A bevy of Australian babes are turning their Instagram fame into careers.
The social media app now boasts around 300 million active users - the majority of which are young, urban females under 35 years of age. For advertisers, it is the perfect platform to harness to promote products.
While Instagram recently unveiled advertising opportunities via sponsored posts, advertisers are more often sponsoring individuals with huge followings.
This no longer just relates to the likes of Rihanna, Beyoncé and Kimmy K, but to the ‘Insta-famous’. In Australia, these are usually young, attractive models who have attracted legions of eager followers.
Manager and director of Chadwick Models Matthew Anderson told the Sydney Morning Herald that Instagram is increasingly important to brands, saying he is now inundated with requests for models popular on Instagram.
He used model Steph Smith (or @stephclairesmith), who boasts 638,000 followers, as an example: “I get probably up to 15 requests a day exclusively because of her Instagram profile. The impact on the requests for her has been substantial… more people see her posts than read the Herald Sun and The Daily Telegraph combined.”
With Instagram to thank for lucrative endorsement deals, including one with Range Rover, Smith agrees the social media platform has propelled her career growth. She says, “I was lucky enough to have great regular clients before Instagram, but it’s definitely helped with getting my name out there internationally.”
And Smith isn’t the only one. Other Australian models with impressive Instagram followings include Ellie Gonsalvez (one million), Michaela Wain (282,000), and Brooke Hogan (295,000).
