Why — and When — to Use an Influencer
For everything there is a season ; influencer marketing is no different . Just like any marketing activation — from local ads to email communications and social media posts — there are situations for which influencers are particularly well-suited , especially for spas . Daniela Ciocan , founder and CEO of Access Beauty Insiders , suggests using influencers for new location openings . In this case , use local geo-tags and hashtags to find influencers who are local to your new location and have a following in the area . Another great use of influencers , says Ciocan , is to market new treatments or distinctive seasonal offerings . Ultimately , “ your decision to hire or use an influencer should boil down to your goals ,” says Erin Stremcha , vice president of marketing for Trilogy Spa Holdings . “ Do you want to spread brand awareness , or is your goal more about securing bookings or sales ?”
In general , though , influencers are a valuable marketing tool across a wide range of contexts because of spa ’ s experiential nature . Roxana Medina , director of marketing at Carillon Miami Wellness Resort , agrees : “ I think that there are a lot of experiences that are easier to show in a video from someone else ’ s point of view , where they can tell a story . That ’ s a very valuable thing .”
For resource partners , influencers are similarly a no-brainer : the try-it-out-for-yourself nature of many spa and skin care products lends itself well to influencers ’ story-based marketing approach . “ They can work in any situation ,” says Tim Waller , CEO of
BABOR Beauty Group Americas , “ as long as the influencer matches the partner and objectives .”
Once you ’ ve established your campaign goals and chosen to engage with an influencer on a marketing
An influencer ( top ) shows off her use of a seasonal kit from a skin care brand ( bottom ). activation , there are four steps that ISPA members identified to Pulse as being key to the process .
1 . DUE DILIGENCE First and foremost : you have to perform due diligence on any influencer with whom you work . Carillon Miami Wellness Resort receives approximately five influencer requests per day and has a thorough vetting process for any influencers . First is identifying what they want to use an influencer for — is it a local push or a national push ? Is it a product launch or a service launch ? The type of campaign leads them to a particular type of influencer , such as a local micro-influencer with less than 10,000 followers or a macro-influencer of more than 100,000 . “ We do different layers of research to understand who their audience actually is ,” says Medina . “ What ’ s their age range , where are they located , what are their interest levels ?” Robin Vega , co-founder of CAUSE + MEDIC , similarly begins her vetting process by looking at the influencers ’ feeds . “ We have influencers approaching us … I ’ ll immediately go to their page and look at the followers , then at their profile and see what my first impression is . If it doesn ’ t look like we would share an audience or I don ’ t like the tone of their posts , that could be that .”
Lastly , it ’ s important to check in on
JUNE 2021 ■ PULSE 21