Influencer Marketing in the different industries

If you take a quick scroll through your social media accounts now, what do you see? Of course there will be the occasional memes, or status updates from your friends. But what remains constant is the sighting of influencers promoting brands, products and sharing discount codes with us, their followers.

Today, we would like to look deeper into the topic of influencer marketing on social media. Influencer marketing refers to the use of social media influencers to help with a brand’s marketing purposes. It can come in the form of a product review posted online, or a collaboration on a new line of products.

For today’s topic we will dive into influencer marketing in a few industries, namely the fashion, beauty & F&B industry. This article seeks to explore influencer marketing in each specific industry. Read on to find out how influencer marketing remains relevant across the board!

#1  Beauty influencer marketing

Firstly, we start off with beauty influencer marketing. The beauty industry includes cosmetic products ranging from makeup to skincare.

Statistics from Econsultancy states that 65% of Generation Z uses social media to discover and select beauty products. Influencer marketing opens up a platform for the beauty industry to reach Gen Z, providing opportunities for communication between beauty brands and their direct consumers.

As proven by the statistic, Generation Z go onto social media with the purpose of researching about beauty products. Therefore, these expectations have inevitably shaped the approach of influencer marketing on social media.

According to research by Barkley, Generation Z care about ‘authentic’ traits such as body positivity. Therefore, Beauty brands have adapted and are angling their social media approach in a more authentic way.

Instead of only gunning for macro influencers with mammoth followings, beauty brands are looking to diversifying their influencers choice. This is done through the addition of micro influencers, with a smaller following.

By doing so, a social media beauty campaign is differentiated from the typical beauty influencer marketing campaigns with a set group of popular influencers. The diversity in turn creates an added layer of authenticity, which better appeals to the online community.

Examples of beauty brands that have successfully embarked on the beauty influencer marketing journey include Becca, Glossier and L’Oreal. In the case of L’Oreal, they have not only branched out into mid tier influencers but has also awarded their influencers with creative freedom in content creation. All done in an attempt to create authentic postings that can resonate with the online beauty community.

#2 F&B influencer marketing

Secondly, we have the F&B industry. From recipes, cooking tutorials to aesthetic flat lays of food, social media has an abundance of F&B related content.

Therefore, influencer marketing is an opportunity to give one an edge in F&B marketing. This is because influencers provide a voice to the brand, providing personal opinions that could attract social media users looking for more.

Imagine seeing a plate of chicken rice on social media with just a location tag, seems ordinary doesn’t it? What if the exact same picture was posted by an influencer describing the exquisite taste of this dish, would there not be a change in the way you perceive the same photo? Hence, influencer marketing is often a game changer in this competitive industry.

To add on, due to the visual nature of the F&B industry, social media becomes ideal to gain attention. This is especially so for visual channels like Instagram that puts a large focus on visuals and aesthetics.

Take the example of Singapore’s Pizza Hut, that has worked with a group of micro and macro influencers to promote items. A group of local influencers were given the chance to share their thoughts on Pizza Hut’s dishes after tasting them.

The personal experience of digging into the pizzas enabled influencers to review the dishes in a more authentic manner, increasing the impact of the influencer marketing campaign.

#3 Fashion influencer marketing

Thirdly, we have fashion influencer marketing. The fashion industry ranges from clothes and accessories to footwear, all things fashion can be likewise included.

Just like the F&B industry, the fashion influencer marketing is largely driven by visuals.

While there is nothing wrong posting purely posting images on a brands social media account, the approach might not be as effective due to the saturation of fashion brands on social media.

For the many smaller fashion brands, it is hard to compete with large Multinational companies (MNCs) such as H&M (30.7 million followers) and Zara (33.1 million followers) on social media.

Fashion Influencers/fashion influencer marketing, can not only bring brand awareness to fashion brands with their large followings. They also have the ability to spark the interest of potential consumers. This is because social media users often see fashion influencers as experts in all things fashion. Therefore, if influencers share about a piece of apparel, everyday users are more inclined to be interested in these fashion pieces.

This explains why brands such as Saturday Club have embraced fashion influencer marketing.

Bonus

Besides the above mentioned industries, influencer marketing has also made its mark in other industries. For examples, the hospitality industry has also adopted influencer marketing to further connect with their customers.

Moxy Hotels

Moxy Hotels has collaborated with YouTube star Taryn Southern (@TarynSouthern) on a video series named Do Not Disturb. This series features Taryn Southern interviewing other influencers inside a shipping container designed to look like a Moxy hotel room. Eventually, the hotel produced a second season the following year due to the popularity of the series.

Conclusion

Be it fashion influencer marketing, beauty influencer marketing or F&B influencer marketing, Influencer marketing has crossed boundaries and is being widely adopted across the various industries. However, to really maximise the potential of influencer marketing one has to have a deeper level of understanding of this marketing technique in relation to the industry of concern.

Sources

travelmindset, 20-influencer-marketing-examples
econsultancy, how-beauty-brands-have-evolved-their-influencer-marketing
econsultancy, could-l-oreal-s-beauty-squad-mark-a-shift-for-influencer-marketing