The influencer marketing industry, according to Adweek, is expected to reach $10 billion in worth this 2020.
This projection is not surprising given the popularity of influencers today. With various social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, where celebrities, influencers, and ordinary people alike can share their interests and hobbies, marketing through social media influencers has also made its way to the beauty industry.
With the popularity and complexity of both international and local influencer marketing, beauty brands – both independent and multinational companies – need to know the huge potential of bringing in business by utilizing influencer marketing strategies in 2020.
What is Influencer Marketing?
In essence, influencer marketing is a form of collaboration. It is a marketing strategy in which a brand or a company collaborates with celebrities or independent social media content creators to advertise a product or a service.
If you have seen a popular YouTuber, a TikTok star, or an Instagram influencer posting beauty products on their social media accounts – often labeled to be in partnership with a certain business – that is exactly what influencer marketing is.
Beauty brands and businesses have tapped bloggers and celebrities from micro-influencers to big names like the Kardashians and Jenners to promote their products and services. Content ranges from photos posted on Instagram to short videos on TikTok and longer, more in-depth vlogs on YouTube.
Since influencer marketing is a collaboration, this means that the importance of beauty influencer campaigns lies in working with an influencer who complements the company’s mission and vision to engage with and reach out to a potential market. Because content creators obtain their status by having a significant number of followers to influence, social media marketing is also a way for beauty retailers to expand their online presence and increase their sales.
The Power of Influencers in Selling and Marketing Brands
Without a doubt, influencers change the way beauty brands advertise their products, which is perhaps why this marketing strategy is in high demand.
According to a 2008 survey conducted by Mediakix, 89% of marketers revealed that influencer marketing was either comparable to or even better than other marketing techniques.
Let’s look at some of the reasons why this may be.
Beauty Social Media Influencer Trends
First off, beauty trends among social media influencers spread like wildfire.
Some content creators fashion short-form videos showing how they use their favorite beauty products on a daily basis, or how they incorporate skin and body care products into their daily skincare routine.
With trends like this, their online communities’ curiosity is evoked, urging them to look and shop for the products that their favorite beauty bloggers use.
Influencer Marketing as a Localization Strategy
Local influencer marketing is about refashioning your global content to fit a local audience’s taste, style, and cultural preferences using local creators, who speak to a certain group of people.
This is important to show that you understand your audience by providing them the content that’s relevant to them. It helps brands beat market entry challenges, nurture personal connections, and encourage higher levels of engagement among locals.
For instance, Western brands that want to expand their market reach in Asia can tap Asian influencers to promote their products to the locals.
An example of this would be Morphe. With its goal of growing its presence in Asia, the LA-based brand teamed up with South Korean beauty influencer Park Hye Min (aka Pony), for its Icy Fantasy makeup line.
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With over 7 million Instagram followers and around 5.7 million YouTube subscribers, Pony is a mega-influencer and therefore is a perfect pick for the campaign. She also has over 50 million followers across Asian social media platforms such as microblogging site Weibo, and video apps such as MeiPai and Toudou Youku.
Additionally, brands can collaborate with local beauty influencers to further expand their market reach and increase their sales.
Inclusive London-based beauty brand, Makeup Revolution, for example, is a huge advocate of localizing its influencer marketing campaign. It has booked UK content creators such as Soph Does Nails and carmiMUA to release their own makeup palettes and promote it to their network.
Do’s and Don’t of Influencer Marketing Strategy
Do collaborate with influencers with the same vision and interests.
As a business, it is important for a retailer’s vision and image to remain consistent and authentic across all social media platforms and marketing campaigns. Hence, a beauty retailer must reach out to beauty influencers that share the same goal and mission.
For example, if you are a cruelty-free brand, you might want to be involved with an influencer who is known for using organic, ethically-produced, and/or cruelty-free beauty products. Doing so will not only help you sell products but strengthen your brand credibility and reliability as well.
Do utilize the various features of social media sites.
It is not a secret that social media networks have their own special features that brands can use to their benefit. Instagram marketing for fashion and beauty brands has been greatly beneficial in the past few years and shows no sign of dying as it remains to be the platform of choice for influencers.
Thus, when collaborating with Instagram beauty influencers, brands might want to make use of not only the traditional Instagram posts but also Instagram stories. A visually pleasing and informative Instagram story helps promote a beauty product due to its appeal.
Furthermore, the “swipe up” feature for influencers with 10,000 followers or more can be used to refer the audience to the brand’s website to learn more about their company and products, or to shop directly from the app.
On the other hand, TikTok influencers can take advantage of the various video editing tools in the app and create a short-form campaign that triumphs not only beauty and personal care but also the influencer’s creativity.
When using YouTube, brands can ask influencers to create honest product reviews, as these serve as social proof that consumers can refer to before purchasing.
Don’t hamper creativity.
Creativity is a crucial aspect of any marketing strategy or material. While the brand’s marketing team might come up with a concept or visual guide that an influencer can follow, it is equally important to give the influencer creative control.
Social media influencers meticulously curate their social media feeds, and sometimes, they even have a color palette or pattern that they maintain for their Instagram profiles. Hence, providing them with creative freedom will also help personalize the marketing campaign, making it seem more relatable to their audience too.
Don’t rely on templates.
This tip applies from the process of reaching out to influencers to the actualization of the marketing material. Instead of sending mass emails, it is important to take the time to personalize messages when tapping potential marketing partners. It is also vital to express enthusiasm and trust in the work of an influencer.
Then, this personalization should be carried into the material as well. Relying on templates for marketing materials takes away from the authenticity of the promotion. Hence, each campaign should be customized based on the image and brand of the beauty influencer as well.
Final Words
Undeniably, the trust and admiration that followers have for their favorite beauty influencers prove to be a vital aspect of the influencer marketing strategy in 2020. Evidently, local influencer marketing will continue to remain a popular and effective marketing tool as long as social media sites are being used.
As experts in beauty marketing, we are here to help you utilize the most popular marketing strategies today to establish your brand locally and globally, and further increase your sales.
Header Image Source: Photo by Yana Nikulina on Unsplash
How did you like May Thawdar Oo’s blog post “Local Influencers as an Important Localization Strategy for Beauty Brands”? Let us know in the comments if you have anything to add, have another content idea for beauty content marketing blog posts, or just want to say “hello.” 🙂
