MARKETING
UNDER THE influence Influencers have been big news in the retail landscape for some time, but a new breed of influence is entering the cosmeceutical and beauty therapy arena. Ruby Feneley talks to the businesses and social media superstars making waves in this space and explores how you can make the most of your online partnerships. THE FIRST INFLUENCER I followed was Chloe Morello, a North Coast teenager who shared her dabblings in makeup, along with detailed reviews and recommendations, on Youtube. Chloe was a year older than me, working her first hospitality jobs out of high school and blowing all her money on makeup. We shared what I would now refer to as a “bemused but enthused” approach to beauty and I couldn’t get enough of her videos. But over time Chloe’s life changed – her videos got slicker, she posted from press trips rather than her bedroom and her tutorials seemed carefully constructed to showcase her sponsors’ products to their best advantage. While I didn’t grudge her success, the magic was broken, and I wasn’t the only person tuning out.
A MEASURE OF INFLUENCE: Influencer marketing had its worst year on record in 2018. The New York Times exposed the prevalence of influencer buying followers and dramatically undermining advertiser trust. The same year The Atlantic reported that hotels at popular holiday destinations had banned influencers, sick of sifting through thousands of requests for free accommodation from social media enthusiasts with minimal clout (any Sydney salon owner can attest to this frustration). The influencer market hit rock bottom when Unilever CEO Keith Weed announced a hold on influencer budgets citing lack of ROI (return on investment) and concerns around brand safety in an unregulated advertising market. He did not mince words, calling it a “shadow tool” that required urgent redress. Budgets for influencer marketing shrank, particularly for “macro” influencers (those with 150-500k subscribers) and were hit again in 2020 during lockdowns. But all is not lost. In 2021, with ad-spend bouncing back, marketers are looking to engage with a new kind of content creator: one with a qualified audience, who can demonstrate genuine engagement. This is where a new breed of influencer is flourishing – micro-“skinfluencers” specialising in dermal education and building tight-knit, skincare-obsessed communities online. They’re more likely to be found discussing product formulations and molecular chemistry than spruiking the latest cosmetic sale and they’re providing new opportunities for the professional beauty industry online.
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MEET THE SKINFLUENCERS: Hannah English: The sunsafe pharmaceutical guru Hannah English is a rising Melbourne-based “Skinfluencer,” an ex-pharmaceutical scientist with 50.7k followers on Instagram. That may sound like a lot compared to your mum’s 140, but when viewed against Chloe Morello’s 1.2million; Hannah is considered a micro-influencer. However, there’s nothing micro about the people she’s influencing - a quick scroll through English’s followers shows half of Sydney and Melbourne beauty press and PRs, top brands, and an engaged community of skincare junkies who hang out for her Q&A’s where she talks about everything from mental health to cosmetic chemistry. Hannah considers herself as much an educator as an influencer, breaking down the science behind skincare and busting prevalent myths. English has gone viral multiple times with her work in the murky area of sun care – where consumer distaste and distrust is prevalent, and misinformation is high. Two of her viral pieces of content include a video where she applies the correct amount of SPF 50+ foundation needed to receive full sun protection (good luck blending blush over the top) and a hack video where she demonstrates how to effectively touch up sunscreen over makeup. Hannah attributes the popularity of this kind of content to the increased maturity of the millennial consumer – “Millennials grew up in the early stages of social media” she says “but now we have careers and kids and we’re starting to see changes in our skin. As those biological realities set in, we’re naturally looking for the most effective ways to combat them.” Hannah has worked with cosmeceutical companies and beauty service providers – reviewing her experiences with everything from Fraxel laser to teeth whitening. She says her approach to reviewing services, and businesses, differs from product reviews in a number of ways. She says, “Not all practitioners approach services the same way, so you can have the same treatment at two businesses and receive vastly different results, and a very different experience.” For Hannah, the focus is one reviewing the overall experience with the business - “I will cover how my skin tolerates the treatment, and the changes I see, but I’ll also get into how I felt in the space, how I was treated and the level and quality of information I was provided with.”
Iain Jeffrey: The criminologist cracking the case on consumers Iain Jeffrey’s is another skinfluencer providing a different kind of
