Having a strong digital presence is an absolute must for those in the health and beauty industry these days. Wellness and wellbeing is such a huge trend, as people begin to prioritise self-care more and more following the pandemic, that if you’re not doing all you can to ensure online visibility, you’re sure to be missing out on some serious custom as a result.

There are all sorts of strategies you can employ that will help give you a digital leg up, but one of the very best ways to do so at the moment is to collaborate with an influencer or two. 

This strategy works particularly well for salon and clinic owners, because your goods and services are so image-focused - and social media thrives on beautiful and engaging images and videos, which influencers can certainly help you with.

It also doesn’t matter how big you are in the game right now - influencer marketing can benefit brands of all shapes and sizes, whether you’re just starting out or whether you’re already well established in your sector.

You’re sure to find that the right partnership will extend your brand reach and build awareness, grow your following, increase your revenue and drive web traffic your way… so yes, it certainly is worth investigating!

How to find the right influencer for you

First of all, you need to think about what you’re trying to achieve and what your goals are before you start searching for influencers to help. 

Do you want to drive traffic to your website? Are you looking to boost sales? Or do you want to engage with your followers on a more meaningful level? Having answers to questions such as these will allow you to find the best influencers who will help you achieve your ambitions.

Once you’ve done this, you can then start to do some influencer searches. A great place to begin is to see who your competitors are working with and which influencers your brand audience already follows and engages with.

You could even look within your own following to see if you have anyone with over 1,000 people following them, as they could make amazing influencers in their own right.

Before you get in touch with anyone, however, make sure you take some time to monitor their activity and make sure they’re genuine, so you can avoid being taken for a ride. Influencer fraud is certainly on the rise and you need to make sure you protect yourself.

Top negotiation tips

Once you think you’ve found the right people to work with, it all comes down to negotiation. Depending on how big the influencer is, you may find you have to go through the proper channels and talk to a PR agency, but if you’re interested in a micro-influencer, make sure you discuss the likes of content and campaigns, compensation and perks and the objectives of your campaign.

What guidelines & industry standards are there?

While the onus typically falls on the influencer to make sure they’re following the rules, it could be useful for you to familiarise yourself with the regulations. For example, editorial content to promote products where you’ve paid for the promotion must make it clear that it’s an advert.

Other potentially problematic practices include falsely claiming or giving the impression that someone is acting outside of their business purposes by falsely posing as a consumer, omitting or hiding material information, or failing to identify the commercial intent of a social media post.

Take a look at some of the big influencers out there - you’re sure to see the word Ad appear on some of their posts. It’s important that you make sure you use labels like this when it comes to influencer marketing - simply mentioning the brand, using the word ‘sponsorship’ or saying ‘in association with’ won’t be sufficient.

Check out this useful guide on the Advertising Standards Authority website for further help and advice to make sure you stay on the right side of the law with your influencer marketing strategies.

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