One of TikTok's newest stars, Alix Earle, is the latest creator to capture the attention of the platform's primarily Gen Z audience, earning millions of loyal fans and lucrative brand deals.
Earle has amassed 4.2 million followers on TikTok, making her a desirable creator for brands to partner with and nearly every product she gushes about in her videos typically sells out within minutes. The phenomenon, along with her popularity and relatable personality, has been dubbed the "Alix Earle Effect."
The popular influencer is reportedly paid anywhere between $40,000 and $70,000 for a brand partnership and has worked with brands and companies like GrubHub, White Fox Boutique, Tarte and Rare Beauty, which led to a TikTok collaboration with Selena Gomez.
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Experts at influencer marketing company Ubiquitous found that just one of Earle's videos can cause searches for a product to skyrocket by 100% on Google Trends, according to data shared with Fox News Digital.
Ubiquitous researched every product in Earle's make-up routine, along with other items from her Amazon recommendations, her hair routine, eyelash routine and brand deals and found that of the 33 items surveyed, 10 of them were now sold out and a majority of the remaining products had been sold out sometime after they were featured in one of Earle's videos. In addition, every item on the list had seen search interest spike to over 70 on the Google Trends 100-scale index, with 26 of the 33 items jumping to a staggering 100 at one point.
The 22-year-old, who has been called the internet's "hot best friend," is a senior majoring in marketing at the University of Miami. Her TikTok account has garnered 4.2 million followers in recent months, which is popular for her "Get Ready with Me" (GRWM) videos where she shares tips on makeup, wellness and fashion, while she gets ready for anything ranging from a college night out to a workout to an influencer event.
"Her style of content exemplifies everything that makes influencer marketing work so well," Jeremy Boudinet, the Sr. Director of Growth at Ubiquitous said. "There is a sense of immediacy and non-pretentiousness you get from her content."
"One member of our team remarked that it feels like you’re watching a cool big sister get ready on FaceTime and tell you about her day in the process," he added. "This has quickly built a sort of trusting, friendly familiarity with her audience—so when she makes product recommendations, it feels like hearing about something from a friend."
Earle's search interest on Google Trends spiked from 0 to 100 almost consistently from December 2022 to January 2023, according to Ubiquitous. The majority of products on the list started with a search interest of 0 to 43, which means that just one of Earle's three-minute videos can increase the Google search for a product to 100 percent in just 24 hours.
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Ubiquitous' research found that in one of Earle's most famous videos, where she details her eyelash routine, each of the three products featured increased to a search volume of 100 only hours after her video went live on December 27th.
Her "hot mess" approach to her videos has yielded a trusted following among young women on TikTok who see her content as authentic and relatable, which is likely the secret to her success, according to Ubiquitous.
"While other influencers have seen similar rapid periods of growth (such as some of the most-followed TikTok content creators, Charli D’Amelio an Addison Rae) what likely separates Alix is her emphasis on authenticity and her daily beauty-based content and logs,"
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"The relatability she creates with her honesty makes her glamorous life feel almost attainable - ‘she struggles just like me,’ they might think—'maybe I can be that beautiful, too,'" he added. "So when she incorporates a product into her daily routine (rather than creating content that feels like an ad) it’s no wonder that her audience rushes out to buy it."
Earle is very candid with followers as she recounts her nights out at fraternity parties, her experience with plastic surgery, her struggle with acne, as well as her family dynamic and dating life.
"By creating content focused on her struggles with acne and anxiety and showing off her messy bedroom, her audience gets the sense that she is eminently relatable," Boudinet said. "At the same time, they get to see her look amazing and attend fantastic events and trips."
