How Influencer marketing works for Aesthetics Practices

If anyone has spent any time on social media, especially on Instagram, they have likely come in contact with some form of influencer marketing. Influencer marketing has become very popular over the past ten years or so not only is it very effective, but those who are considered to be influencer marketers can make a lot of money. For aesthetic practices, influence marketing can effectively drive patients to their business. However, unlike other marketing strategies like Google AdWords or Direct Mail Marketing, the Aesthetic Practice and the Influencer Marketer must agree to work together. Both entities need to make sure working together is right for them. As much as an aesthetic practice has a brand they want to protect, so does an influencer marketer.  

What is Influencer Marketing, and how could it be useful to an Aesthetic Practice?  

When a brand pays someone on social media to promote its product or service, that person is an influencer marketer. They will promote the product or service to their social media following. Sometimes, they will specifically “endorse” a product or service on their website or blog. Not all influencer marketers will maintain a website or a blog or be willing to “endorse” a product or service without an additional fee.  

For an aesthetic practice, there are several advantages of using influencer marketing. Influencer marketers are known for having a very loyal following on social media, meaning if they make a recommendation, it will have more sway than if a potential patient saw a Google Ad or read a Google Review. In fact, 70% of teens trust social media influencers more than they do celebrities because there is a sense of a closer connection to them. There is a level of trust between an influencer and their followers. An influencer has generally spent quite a bit of time cultivating that trust, meaning they are unlikely to make a bad recommendation or endorsement, as it would damage their reputation. An aesthetic practice can reach a wider audience with influencer marketing, and they can be very effective in convincing their followers to consider using the services of a practice.  

Influencer marketing can help increase the brand awareness of the aesthetic practice and the patient count. It can also help boost social media engagement and following for a practice. Influencer marketing is similar to a “celebrity endorsement,” where someone makes a commercial for a product. While influencer marketers will have less reach than celebrities, they often will have a higher conversion rate.  

When did influencer marketing begin?

Having other people, like movie stars or famous athletes, endorse products or services has been around for decades. However, in its current form, influencer marketing started in 2004. It originated with the practice called, at the time, “eSeeding.” In exchange for a gift card, those with a large following on (the now defunct) MySpace would promote content on their profiles. At first, the reception to this marketing was tepid. At the time, many people felt that there was no place for advertisements on social media and that it would not offer a good return on investment. However, that opinion evolved and changed within the decade, and influencer marketing is used by many big and small brands.  

What notable brands use influencer marketing successfully?  

There are many different brands in a variety of different industries that use influencer marketing. Some brands sell products, while others sell services. You have likely seen people promote these products on various social media feeds. Sometimes, a brand will take an influencer and feature them in their digital and traditional marketing campaigns.

Some major brands that have successfully used influencer marketing include:  

• HelloFresh
• Audible
• Quip
• Carnival Cruise Line
• Blue Apron
• Butcher Box
• Fabletics
• Chewy 

The strategies for these brands are different, and the influencers they use in their influencer marketing may also be different. An influencer known for cooking meals at home would be great for at-home food delivery services but less for promoting a cruise line. A well-known world traveler and blogger may promote a cruise line but is seen as less of an expert regarding toys for a new puppy. The right influencer needs to be matched up with the right brand for the marketing effort to be as effective as possible. The same is valid with aesthetic practice. An influencer known for cooking, traveling, or exploring abandoned buildings may not be the best fit. However, an influencer who spends time in fashion, health, and beauty may be just right for aesthetic practices.  

How can an aesthetics practice work with an influencer marketer?  

When an aesthetic practice engages in marketing using a different strategy, such as direct mail marketing, they generally pay for the service. While many influencer marketers will gladly take money as payment, an aesthetic practice may be able to exchange other things for promotion from an influencer, such as a gift card, free product, free service, or a commission. What works best for the influencer and the practice will be determined during the negotiation between the two parties. When they agree, the promotion can begin.  

In general, an influencer marketing campaign will look like this:

• An influencer marketer will partner with an aesthetic practice for a promotion. 
• An influencer marketer and aesthetic practice determine what is being promoted, for how long, and what posts should look like
• An influencer marketer will promote the product or service of an aesthetic practice on their social media channels. 
• An influencer marketer will provide their followers with a unique code or link for their followers to use to make a purchase. These links often perform better if a special discount is associated with using this link.
• The influencer either receives a small portion of the sale or a set amount after a certain amount of clicks or unique visits.
• The aesthetic practice tracks sales, website visits, and social media growth to gauge the effectiveness of the influencer.

Is influencer marketing effective for aesthetic practices?  

Influencer marketing can have the potential to be very effective for aesthetic practices. However, just like any other marketing strategy, the right factors need to be in place to ensure success. It is crucial to connect the right influencer with the proper aesthetic practice and ensure the promotion is something their followers are interested in. Studies indicate that when businesses use influencer marketing, they often find it compelling and that this strategy often produces better leads than other marketing tactics.  

Influencer marketers generally promote these products across their social media channels. However, the most influential posts often are videos on YouTube and posts and stories on Instagram. When an aesthetic practice chooses an influencer marketer to promote their brand, they need to make sure they have a good following on Instagram.  

How much do brands pay influencers?  

There is no set standard pay that Aesthetic Practices should offer to influencer marketers. The amount of money paid depends on the number of followers that person has, their engagement level, and how relevant the promotion is for them. When an aesthetic practice researches an influencer to promote their brand, they should ask for engagement metrics to compare to other influencers and their rates. For successful influencers, it is not uncommon to see posts for $300 and videos for $1000.  

Celebrities or those with massive Instagram followings (500,000 or more) will charge much more. For example, Kylie Jenner often charges $1.2 million per post on her Instagram account. That may seem like a lot, but she also has 372 million followers. That’s less than four-tenths of a cent per follower. Kylie Jenner is outside of their marketing budget for most aesthetic practices. However, there are many other influencers out there that, with some research, may be an excellent fit for a practice.  

What measurement benchmarks should an aesthetic practice track and follow with an influencer marketer?

Social Media Followers

An aesthetic practice should always be mindful of how many followers they gain during an influencer marketing campaign. This is a significant number to track, so a practice should see how many followers they have weeks before a campaign and how much it grows naturally. Data from his timespan will be helpful during the campaign to see the difference in not only total new followers but the growth of those followers. A practice should remember that they will likely get the most followers on a social media channel where that influencer is most popular. For example, an Instagram influencer will boost Instagram followers, not Twitter followers.

Impressions 

Whenever a post is displayed on the social media feed of another person, that is counted as an impression. Impressions are very valuable to gauge how effectively an influencer reaches people with their posts. A high impression rate will help promote a brand’s visibility and increase awareness. Suppose an aesthetic practice uses several influencers to promote its brand or a product. In that case, impressions are a useful metric for evaluating which influencer was more effective and gave the most ROI.  

Conversions

During an influencer campaign, conversions are essential to track. What counts as a conversion is generally defined before the campaign starts. It could be any number of things, including:

• Purchasing a product
• Making an appointment
• Visiting a website
• Subscribing to a monthly membership
• Trail sign up
• Email marketing sign-ups

A campaign can have multiple conversion goals and can be used to design a sales funnel for aesthetic practice. From there, a practice can determine how many people visited the website and the percentages of those that moved forward down the sales funnel.  

Engagement With Posted Content

Not all engagement with a post on a social media channel is the same. However, each different kind of engagement is valuable and provides an opportunity for an aesthetic practice to engage with a potential patient or get more information about the effectiveness of their campaign. Things to look for on social media posts made by influencers: 

•  Likes – Liking a social media post is the most straightforward form of engagement from someone else, but it may not indicate they are seriously considering purchasing something. However, it does suggest that someone took long enough to read the post before clicking the like.  

• Comments –  Reading the comments is an excellent opportunity for an aesthetic practice to gauge the tone of their target audience. Comments may be positive, or they may be negative. If there are no comments, then the interest in the promotion is low. The practice and the influencer can also engage with comments to answer questions or point them to a link for further engagement.  

• Shares – Shares are very valuable. These occur when someone takes the content they have seen and shares it with their followers. Sharing of posts by influencers can be common and a great way to reach people beyond those influencers’ followers.  

• Clicks –  This metric, related to conversions, tells you how many people clicked on the link if one was posted in the content. Not all posts have links. Some may have discount codes that people use later. When available, a Click Through Rate (CTR) will tell a practice what percentage of an influencer’s followers saw the posted link and then clicked on it.  

What are some ways to track conversations for an influencer marketing campaign for an aesthetic practice?

Trackable Links

The most common and easiest way to track conversions is by clicking links. An influencer should be given a unique URL that can be tracked through Google Analytics. This link should be to a specially created landing page, or a practice should use a URL builder to build a unique link for an influencer. An influencer can then share these links across their social media channels and be tracked. 

Affiliate Links

Affiliate links are unique for influencers to share across their channels. These links, however, usually have a discount or exclusive code built into them to display special pricing on a website. These links are tracked like other trackable links but must be constructed and shared correctly so any discounts or exclusive offer displays.

Discount Codes

Discount Codes are another popular way for aesthetic practices to promote their business using influencers. An influencer will promote a brand and give followers their discount code to use when they check out. Instead of a practice looking at Google Analytics to determine how many visits or clicks they received, they only need to see how many times a discount code was used. Discount Codes can also be easily turned on or off as needed without many, if any, changes to a website.  Discount Codes can often be managed through a promotions app. 

The experts at PatientGain.com are available to help you create a high-performance healthcare website and guide you with influencer marketing. Contact us today, and let us show you what we have done for other practices across the country!