Brand Influencer: Nicole Knox
- jennaturner0963
- Sep 20, 2023
- 4 min read
Nicole Knox (Instagram: @nicolxknox) is not what one might typically think of as an influencer. A brand partner for multiple companies including L.L. Bean and Amazon, she only uses Instagram and Pinterest along with her website. When thinking of an influencer, utilizing as many platforms as possible seems to be the usual strategy. According to an article written in 2015 for Aspire, Nicole has a history of working 9-5 with some big named companies but realized that was not the life for her. Now she uses her business degree to turn her photography hobby into a career. While her Instagram follower count of 138k is lower than many big influencers such as Anna Sitar with 1.5 million, she has managed to partner with some big names that fit her brand image. Looking through her posts, she primarily focuses on her photography first and the partnerships and brand sponsorships are not immediately made obvious. The captions and tags are where you will find basic information of which brand she is working with, if any for that specific post.
Instagram:
Nicole’s strategy on Instagram seems to have shifted over the years. When you scroll back to 2020-2021, she has more frequent posts that are clearly brand deals showing the product front and center. Brands that she works with are tagged or mentioned in the caption and she also mentions a link to the products in her bio. In the last year, her posts still feature tags and occasionally the obvious product placement but she no longer has a link in her bio to anything other than her website. If you want to know more about the product, you can comment and she will send you links personally.
The shift makes her feed feel more like I am looking through a friend’s Instagram rather than a paid influencer. The brands are still tagged either in the photo or in the caption but there is no sales push to click the link in her bio to make a purchase. Even the posts that are #ads do not feel like I am looking at an advertisement which I personally appreciate from influencers.
The strategies she uses do seem to be successful. Looking through recent comments, people request the links for either the products or the specific locations of her photos. If someone is not following her when they make the request, she says she cannot message them since they do not already follow her. This often results in a “I just followed you. Please send the link now” comment thus growing her following. Even though her follower count is lower, she does have a slightly niche market with the majority of brand partnerships fitting her overall personal brand.
Pinterest:
Nicole’s Pinterest has 2.6K followers and provides inspiration for travel, photos, food, and clothing. The most recent pins she has created are from 2018 and are photos that lead to her website showcasing brand partnerships or locations she has traveled. Her activity on Pinterest of creating boards shows updates as recent as five days ago.
Even though Pinterest is a growing platform again, she seems to have stopped utilizing it strategically for her personal content and the existing pins she did create only lead to her website. Pinterest is proving to be a great place to market again and not utilizing it to promote her more recent content is a missed opportunity especially as a means of growing her Instagram following.
Website: www.nicolexknox.com
Her website is perfect for her photography. Separated into work and play, she shows the photography she has done specifically for brands and then for her own travels. A tab that is coming soon is the “shop” tab which has no further details. Either she is launching her own products or she will be creating a way to shop the products from her post. Overall the website is a clean feel and shows off her photography talent well.
For anyone looking to find the links to products she promotes, the play section links to blogs detailing the trip and the clothing items she wore. It takes a little more digging than a typical influencer's blog but the existence of the links is a plus.
Improvements:
Overall, Nicole knows what captures the attention of her following. Her photos are breathtaking and make it easy to picture yourself in her place which is an important skill for an influencer. Her shift to sending links personally has benefits but I do think her strategy could be improved with a spot on her website that has all of the products she wears or showcases in her feed. This link could still be what is sent personally rather than being in her bio, but having everything in an easy to find location makes the process of purchasing those products smoother for any interested followers while also making it more convenient for the brands to track her impact on their sales.
On Pinterest, Nicole should utilize the platform again to spread her content. Pinterest allows sharing Instagram photos which could benefit her growth on that platform as well. The pins from 2018 link to her website but linking to Instagram still shows her photography skills and eventually leads to her website but it draws the viewer to another platform where they will be able to get more frequent content from her. Again, a link to all of the products she has pinned would be beneficial and remains the best way to improve her strategy. This could be what is coming soon on her website and I look forward to seeing how it is incorporated into her social media platforms.
Nicole does have a TikTok account but it has not been updated since 2021 so I am not counting it as a platform in her existing strategy. My final recommendation is to be more active again on TikTok to reach more members of her target market. She does post content on Instagram Reels, the most recent being 29 weeks ago. Even if video content isn't something she wants to do, TikTok offers plenty of trends as opportunities to share her photography and partnerships without also transitioning into videography.
References: Creator spotlight: Nicole Knox. Aspire. (n.d.). https://www.aspire.io/blog/2015-07-22-creator-spotlight-nicole-knox
hi Jenna! I agree with your improvements ideas in that it would be easier if she had a place where everything was linked. There have been a few accounts I have interacted with where their tactic is to DM for more information but I think that overtime (+ assuming growth in popularity) this can become very demanding on the content creator and can be difficult for the follower to take the step to think of what to say in the DM and take that step. However, I do think that it can create a more intimate relationship between follower and influencer which is a plus. Concerning TikTok, I would love to see her active on TikTok after seeing her photos.…
Jenna,
Your blog posts continue to be so well done. I'm also really fascinated by the brand influencer you chose. I liked your mention of the DM for Link strategy she uses. Do you think it's a good way for consumers to feel connected to the influencers they follow?
Hi Jenna! I have never heard of Nicole Knox before your post but the background you provided and the examples helped give an initial first impression of her. Her photos are quite beautiful and I appreciate how she has shifted her Instagram strategy away from having the products front and center to more subtle. There are so many influencers who post something that is so obviously a sponsored ad, it does feel a bit over done. But I will say that although I appreciate Nicole's approach, I, myself, rarely ever comment to ask for a link. As I'm reflecting on it now, I'm not 100% why I don't - maybe I think it's too much work to comment and wait…
Hi jenna,
I'd agree that while hiding the links until users follow her page could increase her number of followers, this is likely not the most smart or sustainable way of growing followers. While her content is well-crafted, there are a number of micro-influencers who are able to provide similar cute outfit inspiration and content. I'd image there is a large number of people who click away from her content when they realize they must be following her to access the details of her postings. This could be detrimental to her future brand growth. Simply placing these details on her website seems like a feasible compromise.