Influencer Session with Vicky Fleetwood

Socially Powerful interviewed Vicky Fleetwood @vickyfleetwood_) who is a professional rugby player with 65 international caps. She has become a social media influencer by combining her love for rugby and fitness. Vicky began building her following by sharing content about her training and lifestyle with a focus on empowering women. She predominantly uses Instagram and enjoys sharing a mix of gym, rugby, and beauty content. Vicky works with brands like Canterbury, MyProtein, and Holland and Barrett, and her goal is to grow her platform and inspire women to embrace strength and individuality. Vicky believes the future of influencer marketing will focus more on user engagement than numbers.

Vicky Fleetwood @vickyfleetwood_

We caught up with Vicky Fleetwood, a Professional Rugby Player, who won the Rugby World Cup with England, she now has 65 International Caps! Vicky saw her following begin to rocket around the same time as major tournaments. Let’s see what she had to say and how Influencer Marketing is now involved in her life!

Tell us about you, your background and how you came to start on social media?

I’m a professional rugby player and qualified personal trainer. I started on social media to engage with fans about the game, but I also use my personal training and gym expertise to post about my own training. I like to follow other fitness and nutrition experts in order to broaden my knowledge.

Tell us about what you do on your social channels? 

Most of my content is gym or rugby based, but I also have a few beauty or physique posts. Whilst sport is important to me, I’m also a big fan of beauty and lifestyle. How I look and feel is just as important to me as how I play. most of the time I am a sweaty mess- but hopefully I’m doing it in style!

Sum up your what you do in 5 words?

Rugby, fitness, strength, empowerment, individuality.

What social channel are you most passionate about and why?

Instagram because a picture (or video) says a thousand words.

How often do you post and update your audience? What content works best for you?

I use stories most days, but like to post around once a week. My posts tend to be thought through, and as I don’t really like a cluttered timeline myself, that’s then reflected in how often I post.

When did you first start seeing you were building a following? How quickly have you grown your following? 

My core following has always been rugby fans, this started on twitter and then has translated onto Instagram. Around major rugby tournaments, I saw followers increase. I’ve grown my following over a year and a half and like to engage with the ones that send questions.

How do you stand out on social media? What makes you different? 

I’m not just a fitness and gym influencer, I’m a full-time athlete and have lots to show and empower women with- around rugby and being strong etc

What does your typical day look like? 

I have an early start- 5.40 get up, because I live in London, and training takes place 1 hour 30 away. We have 2-3 sessions per day ranging from rugby through to weights or fitness etc

Are you friends with other influencers?

A lot of my colleagues are influencers in the sporting world- however, not many of them are as active on Instagram. They mainly use Twitter.

Which influencers do you admire? Why?  

@zannavandijk– she’s made fitness accessible to all and talks about vegan eating and inspiring other women. @thetinytank- she doesn’t take herself too seriously has shown her transformation over the years and is now at a happy medium. @aliceliveing started with nutrition and has recently turned to fitness. She knows she’s not the best in this field and talks about always wanting to learn and help others.

What are your ambitions with social media? Where do you want to take it? 

I’d like to grow my following and be able to use my expertise in the fitness and rugby world to inspire others

What do you enjoy most about social media?

You can say quite a lot with just a picture or video, lots of people can relate to stuff and you can follow people that are like-minded and get inspiration every day

What do you think of using social media for good-cause? 

I think that it’s great because you can reach an audience at scale immediately.

How do you think brands are working with influencers at the moment? 

Using influencers to show how their product looks/ can be used and what they think of it. I think it works quite well because often you want to have the same things as people that you look up to.

What brands have you worked with? 

Canterbury: https://instagram.com/p/BbpfqeThbBI/

Holland and Barrett: https://instagram.com/p/BbhUr9eh3kq/

Smugglettes: https://instagram.com/p/BZB047XloIy/

SlayerLayer: https://instagram.com/p/BMbppiPjIpr/

Band together app: https://instagram.com/p/Baj-URThnN_/

MyProtein: https://instagram.com/p/BQp6VBklDKd/

Do you use any tools to help you with your content? 

1. Pic collage
2. Hyperlapse
3. VidStitch
4. iMovie

What’s the piece of content you’ve created you’re most proud of? Why? 

I’m really proud of this video – https://instagram.com/p/Bcc2Nc3B0-n/ because it’s had a lot of views, and lots of people have said that they’ve been inspired or can relate to it.

What do you see as the future for Influencer Marketing? How will it evolve? 

I think things will become less about trying to hit numbers and more about the quality of user-engagement. People love talking about YouTube views but how many are completed or make an action off the back of it?

Where can people follow you?

Instagram: @vickyfleetwood_

Twitter: @vickyfleetwood