Behind the Screen: Crown Affair's Personalized Routines
Interview with Rachel Rader, Crown Affair's Social & Influencer Marketing Manager
Behind the Screen is a series on Following Up, featuring the minds behind brand’s influencer + community strategies. We often forget that there is a person or team behind the paid partnerships we consume, so I wanted to bring these people in front of the camera for a change. As a personal fan of the brand, Rachel from Crown Affair is the first guest.
Where are you based?
I’m based in Los Angeles! My Crown Affair journey began in Miami, where I met Dianna and was introduced to the brand. I then moved to NYC to be closer to our office and team. My dream was always to end up in LA, so when my NYC lease ended, I moved here and couldn’t be happier!
How long have you been working in the influencer/creator economy? And with that time, how has your role evolved at Crown Affair?
I’ve been working in the influencer/creator economy for about 2.5 years, which coincides with my time at Crown Affair. My role has evolved significantly with the growth of our community and influencer program. Initially, we gifted products to around 30-50 influencers in Dianna’s network with each new launch. Now, we send new product mailers to 300+ influencers and manage an ongoing evergreen seeding program. Additionally, we’ve developed an affiliate program through ShopMy and maintain paid partnerships across various channels. I now lead a team that includes a Social & Influencer Coordinator, and an Influencer Assistant, all dedicated to fostering and building our community.
The ever-evolving nature of this industry is a big reason I started this newsletter. Has the industry changed since you first started your career?
Yes, the industry has evolved and continues to do so every day. When I first started, consumers were less aware of paid partnerships, but now they can easily distinguish between organic and sponsored content. Once a post is labeled with #ad or has the sponsored toggle on, maintaining audience engagement becomes challenging. To address this, we focus on authentic connections and create content that is organic to the creator and their content style. We work to integrate our products into a content series that works for each influencer and their channel.
Along with the awareness of paid partnerships, the volume of gifting influencers has grown. We personally reach out to ensure influencers opt-in to receive products. This allows us to prevent waste and confirm the products reach those who genuinely want to try them. We aim to add a personal touch to our mailers whether it's a handwritten note or personalized routine based on their hair type and hair goals.
How would you describe your influencer ecosystem and how it fits into the larger marketing strategy?
I manage paid partnerships, the affiliate program, and seeding efforts. Our influencer ecosystem begins by
Identify new creators to introduce to our products.
Once they try and share our products organically, we continue engagement with new launches and restocks.
Paid partners and Affiliate partners are selected from those who post about us organically. Since they have previously mentioned the brand organically, their paid content performs better and resonates more authentically with the influencer’s audience.
Typically, social and influencer efforts lead our marketing strategy for new launches and campaigns. To build excitement, influencers lead by revealing the new product on their channel, and then we mirror the tease on Crown Affair’s social prior to launch. This allows for product education ahead of the official launch.
Love that influencer’s are at the center of your marketing strategy! How do you brief influencers, and what is your philosophy on balancing brand guidelines with creative freedom?
We create custom briefs for each influencer, aligning with their content style. For instance, if an influencer typically uses voiceovers, we won’t ask them to speak to the camera. We encourage influencers to incorporate personal anecdotes about the product to make the content more relatable and engaging to them. Alongside custom briefs, we provide general content guidelines covering lighting, color, and framing to ensure brand consistency.
How do you measure success for your campaigns?
Success measurement depends on the campaign’s objective. For awareness campaigns, we track metrics like EMV, impressions, and views. For conversion-based campaigns, we focus on ROI. The approach varies based on whether the goal is to increase brand awareness or drive sales.
In this role, you constantly have to be online to be ahead of trends + new creators in the space. How do you keep up with trends and test into new platforms?
I stay updated on trends by actively engaging with social media and trending content. Our team has an Instagram group where we share and discuss trending content, new launches and innovation. Currently, we are prioritizing Instagram Stories due to their strong organic engagement and conversion rates. I’m also interested in exploring partnerships on Substack in the near future!
Are there any influencers you have loved working with?
I enjoy working with influencers who genuinely love and share our products beyond formal partnerships, as it feels more authentic. Recently, I’ve particularly loved working with Hannah Chody, who frequently posts about the Crown Affair Air Dry Ritual. Because she is such an authentic fan of the brand, working with her in a paid capacity feels so organic to her audience. It’s rewarding to see her followers support our products because of her recommendations. You can see that her partnership video mirrors her organic posts, which is why the partnership performed so well.
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I love the snowball effect of influencer marketing like the above example! Is there a Crown Affair campaign or influencer post that you’re particularly proud of?
I’m especially proud of our campaign with Rylee Arnold. As a new pro on Dancing with the Stars, Rylee’s social media presence surged when the internet fell in love with her and her partner Harry Jowsey. We seized the opportunity to partner with her early on when she first started gaining traction and were one of her first paid partnerships. Our partnership featured a "Day in the Life" video that seamlessly integrated Crown Affair products into her rehearsal routine, aligning with her trending content series, “A Day in the Life at a Dancing with the Stars Rehearsal.” The video has organically garnered 2 million views & 100k+ likes. We had her cross promote it by posting the link to her Instagram stories and then sent her a thank you bouquet to close out the partnership which led to an organic story featuring them. We keep her in the loop with new product launches and love to see her organically linking our products in her hair favorites.
It’s all about building relationships. I love the way Crown Affair thoughtfully keeps up with your partners and ensures they are real fans of the brand. Now for a few final, fun questions:
Favorite product from Crown Affair?
The Clips - I always have one in my hair.Book, podcast, or music on your morning commute?
Music, always. I’m a Spotify girl. Noah Kahn radio is my current go to.If you were on the other side of the business, as an influencer yourself, what brand(s) would you want to partner with?
Rocky’s Matcha. I believe the best influencer partnerships come from brands that creators personally connect with and incorporate into their daily lives. I’m a huge fan of Rocky’s Matcha and make a matcha latte every morning, I can’t stop talking about it and making matcha lattes for all my friends when they come over.Who influenced your last purchase?
Last thing I bought was the Ole Hendrickson Banana bright CC Stick influenced by Alix Earle. Need the lip treatment next! Also bought Lemme Sleep influenced by Christina Kirkman- love her and her humor.
You can stay in touch with Rachel on Instagram & if you aren’t already, give Crown Affair a follow! The Leave in Conditioner has personally changed by hair.