Authenticity wins over beauty: Influencer marketing and how to get it right

Social media influencers are a big marketing thing - and especially something called micro-influencers. At least according to Folke Engholm, CEO, and Founder of Viral Access, an influencer marketing agency based in Hong Kong, operating across Asia.

Did you know that there are different kinds of influencers? And what role does the different influencer play for a certain company, and how can a company successfully integrate influencers into the marketing strategy?

Influence effectively

With more than 700 million social media users in China and more than 4 million social media users in Singapore (3 of 4 Singaporeans) - it is clear that social media marketing is essential.

Influencer marketing is a category of social media marketing, where profiles endorse and display or use products on behalf of brands on social media. The influencers can, as the word hints, influence the buying decision. The influencer can be subcategorised based on the number of followers into mega-influencers, macro-influencers, micro-influencers and finally, nano-influencers.

Daniel Wellington, the watch brand, made its way on the market through influencers. No one can have missed the brand on social media and as such, successful in its branding through influencers - today endorsing celebrities like Hailey Bieber.

Just like Daniel Wellington, more and more brands see the value of using influencers in their marketing campaigns. Considering that an influencer can have a huge number of followers, the spread of the content over social media can be massive and reach an extremely wide audience. Like Hailey Bieber, with more than 23 million followers (falls under ‘mega-influencers’ with surpassing 1 million followers), or the so-called macro-influencer with 100,000 to 1 million followers.

Content-wise, these types of influencers usually post varied content - it can be food-related, beauty-related or wellness-related - at the same time. They have a large follower community but due to the spread in content, medium to low customer engagement. It may be that brands going for these influencers are interested in mass distribution rather than engagement and dialogue with the user as such. But what if you look for driving sales and also engagement with your user?

Brands that managed to get both: wide content distribution and high customer engagement

Glossier, the skincare and beauty brand, is using 500 social media influencers - also called ambassadors - who post everyday beauty tips. Why is the brand successful on social media? Because they let all women showcase on social media. And they post their own content - called user-generated content. And the content is focused on one topic: beauty - as opposed to mega-influencers and other macro-influencers mentioned earlier. That is how they (and eg. the brand) appear real to the audience.

The fashion retailer, Forever 21, is featuring a plus-size influencer to promote their plus-size collection. In this case, the brand is leveraging on the close community of followers that the influencer has already built up. The followers are familiar with the type of content she posts: they know her. And they can identify with her. Hence, the brand is appearing true to the community.

H&M is now embarking on the same journey, shifting towards a more sustainable approach when it comes to influencer marketing. They have worked with up to 50 influencers - each month. Until recently, they launched an ambassadors programme with up to 22 selected influencers contracted for a one-year-long period.

Selected based on their diverse number of followers (ranging from celebrities to micro-influencers), background and interest (fashion, kids’ clothes, beauty, etc.), H&M hopes that the long-term relationship can lead to higher quality content and more buy-in.

Few followers and unique content lead to results

These are big companies, but still authentic. What about smaller companies, early-stage companies, organic and sustainable companies that cannot afford to run such ambassadors programme? Nor looking for mass distribution of content but rather unique and niche area of content?

A micro-influencers’ community span between 1,000 up to 100,000 followers. So within this category, a smaller company can select a micro-influencer with fewer followers. Micro-influencers' posts have more niche content and would fit for a company requiring a specific interest or knowledge (e.g. organic, sustainable related company). Also, because of their niche content, they have a coherent audience, which may appeal to a brand interested in reaching a specific target audience.

An example of a micro-influencer in Singapore is Lim Yao Peng who has about 7,500 followers. His content is focused on fitness, in particular running. As a former sprinter, his content is regarded as trustworthy and reliable - it would not be made up just for the cause.

What about the influencers on social media with 1,000 or fewer followers? Yes, they can still influence. They are called nano-influencers and are considered as ‘every-day / regular people’ that can influence their friends and family. They reach a far smaller audience, but their communication with their audience is effective. They may have fewer followers, but with their niche content, they come across as more authentic. They are closely connected to their audience and engaging with their followers in a reliable, trustworthy way.

Due to their personal engagement, they reach a high engagement rate and return on investment can almost be expected for the company endorsing this type of influencer. As such, also an option for smaller brands.

Authenticity and connection are key ingredients

To sum it up, key factors for successful integration of influencers into the marketing strategy: to be recognised as real and true by social media users. How?

• Match the brand’s content with the influencer’s personal interest (and so the followers)

• Showcase normality and inclusion

• Build long-term relationships with the influencer

It goes hand in hand - the more ‘real’ the influencer, the more ‘real’ the content. Authenticity wins over beauty.

#socialmedia #influencermarketing #digitalmarketing #contentmarketing #personalisation

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This is a summary based on insights together with further research and reflections from the event ‘Viral access on micro-influencers’, where Folke Engholm, CEO and Founder at Viral Access was speaking. The event was held at SwedCham, that Open Eyes Policy recently attended.

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