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Influencer marketing is reshaping how brands think about advertising, convincing big names to shift their budgets towards influencers and brand ambassadors. Many high-profile brands dedicate millions every year to influencer collaborations, underlining the strategy's value and their belief in its impact. In their report on influencer marketing market size worldwide from 2016 to 2014, Statista reported that the entire influencer marketing industry is worth more than $21 billion which is a 105% increase from its $10.29 billion market size in 2021.
And the latest over overview of the influencer marketing industry, The State of Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report 2024, which was released in February 2024 and summarises the thoughts of more than 3,000 marketing agencies and brands, estimates that the influencer marketing industry is to grow to approximately $24 billion by the end of 2024. More than 85% of respondents intend to dedicate a budget to influencer marketing in 2024, with nearly 60% expecting to increase their spend and 24% intending to spend more than 40% of their marketing spend on influencer marketing.
But what exactly does influencer marketing involve? As a marketing strategy, is it more suited to big brands with big budgets? Or is it a tool that individual aesthetic practitioners and smaller scale clinics could use to reach a wider audience and grow their customer base?
We hear a lot about top influencers like Charli D'Amelio who, with 152 million followers on TikTok, earns $100,000 per sponsored TikTok post and has done so for brands such as Sony and Revlon, and the likes of Kylie Jenner reportedly make around $1 million per paid post. But these are ‘mega-influencers’.
There’s a generally accepted Instagram influencer rate of $100 per 10,000 followers,, with influencer pricing in the UK according to Shopify broken down as follows:
According to Shopify and Hubspot pricing data across social media platforms, micro and mid-tier influencers are becoming more popular, often specialising in content for niche audiences.
This shift in how influencer marketing is being used highlights that marketers are becoming more creative when it comes to influencer marketing. You don’t necessarily need a mega marketing budget to tap into the trend. Whether you’re running a chain of clinics or operating as a lone practitioner, you too could stand to benefit from working with influencers. Especially if you are able to identify smaller influencers who are on the rise, with whom you can establish relationships early on in their careers.
There have been some major shifts in how influencer marketing is used since it exploded onto the scene in 2016. Celebrity endorsements may have been the original form of influencer marketing, but as consumers have become more aware of how fake the influencer industry can be, the focus has shifted to greater authenticity. Away from celebrities to everyday people celebrating brands and products they love.
This shift presents opportunities for aesthetic practitioners to work with smaller ‘micro’ influencers, or even people who are not influencers at all, but simply individuals who align with your brand values, for example clients with a loyal social media following in your local area. Today, ‘influencer’ doesn’t have to mean celebrities, models or reality TV stars.
Even powerhouse brands like Estée Lauder, known for their partnerships with high-profile celebrities like Kendall Jenner and Karlie Kloss, are diversifying their approach by including micro-influencers in their marketing mix. This strategy highlights the industry's acknowledgment that impactful influence isn't solely measured by follower count, but also by the quality of engagement and the authenticity of the connection between influencer and audience.
Influencer marketing is multifaceted, and it's embracing a wide array of voices from the celebrity to the everyday client, each bringing their unique perspective and authenticity. This inclusive approach not only broadens the potential reach for aesthetic practitioners, but also allows for personal narratives and experiences shared, making influencer marketing more accessible, relatable, and effective than ever before.
The influence of social media personalities on consumer behaviour is undeniable. Data from Statista Consumer Insights shows that in 2023, 20% of adults were influenced and made a purchase because a celebrity or an influencer advertised the product or service. The right influencer can help you reach your target audience and drive engagement.
According to HubSpot, one in four marketers utilised influencer marketing in 2023. It was one of the most popular marketing tactics, outshining webinars and events.
How can aesthetic practitioners tap into and adapt this trend to appeal to their audience and suit their budget? Here, we look at the key factors to consider when finding the right influencer for you and highlight some of the pitfalls to avoid.
Where do you begin in your quest to find and connect with the right influencers on social media? We’ve identified five key steps.
First, it’s essential to understand the demographics of each platform before deciding which ones make the most sense for you to use. You don’t want to waste your time creating content for a platform where your audience isn’t actually present. For example, TikTok and Instagram have a younger user profile, mostly of Gen Z and millennials, whereas Facebook has a slightly older one.
Recent statistics show that only 10% of UK women aged between 50 and 64 years are using Instagram. So, there is little use in running a campaign on Instagram if most of your customers are over the age of 55. On the other hand, the micro-influencer trend has particularly taken off on Instagram and TikTok; because they’re both so visual, it’s easy for micro-influencers to post photos and short videos of products and brand experiences instead of writing a promotional tweet or Facebook post. And with 35% and 32% of 18-29 year olds using TikTok and Instagram respectively, if that is your target market those two platforms would make good matches.
Research which influencers have a loyal following on which platforms and decide whether or not they are appropriate for your brand, depending on where your target market is most engaged.
It might be helpful to develop customer personas to make sure you understand who you’re trying to reach. You can then create a set of influencer personas who match the qualities your customers will relate to. Find out more about personas and marketing in general in our Marketing for aesthetic practitioners guide.
The allure of high follower counts can be tempting if you’re looking to venture into the realm of influencer marketing. But it’s important not to target an influencer based purely on their popularity and reach. Take care to make sure they have demonstrated knowledge in aesthetics, skincare or whichever treatment or service you want them to promote. Check out their previous content, social interactions and reputation. Do their ideas and values match yours? Does their tone and positioning align with yours?
You can identify suitable influencers by using online tools such as BuzzSumo or Klear. You can also keep an eye out for relevant hashtags to identify micro-influencers who, despite their smaller followings, might be the perfect match for your brand due to their authentic content and highly engaged audience.
A good place to start is by identifying the hashtags and topics that are key to your business and seeing who is already active in this area. Focusing on hashtags and discussions central to your niche not only helps in pinpointing active voices in the community, but also makes sure that the influencers you consider have a vested interest in your area of expertise. Taking this strategic approach will make sure that partnerships are not just based on reach, but on a shared commitment to quality, knowledge, and values, ultimately developing and nurturing collaborations that are authentic, credible, and impactful.
Clearly, for most cosmetic practitioners, practicalities like budget and the geographical location of influencers are likely to be the most decisive factors in deciding who the right influencers might be for you, and how you go about finding them.
A major consideration when working with an influencer is always going to be budget – generally, the more followers a person has, the more they will cost. As we’ve seen, influencer costs vary greatly depending on the level of commitment the influencer will provide and how many followers they have.
If budgets are tight and you can’t stretch to sponsoring a paid influencer, don’t forget about current customers, particularly those who might also be very influential in your local area and are more likely to be passionate about your procedures. If you’ve developed strong relationships with them, loyal customers may well be happy to speak about your brand positively, recommending your procedures and jumping into conversations to advocate and recommend your services on social media.
Check out who is talking about your business on local social media sites and search using local hashtags. If you’re a lone practitioner operating in a small geographical area, you’ll be mostly interested in identifying local influencers or high profile individuals and thinking creatively about ways to collaborate with them to promote your practice.
Whether you're navigating budget constraints or seeking to maximize your local presence, there are various ways to harness the power of influencers to benefit your practice. By carefully considering the practical aspects of influencer partnerships, cosmetic practitioners can effectively expand their reach and impact, tailoring their approach to suit their unique circumstances and objectives.
‘Micro-influencers’ with smaller follower counts can be very powerful and are more likely to be accessible to aesthetic practitioners, most of whom will not have large marketing budgets. Those with as few as 1,000 followers, sometimes known as nano-influencers, often have even higher engagement rates. If you can find one who resonates with your offering it could be a match made in heaven. The rate of audience engagement on content peaks around 1,000 followers, making a partnership with a micro or nano-influencer incredibly valuable to practitioners looking to increase brand awareness.
In addition to offering higher engagement rates and being more affordable, partnering with micro and nano-influencers offers a more targeted audience and is often actually more visible due to social media algorithms which tend to give micro-influencer content a higher profile than content from celebrities if the algorithm determines that users might be more interested in it.
But remember, although working with micro-influencers can give you quick access to an eager audience, that doesn’t mean you don’t have to put in the work. It's about more than just tapping into their follower base; it involves nurturing a relationship based on mutual respect and shared goals. By investing time in understanding their content style, audience demographics, and communication methods, you can make sure that you have a collaboration that not only increases brand awareness but also enriches your brand's social media presence with authentic and engaging content.
Influencer marketing is primarily about marketing to influencers. You will need to spend time researching and learning about their channels and who their audience is. In-demand influencers get lots of offers and, like any relationship, it takes time to develop. To get off to a good start you’ll need to show that you’ve put in the effort to learn what they do. Ideally, try to integrate organically with your target influencer’s posts. Start by engaging with their content, like it, share it, personalise your comments and show genuine appreciation so that you can begin to build a rapport. Offering to feature their content on your platforms or suggesting collaborative posts can further this engagement, creating a reciprocal relationship that benefits both parties.
La Croix water finds micro-influencers by searching branded hashtags, such as #LiveLaCroix, and when users tag the brand on Instagram. It specifically targets profiles with lower follower counts to maintain a feeling of authentic “realness” that particularly appeals to millennial Instagram users. Then, La Croix reaches out to them with product vouchers or other offers to post pictures with the sparkling water.
By actively engaging with influencers and showing a sincere interest in their work, you can develop lasting partnerships that drive engagement and foster a loyal community around their offerings.
Despite its success and the increase in spend on influencer marketing, recent research suggests that consumers are becoming fed up with influencer marketing and are starting to seek out user-generated content (UGC) instead. The 2023 survey found that nearly 90% of consumers no longer trust influencers, and the findings suggest that consumers are more likely to purchase from brands that share content made by real customers, instead of traditional, sponsored influencer content.
However, this research, which was conducted by a user generated content agency, is contradicted by a survey conducted by Influencer Marketing Hub, also in 2023, which found that 63% of consumers trust influencers more than they trust what brands say about themselves.
Subjective survey findings aside, if you’re thinking about working with influencers, there are pitfalls to avoid and steps you can take to make sure that your relationship is successful and productive.
To combat a growing culture of distrust around influencer marketing, it’s essential to establish clarity between brand-sponsored influencers and their followers. For Instagram influencers, tighter guidelines around sponsored posts have been introduced; it is important to use the sponsored content pin developed by the platform, alongside appropriate hashtags. When influencers such as Louise Thompson of Made in Chelsea fame failed to comply with these rules, she was publicly penalised. This applies to all social media platforms, especially for TikTok, with its explosive growth, as it has become a fertile ground for influencer partnerships, necessitating equally strict transparency measures.
There are also some important legal considerations to bear in mind when working with influencers. Influencer fraud hit the headlines when it was revealed that some high profile influencers were buying followers or having a large number of fake followers, and not correctly flagging up paid promotions correctly.
When content is controlled by you as a brand or marketer and not the influencer, it needs to be declared by posting #ad at the beginning of the post. Conversely, if you have supported something financially, but have no editorial control over the content, for example offering an influencer a free treatment, the influencer needs to highlight this in their post. It’s also a good idea to check with your insurer whether there are any insurance implications if you are working with an influencer and providing free treatments in return.
Before committing to working with an influencer, make sure the influencer is who they claim to be and that all paid posts are clearly labelled.
The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) Code applies to influencer marketing as much as it does to more conventional forms of marketing. The CAP guidelines provide a useful and informative source of information when it comes to influencer marketing. They include:
Our guide, Social media marketing for aesthetic practitioners offers more advice on this topic.
If your target market is active on social media, it’s well worth taking the time to investigate opportunities for working with influencers in more detail. Perhaps consider devoting some of your marketing budget to influencer marketing, but don’t be put off if you don’t have the resources to do this. With a little creativity you can benefit from the persuasive power of influencers, whatever your budget.
At the very least, take the time to research your local market to identify any individuals who already love your services and could become passionate advocates of your practice, perhaps even through creating user-generated content. But beware of the pitfalls – make sure that any paid posts associated with your brand are correctly labelled and that you always abide by the CAP Code.
Influencer marketing offers opportunities for aesthetic practices of all sizes to increase their reach. With strategic planning, influencer partnerships can significantly boost your visibility and reputation. So, why not take the first step towards exploring how influencer marketing can work for you, always keeping in mind the importance of transparency and compliance.
At Hamilton Fraser, we offer more than just insurance. For more advice and information, contact Hamilton Fraser on 0800 63 43 881 or get a quote today.
