Since March this year, Sophie Hinchcliffe – better known to her fans as ‘Mrs Hinch’ – has gained an outstanding following of 1.3M, and counting,on Instagram. Mrs Hinch set out to share her passion of cleaning her pristine Essex home across multiple video clips and photos, which quickly resulted in her gaining immense internet popularity and ultimately turning her into a huge social media influencer.
Surprisingly Mrs Hinch herself plays a rather low profile in her feed and rarely features within her own images or stories, more often her much loved pooch Henry is seen in the lime light. This is one pampered pup, with his own dedicated bedroom, (immaculately presented, of course). Instead, she uses a fine balance of product placement, demonstration and carefully framed photography to showcase her lifestyle, tips, and tricks for a cleaner home.
Such is her prominence online, Mrs Hinch is now being recognised offline too – recently featuring on TV’s ‘This Morning’ sharing her best cleaning hacks. Following broadcast, her segment captured over 500K YouTube views.
What’s all the fuss about I hear you cry?
Today, Mrs Hinch owns one of the most influential home interior Instagram accounts in the UK. She is the crème de la crème in social media influencers. Much like huge popstars name their fans, Mrs Hinch refers to her followers as her ‘Hinch Army’ and the hashtag #HinchArmy has now been used 60K+ times on Instagram.
Her followers are incredibly loyal and often jump onto her recommended products and trends. After swearing by certain products and featuring them on her stories in action, products such as Zoflora – the £1 disinfectant is being bought by the bucket load by her Hinch Army across the country – became sold out in a matter of weeks across the UK’s largest retailers.
Why are some of the top brands insisting they work with her?
Fairy and Cif have since recognised the opportunity to work with Mrs Hinch in terms of extending the reach of their products, sending her personalised products which are proudly displayed in her Instagram stories. For these brands, their exposure is going to the millions.
Mrs Hinch has built the perfect platform to subtly promote products by recommending her favourite ones in her ‘must have’ lists – known by some as subconscious marketing. It’s a no brainer that brands are lining up to be associated with Mrs Hinch for a shout out or feature. After all, recommendations from peers are far more meaningful than direct advertising which can often be ignored on Instagram news feeds.
Ultimately, she is the perfect example of a hugely successful social media influencer and how with a common interest, in this case cleaning, a self-confessed ‘cleaning mad’ woman from Essex has now set herself up with a huge audience. She is now seen as the perfect marketing tool by many companies.
What really sets Mrs Hinch apart is her perfect balance between enticing you in with her attractive Instagram feed showcasing her beautiful home, whilst being completely down-to-earth, honest, combined with her brilliant humour and personality.
We will wait to see what follows in the future… brand ambassador, product campaigns, her very own range, but the future is bright… (and sparkling clean) for Mrs Hinch and the brands that she works with.
We’re an integrated agency that delivers smart and strategic work for our clients – whether big brand or startup. If you’re interested in hearing more about how we can help you, please get in touch at hello@onebite.co.uk
Author: Jade Sim, Account Executive at onebite
