Mala McAlpin Whether you’re hoping for simple, low-cost ways to increase your salon exposure or in the midst of a fully fledged marketing plan, no doubt social media will (or certainly should!) be included in your plans. You may or may not be familiar with the concept of ‘Influencers’ yet, so SPA+CLINIC is here to clarify exactly what an Influencer is, and what they could offer you and your business.
An Influencer is, not to be confused with a celebrity, a regular, everyday member of society that heavily uses social media to create content around a specific theme or category, such as food, lifestyle, beauty, photography, travel, etc. and generally has a following of at least several thousand. Since Influencers usually only provide reviews and endorsements around products/brands/experiences they genuinely condone or have tried for themselves, their endorsement is much more trustworthy and authentic to their readers, and therefore much more valuable for marketers and brands.
This is when brands, businesses and/or PR agencies begin to reach out to these Influencers, offering complimentary products and services in exchange for a social media post referencing that product or service. Once an Influencer achieves a particularly high number of followers, perhaps over 10,000, they may begin to consider charging these brands to expose their product to such a high volume of followers. Then again, some may never charge – it just depends on the individual.
In much the same way, this is exactly how social media Influencers may be of use to exposing your spa or clinic to a wider audience, and in a much more engaging and organic way. If you’re considering engaging some Influencers within your salon, don’t be afraid to do some research, reach out to them directly, discuss whether a visit to your salon may be of interest to their audience, and if there are any complimentary treatments they may be interested receiving and sharing. Just remember to be explicit in your negotiations – outline exactly what you will be receiving; if it’s a post vs a story, if it will be remaining on their feed for a certain period of time before it gets deleted, whether they will be tagging and/or hashtaging the salon.
A great example is Influencer @wendy_online, who reached thousands of people when she posted a selfie of her post-treatment skin after a visit at All Saints Clinic:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Beh4d0ABKEM/?taken-by=wendy_online
Still need some convincing? Here are a few statistics released recently by Popular Influencer agency Theright.fit.
- 50 percent year on year is the pace of Instagram’s annual user growth.
- 92 percent of people trust recommendations from individuals over brands
- 25 percent of web traffic is driven by Facebook alone
- 74 percent of consumers use social media to make purchase decisions
- 81 percent of marketers who have used influencer marketing judged it to be effective
- 51 percent of marketers believe they get better customers from influencer marketing because relationships begin with a trusted influencer
As each year passes, social media continues to have dramatic affects on the way consumers make purchases, and for such a low-cost and relatively simple tactic, you would be amazed at what a difference a social media mention from the right person can make!
