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Beauty influencers are making a big impact on the industry’s marketing style. Research shows 74% of Gen Zers and 66% of millennials are swayed by influencers to purchase specific products, according to Statista. From skincare products and haircare to cosmetics and body art, beauty influencers showcase products, offer application tips, and provide testimonials. 

If you’re marketing in the beauty industry and looking to add influencer marketing to your outreach tools, here’s what you should know to get started:

What influencers want in a beauty brand

There are 4,000-plus cosmetic and beauty companies in the U.S., each with dozens, if not hundreds, of products. With so many products on the market, influencers can be picky. They can choose which brands and which products to endorse. 

So, what is an influencer looking for in a brand collaboration? They look for a brand that:

Gives the influencer freedom to create content

While influencers do want some guidance from a brand, they do expect creative freedom. Influencers have curated their audience and engage with them regularly, so they know how to reach them. 

Has a quality product

Influencers want to back products that they love. When you collaborate with influencers, they’ll want to sample your product. They need to know that your product meets their quality standards and that of their audience. For this reason, it’s not uncommon for brands to connect with influencers who are also existing customers. 

Aligns with their goals and audience

Influencers won’t rep a brand that doesn’t match their goals or interest their audience, which is a good thing. As a brand, you want influencers to share your company values and target the same audience. 

A senior influencer with a penchant for sustainable products, for example, would be drawn to a sustainable beauty brand with a highly rated wrinkle cream. In this case, goals align, and the product makes sense for the audience.

Wants a long-term relationship

You can do a one-off campaign with an influencer, but most creators embrace the idea of long-term beauty brand partnerships. Consider this as you find influencers, discuss compensation, and create a contract. 

Ways to find an influencer

  • Look for brand-loving customers on social media
  • Manually search for “beauty influencers” on platforms like YouTube 
  • Search beauty-inspired hashtags like #beauty, #makeup, or more specific product hashtags like #mascara or #bestmoisturizer 
  • Discover creators via influencer marketing platforms like The Creator Marketplace® or IZEA Flex.

Best practices for beauty brands

When you’re ready to connect with an influencer, keep these best practices in mind. 

Video is ideal for beauty campaigns

You can certainly ask an influencer to endorse your product in a picture, but when it comes to beauty products, consumers want to see them in action. They want to know how it looks and feels, and they want to know what their trusted influencer thinks of it. Video is the best vehicle to deliver beauty tutorials and testimonials. 

Prioritize engagement over follower count

As a brand, you want to reach more consumers to sell more products. As a result, you might look to collaborate with celebrity influencers like Jaclyn Hill or James Charles, but you shouldn’t rush to celebrity influencers. 

Research shows consumers are fatigued by celebrities’ beauty endorsements. So much so that some beauty companies, like Sephora, dropped celebrity product lines. Sephora has canceled Addison Rae’s Item Beauty and Hyram Yarbro’s Selfless by Hyram, for example. 

What’s the lesson here? Make engagement your priority. It’s more important to work with an influencer that has an engaged audience than it is to work with a celebrity influencer.  

Offer guidance, not a script

You chose an influencer because of his or her authentic way of connecting with a certain audience, so trust it. Discuss the campaign’s goal, offer bullet points, and provide a list of hashtags and tags you’d like included. Beyond that, let the influencer take the reins. Don’t worry; you can approve the content before it’s published. 

Consider a variety of content

While video tends to be the preferred content for beauty influencers, it’s a good idea to think beyond YouTube. As you grow your beauty marketing strategy, consider trying short TikTok clips, ask a trusted influencer to “take over” your brand’s social media channels for a day, or host a live Q&A on Facebook with an influencer answering common questions.

Don’t ghost an influencer after content is published

Once an influencer socially endorses your product, the campaign isn’t done. Quite the contrary. Once the post is live, marketers should engage with the post and follow up with the influencer. Have a post-campaign debrief to discuss what went well and what could be improved. Influencer marketing for beauty brands is about building relationships, not completing a singular project. 

With the right products promoted on the right channels, creators can influence buying decisions. Beauty influencers are powerful, and fortunately, they’re easy to work with if you’re using the right tools. IZEA Flex can help you take a campaign from concept to completion. Learn more about our next-generation influencer marketing platform. 

Influencers:

Looking to partner with industry-leading brands? Create your free profile today. 

Marketers:

The world’s biggest brands trust IZEA. Find which of our influencer marketing software or managed service solutions are right for you.

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