WHAT EXACTLY IS AN INFLUENCER AND WHAT DO THEY DO?
There are various definitions on the internet about that, but what we could conclude out of all of those perspectives is that being an influencer does not necessarily make you a marketing tool, but rather a whole of social relationship assets that influencers possess with which brands, or so-called partners, can collaborate in order to achieve their respective marketing objectives. Social media influencers are people who thanks to their knowledge and expertise on a specific field have built a reputation for. It is through the aid of this knowledge that they manage to affect the purchasing, lifestyle and interactive choices of others. They post regularly posts regarding topics that might be trending on the social media channels that they prefer, and then people pay attention and follow.
Brands tend to increasingly love social media influencers, because they can encourage their followers to purchase the products or services that they might promote, or even manage to create trends if they are persuasive enough. All this leads to several benefits for the brands that act as sponsorships, which include an increase of brand awareness, customer relationship management improvement which leads to trust empowerment, and even to an enhancement of the search engine optimisation of the brand. There is a wide range of things that an influencer can be, but they usually are mostly celebrities, journalists, industry experts, professional advisors, micro-influencers, and of course, the bloggers and content creators. The amount of followers usually depends on the size of the niche topic that they elaborate.
BEAUTY INFLUENCERS AND THEIR CREDIBILITY TRAITS
It shouldn’t come off as a surprise that most of the social media influencers play a main role in the beauty world and industry. Known as ‘beauty gurus’, through the skills they have gained they manage to make this industry more accessible and diverse, and also more engaging when it comes to cultural and diversity acceptance. This way, these influencers put their makeup skills to good use by working with cosmetics brands, but they also manage to reduce discrimination and make people embrace equality.
There is a continual evolution of the cosmetics and personal care industry when it comes to providing consumers with access to innovative, qualitative and safe products and services. It is obvious that in the past, like everything, cosmetic firms primarily relied on conventional methods of advertisement. Traditional media such as television, used distribution channels, and especially magazines are what took over for decades, but technology has shifted the way customers search and purchase cosmetic products, giving the upper hand to beauty influencers. According to a Cosmetics Europe survey, at least 51% of consumers find information they need on the cosmetic brands’ websites, social media networks and blogs, and that percentage is expected to rise sharply in the near future.
There are several credibility dimensions that affect how a certain audience perceives the influencer. Those who display integrity, honesty and ethics are perceived as more reliable, and there is a significantly larger probability that the followers will believe the message that is being communicated to them. We think that there are 5 main dimensions that set the wheels in motion in this case:
- The knowledge and expertise that the influencer has adopted along their experience.
- How much their followers can relate to them, as similarities are often what click to people.
- The degree of helpfulness that they offer to their audience.
- The self-confidence extent that they radiate, which also proves the first aspect.
- How articulate and clear they are while they transmit the message.
- Their overall open-mindedness.