divas Brows’ empowering brand voice. The sentiment in the comments was mostly positive, with frequent mentions of the influence of product recommendations, which indicates Elodie Russel’s strong influence and trustworthiness. All these data points, in conjunction with each other, will lay a good foundation for choosing an effective influencer partner.

Influencer Campaign Activities

The overall campaign strategy was by the individual styles of content and behavioural trends of the audience their target influencers focused upon. For example, with Elodie, who appears to dedicate her entire Instagram feed to quality make-up transformations and brow tutorials, the proposed possible activities include:

• An Instagram Live “Brow Masterclass”, where the usage of Divas Brows products will be detailed to the audience, step by step.
• A contest to tag friends and follow Divas Brows, which encourages the followers to win eyebrow kits that increase brand visibility (Gupta and Madan, 2022). 
• Before-and-after reels demonstrating product effectiveness, which suit Elodie’s visual and tutorial-focused content style.  
• Discount code collaboration, “ELODIE10”, to encourage her followers to purchase directly and track ROI. 

As per the similarity context, if the campaign were devised for Crystal Bellotti, there would be a shift from all these components to story-telling or storytelling coupled with activity influence, including

• Mini TikTok series featuring “brow hacks for busy mornings.”
• Style polls and Q&As on the Instagram Story, using products from Divas Brows, in order to keep follower participation up.
• Collaborative skin care to makeup transition reel that marries Crystal’s skincare angle with the brand’s makeup focus.  
• The choice of both influencers was for purposes of messaging consistency but with tailored dispositions to their strengths as well as audience preference (Stamatos, 2025).

Multi-Channel Integration:

Figure 3: Multi-Channel Marketing Integration

(Source: Spil, 2025)

The influencer’s content will be integrated into Divas Brows’ broader marketing channels. Snippets of their videos and testimonials will be circulated in email newsletters, website banners, and social project ads. Their UGC will also see use in refreshing the Divas Brows Instagram feed, conceptualizing consistency and relevance across channels. An approach to the campaign aims to enable engagement and conversion through the seamless amalgam of personal storytelling and brand awareness (Li and Ahmed, 2024).

Challenges with First-Choice Influencers

Having a high engagement rate with followers that are closely aligned with the audience of Divas Brows have favored Elodie Russel as the preferred influencer for the brand. Some hurdles may come into play and hinder her participation. 

Cost is paramount. An influencer with a large following and an even larger active following usually commands a very high price for collaboration (Syed et al., 2023). Elodie’s charge may be above Divas Brows’ allocated budget for influencer marketing, especially if she packages it with several posts, stories, and video content. 

Secondly, exclusivity clauses may prevent her from endorsing competing beauty or personal care brands. If she already has a contract with another brow or makeup company, collaborating with Divas Brows would pose a conflict of interest. 

Thirdly, issues related to availability and alignment may arise. Influencers do work on very tight timetables, making accomplishing a content calendar that syncs her availability with Divas Brows’ campaign launch a challenge. Notably, if she were to move away from the brand image in terms of creative style and tone during negotiations, it would dilute the impact of the partnership. 

Lastly, reputational risks must be considered. With any public figure, their prior controversies or possible image mismatches can reflect poorly on the brand. A thorough vetting process is essential before endorsing the collaboration (Saputra and Hanutama, 2025).

Backup Influencer: Crystal Bellotti

Figure 4: Instagram Profile of Crystal Bellotti

(Source: Crystal Bellotti, 2021)

Crystal Bellotti, with an Instagram account (@crystalbellotti) boasting a whopping 323k followers, cultivated fairly consistent content on beauty routines, skincare, and product reviews. The average engagement for her posts was calculated at 2.9%, slightly down from Elodie’s but well within the acceptable range for macro-influencers (Nkegbe and Abor, 2023). Another incident of interest was her comment-to-like ratio, which seemed to find more consistency. One recent GRWM video garnered 16,000 likes and over 600 comments, indicating good audience interaction.

Bellotti’s account also fared well in the fake follower detection checklist as Goyal et al. (2024) have pointed out and shows stable growth, active comments, and limited suspicious activity.

Running parallel to this, Elodie Russel had a somewhat more focused niche having slightly higher engagement versus Crystal Bellotti, who offered greater reach with a more balanced interaction matrix. In all instances, both profiles matched the target audience of the brand and were favorable under social media data analyses.

The strategic reason for placing Crystal as the second choice is that she is more cost-effective. The partnership with her would be cheaper yet still return solid engagement rates (Fisch and Schwartz, 2024). Besides that, her niche appeal within the beauty tutorial community will likely appeal to highly targeted consumers who would be interested in service-based beauty solutions.

If Elodie is not available, the campaign will turn its focus a little around educational and tutorial kinds of content with an emphasis on how-to and before and after results using the services of Divas Brows. Such a direction could add trust and credibility and entice new customers to access the brand’s offerings, based on Crystal’s testaments and demonstrations.

 

References

Crystal Bellotti, 2021. Crystal Bellotti (@crystalbellotti) • Instagram photos and videos. [online] Instagram. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/crystalbellotti/?hl=en [Accessed 8 Apr. 2025].

Divas (2021). Beauty Salon Sydney (@divasbrowofficial) • Instagram photos and videos. [online] Instagram.com. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/divasbrowofficial/  [Accessed 8 Apr. 2025].

Elodie Russel, 2025. Instagram. [online] Instagram. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/elodierussell/?hl=en [Accessed 8 Apr. 2025].

Fisch, J.E. and Schwartz, J., 2024. How Did Corporations Get Stuck in Politics and Can They Escape?. U of Penn, Inst for Law & Econ Research Paper, (24-05). Available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4740866 [Accessed 8 Apr. 2025].

Goyal, B., Gill, N.S. and Gulia, P., 2024. Securing social spaces: machine learning techniques for fake profile detection on Instagram. Social Network Analysis and Mining, 14(1), pp.1–14. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13278-024-01399-3 [Accessed 8 Apr. 2025].

Gupta, R. and Madan, S., 2022. Digital Marketing: The science and magic of digital marketing can help you become a successful marketing professional (English Edition). New Delhi: BPB Publications. Available at: https://books.google.com/books?id=e5KGEAAAQBAJ [Accessed 8 Apr. 2025].

Li, X.A. and Ahmed, U., 2024. Creating cohesive brand experiences through integrated campaigns. In: Strategies for Brand Communications and Management, pp.183–196. Available at: https://www.gbppublications.com/_files/ugd/5e526c_c3bf3b6cf4554b91a722de8e7c512c9a.pdf#page=196 [Accessed 8 Apr. 2025].

Nkegbe, F. and Abor, Y., 2023. The role of social media in enhancing customer engagement and brand loyalty. Journal of Policy Options, 6(3), pp.26–34. Available at: http://resdojournals.com/index.php/jpo/article/view/305 [Accessed 8 Apr. 2025].

Ringborg, L. and Ohlsson, I., 2024. The influence of TikTok: Understanding the influence of TikTok UGC on Gen Z’s impulsive buying behavior regarding beauty products. [online] DiVA Portal. Available at: https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:1875509 [Accessed 8 Apr. 2025].

Saputra, M.D. and Hanutama, P., 2025. CSR as a corporate communication strategy: An analysis of public perception. Jurnal Sosial dan Sains, 5(3), pp.365–386.

Spil, 2025. Multichannel marketing channels [online image]. Available at: https://www.spcdn.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/multichannel-marketing-channels.png [Accessed 8 Apr. 2025].

Stamatos, S.G., 2025. Get ready with me: Unveiling the regulatory realities of influencer marketing. Boston College Law Review, 66(1). Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=01616587&AN=182762464 [Accessed 8 Apr. 2025].

Syed, T.A., Mehmood, F. and Qaiser, T., 2023. Brand–SMI collaboration in influencer marketing campaigns: A transaction cost economics perspective. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 192, p.122580. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162523002652 [Accessed 8 Apr. 2025].