In 2021, there are more areas than ever before for businesses to advertise their services to potential clients. Gone are the days when only the traditional forms of advertising, print, TV and radio, were available. With the rise of the internet and particularly social media sites, businesses have a far greater potential reach and ability to target the exact kind of potential clients they’re looking for.
With this change has come an increase in the popularity of social media influencers. It can now be hard to go on a social media site, particularly Instagram or YouTube, without seeing some form of gifted or paid promotional content. One industry where this is proving to be extremely popular, effective and successful is the beauty and cosmetics industry. So what impact are these influencers having on the beauty industry, and how are businesses adapting and making use of this new form of advertising?
The first thing that should be highlighted is the impact of influencers on the beauty industry. We spoke with Tania Zahoor Rashid, one of the founders and directors of the award-winning Aesthetics Lab, a popular and well-respected cosmetic clinic based in London. Tania explained that influencer marketing can “certainly promote awareness and bring to a wider set of people, various treatments and products that are available on the market, as well as places where these treatments can be done, and products purchased.”
But what of her experiences working with influencers? “We have tried many partnerships with various influencers,” Tania said. “From our experience, partnerships with influencers that are industry-specific worked well as they have a strong following who are interested in skincare, treatments and looking after their skins and bodies. They trust the influencers’ advice which leads them to enquire with our clinic for the featured treatment or product. Micro-influencers or local influencers also work well as they have a targeted following, and their audience again trusts and follows their advice.” The critical point Tania makes here is that influencers success in generating engagement for brands with their audience is because of trust.
If an audience does not trust what an influencer is saying, they have no reason to explore purchasing a product or treatment. This forces the brand and influencer to be truthful and build a good reputation for providing accurate information to their audience.
So, are businesses actually focussing more on this kind of advertising and marketing than the traditional forms mentioned earlier? Obviously, every business is different and will continually be evaluating which form of marketing works best for them. However, in 2019 Forbes reported that global spending on influencer marketing had risen from an estimated $2 billion in 2017 to almost $8 billion in 2019. Both high street independents and household names are contributing to this spending, with Estée Lauder revealing that in 2019 it spent a staggering 75% of its marketing budget on influencers.
One area where we can definitely see how businesses are changing their approach and focussing more on influencer marketing is with the increase in this area compared to celebrity endorsements. There once was a time where having a ‘face of a brand’ was a crucial part of a successful marketing campaign. Now, this seems less important, and in fact, more and more celebrities are moving to doing various brand deals to participate in influencer marketing on social media. In Tania’s view, “with everything being featured on social media, influencer endorsements are probably more valuable than any celebrity endorsements.”
It is clear that influencers can have a significant impact on the beauty industry, along with many others. Being able to speak directly to their audience, answer questions, and present products or treatments in a more personal and friendly style has proven to be extremely effective, and in the beauty industry, there appears to be no sign of this stopping soon.
