Engagement Map: Converse

What are Influencers?

According to past research into influencers, they found that influencers have valued opinions, they are advocates of a brand, and they build awareness for said brand. They are followed because people trust them, and because their opinions about this certain brand permeate different platforms and areas. 

So this begs the question of who engages with Converse. So who are high engagement fans, the influencers, etc? 
 
Possible Demographics & Psychographics:
So many people love Converse, and it was incredibly difficult to figure out possible people that have importance with the brand and who engages with Converse a lot.

From very brief research, I found a few different things that could be accurate: 

• Mid-teens to mid-20s
• Some high school students; mostly college
• A lot of different races/ethnicities
• Various geographical locations: NY, LA--seem to be major fashion/music/media scenes
• Male & Female

Most tend to:

• Love fashion
• Love adventure--many show action shots & pictures of people wearing converse all around the world
• Love music. MUSIC. MUSIC. MUSIC.

Some partner content also appears, as Converse Rubber Tracks has its own Instagram account, which focuses on the music scene of Converse.

In addition to all these, there are a few possible influencers. Recently, Converse launched their "Made by You" Campaign, which featured Converse from both famous and normal individuals.

For instance, research has actually looked into this campaign to identify possible influencers. Some include average Instagram users like@weworewhat, @eggcanvas, @natalieoffduty, @streetsmith, etc. These people participated in the Made For You Campaign, and seem to be models, fashion bloggers, or editors of magazines. I believe that this makes them influencers, even if they don't post about Converse all the time. Looking at the campaign, Made for You, it has the most potential in showing influencers and high engagement fans because that is what the campaign is all about.

In addition to average influencers, there are always going to be more prominent influencers, like Imagine Dragons or Patti Smith or even Andy Warhol. All of them have had shoes posted to the @Converse Instagram page, which builds awareness and stretches awareness of the brand to their own followers. (all images taken from Google or @Converse Instagram page) 

Patti Smith

Imagine Dragons

Andy Warhol

It's quite interesting because influencers can be famous like those above, or they can be average people, which I find that most of Converse's engagement is with regular fans. These people are average individuals who have a passion for life, for music, and for Converse, which allows Converse to target them and to showcase their own individuality while building their brand. 

One past interview with Forbes Magazine shows that they allows people to be themselves, to be creative, and to wear Converse at the same time. 

More research needs to be done in order to find out who exactly the high engagement fans, influencers, detractors and partner content are with Converse, but this is only just the beginning. A few things are clear. Famous individuals have more influence with Converse, but Converse is about the middle man, which is who their high engagement fans are. I found that most of those who are commenting and liking the photos are different people, but are similar TYPES of people, and that most of them are loyal followers of the brand.