Dede Raad: Top Influencer
Dede Raad is a social media influencer and Houston, Texas native that I have followed for years on Instagram. She created Dress Up Buttercup as an online lifestyle blog bring a community of women together that all have a passion for fashion, travel, and family. Dede Raad has a presence on social media alongside her blog with its own respectable community.
On Instagram, Dede has 2,282 posts and 1.1 million followers. She shares on the platform daily focusing on her family and daily life. Within her posts she focuses on monthly giveaways to her followers, sharing her German and Palestinian culture, and advocating for Breast Cancer Awareness which took her sweet mother’s life roughly a year ago. Dede is always responding to comments within her posts, asking questions in the captions to gain traction with conversations, and answering any questions followers may have.
Dede Raad interacts with her community daily utilizing Instagram stories. These stories feature many products to make life with littles easier and a lot cuter. She heavily focuses on affordable style and sales across the internet. She incorporates her sister for try-on hauls and like to showcase what different styles look like on different body types. She is not afraid to show clothing that “doesn’t work” for her and may be better on a different body type. These stories are saved within her Instagram story highlights. Some of these topics include Post-Partum, Home, Skincare, Books, Gift Ideas, and more.
Dede Raad was awarded the title of being one of Fortune Magazine’s top creators. She is ranked #7 on the list among other creators such as Addison Rae, JoJo Siwa, Manny MUA, and Lil Nas X. This list honors the creator community of influencers and their hard work to build strong, successful communities. Raad is stated to, “truly welcome her large readership into her life, whether she’s launching a branded capsule collection at Nordstrom, collaborating with luxury hotels, or wearing a $12 top while making pizza at home.” Raad is truly the creator of a successful community. She showcases the different sides of life as she navigates motherhood, womanhood, and life’s struggles everyone faces all the while showcasing these experiences for everyone to share and relate to one another. Dede Raad teaches us that we are never alone in anything we face.
How does she do it? I believe with the daily interaction, Raad is able to cater to all corners of her community. While she utilizes platforms that are notoriously more “one-sided,” she is able to create a community that truly feels like a two-way connection. She highlights her own user-generated content while creating her own for other, larger companies. She leads her community with grace and raw emotion, allowing her community to truly feel like a family.
The result Raad’s hard work is a strong, female-led community that has brought together so many individuals from different areas of her work. While some may be Breast Cancer warriors, others may be Amazon fashionistas or new mothers, all individuals are considered family and welcome in the community always.
