Lincoln TikTok influencer has promoted independent businesses in Newark

A 14-year-old social media influencer with over 960,000 followers has promoted businesses in Newark.

Alanna Herbert, of Lincoln, was visiting her friend Molly Price in Newark when the duo decided to go shopping and share their new items.

She visited Lace Boutique, on Middlegate, where she bought a Guess set and published a TikTok video wearing it, which blew up overnight with over 120,000 views and 11,600 likes.

Following the success of the Guess set display, the owner of Lace Boutique, Kerry Lace New, messaged the young influencer and asked if she wanted to promote more Newark businesses as part of the #ShopNewark project, which aims to encourage people to shop in independent businesses in their towns - promoting the idea that ‘if you don’t use, it you will lose it’.

The duo then returned to the shops in Newark and visited Lace Boutique, Oxygen Clothing, Shirt Sleeves Boutique, No Angel, New Mode Boutique, Blanco Brownes Tanning Salon, Giles & Bella, City Goldsmiths, and The Crumbly Bun, posting the shopping haul on the Alanna’s TikTok account - which currently has 158,600 views and 20,100 likes

Kerry said: “We had no idea what a big TikTok star Alanna is until our TikTok account literally blew up that night with ‘likes’ from her TikTok shopping haul.

“This is absolutely fantastic news for Newark, and is exactly what we need to encourage people back into the town and showcase all the amazing independents that Newark has to offer.

“It’s so important to increase footfall in Newark and get people back shopping in our town and as a independent retail group and part of the #ShopNewark team this kind of publicity for Newark is beyond amazing.”

Alanna often promotes online businesses, however, she wants to bring more attention to shops as many are currently facing challenges.

“I think it is important because it brings more attention towards the shops as social media is so widely used nowadays,” she said.

“I like to promote businesses as it helps them, and I enjoy making the content.”

With aspirations to become a model or actress in the future, the youngster created a TikTok channel in February 2023 to post videos about makeup and doing her own makeup.

Her first account was hacked and in October 2023, she created — @alannalisiaherbert — which has over 963,000 followers and 77.2 million likes.