The Impact of Influencer Marketing on the Wellness Industry

The wellness industry is flourishing as ever. Despite the impact of the pandemic on the world economy, or perhaps because of it, today’s generation is more keenly aware of the importance of having a fit body and sound mind. Yoga classes, hand compressors, even anti-inflammatory kimchi—the wellness industry continues to churn out a wide range of products and services that enable a healthy lifestyle. In fact, the wellness business is projected to contribute $1.5 trillion to the global economy in 2021. And social media marketing has made wellness as much a part of our daily conversations as the latest vaccine news. Despite the internet being a cold platform, the wellness market has leveraged the power of influencer marketing to put a name to the voice. This has increased customer bases and created a bigger share of wallet. In this article, let’s find out how influencer marketing continues to impact the wellness industry.

 

But first off, what is influencer marketing?

 

In a nutshell, influencer marketing simply means marketing that leverages the power of influencers to sell products and services on social media platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Influencers can be expensive big-name celebrities with millions of followers to micro-influencers with a following of at least 10k to 100k. When a company or organization incorporates influencer marketing as a branding strategy, they leverage the authority and reputation of influencers and their relationship with their audience to shape purchase decisions.

 

From whence it came

 

Although the common perception is that influencer marketing just exploded right under our very noses, its roots can be traced as far back as Ancient Roman times. Being a gladiator was a big thing then, something akin to the popularity of top athletes and Hollywood actors and actresses today. Thus, these gladiators were popular and influential enough to endorse products. Just imagine a brawny Gerald Butler look-alike touting an Acai berry health drink with all his might. Many influencers today may not be as muscle-fueled as the endorsers of the past. However, they possess the necessary social media muscle to grow many businesses, including the wellness market.

 

It’s worth in gold

 

Fast forward to the 21st century and you see many companies and organizations using influencers to promote a healthy way of living—along with their products and services. Today, the influencer marketing industry is expected to reach $13.8 billion in 2021 as larger and larger chunks of the marketing budget are allocated to influencer fees and commissions.

 

The impact of influencer marketing

 

With social media users already at 3.6 billion people in 2020 and poised to grow further in the future, influencer marketing looks like it’s here to stay. Ánd the wellness industry is well aware of this fact. Let’s count the ways by which influencer marketing is shaping the wellness market for the better.

 

• A more level playing field

Whether a fledgling startup or a business behemoth, you can compete more effectively by using influencers whose profiles best match your objectives and marketing budget.

 

There are three major types of influencers today: the macro influencer, the micro-influencer, and the nano influencer. On the “premium” (in terms of cost) end of the influencer spectrum are the macro or big-time influencers, such as Gwyneth Paltrow, with her thrust on clean skincare products, and Kayla Itsines, the Australian fitness influencer with a series of e-books to her credit. Then you have micro-influencers who are Internet sensations with up to 100k followers. These micro-influencers can even be as, if not more, effective than their more famous counterparts, yet without the exorbitant fees.

 

Lastly, you have the nano influencers who have less than 10k followers and are best leveraged for niche marketing. Payments for influencer services can also vary from fixed rates to the more popular performance-based fees, not discounting ex deals.

 

Regardless of your financial capability, you are sure to find the influencer that can best fit your business needs.

 

• Wider customer reach

Any wellness player knows that the more leads there are, the higher the chances of sales conversions. It is therefore critical that you attract new customers while maintaining your existing base of loyal customers. But how can you do this if your company does not have the budget nor the infrastructure to scale?

 

Enter influencer marketing. By tapping bloggers, podcasters, YouTubers, and even TikTokers, your wellness business can go from zero to hero. With their ready-built following, you no longer need to gather a captive audience, and that’s a lot of time and effort saved. In addition, you can also pre-qualify the influencer so you can directly target the exact demographic you are aiming for. The greater your access is to your target market, the higher your conversion rate will be. And because the internet knows no geographical boundaries, so are influencers and their marketing power unrestricted by physical limitations, further increasing your brand’s sales potential.

 

• Wellness players can hit the ground running

Abundantly and consistently available content produced by influencers can work well for your wellness enterprise. How so? Even before you tap the services of a specific influencer, that personality may already be prepping up your prospective target market. For instance, if you are promoting kimchi chips as a healthy snack, the influencer you tap may be deep into the overall benefits of kimchi for a while now. Or perhaps you are espousing the benefits of dog cuddles for your dog-cuddling business, so you pick an influencer who is a certified long-time pet lover. This means that you can spend less on educating customers to focus and invest more on highlighting your brand’s unique advantages.

 

• Enhanced LTM value

Even with macro-influencers or celebrities, fans may feel deeply connected, especially if they have witnessed all the milestones in their idols’ lives. The connection is even stronger with micro-influencers who are more relatable than Hollywood A-listers or other big-name celebrities. Their followers also see the content produced by their idols as more organic and authentic, and therefore, more credible and authoritative. The deeper the connection is, the longer followers tend to stick around. And this augurs well for any wellness company.

 

With a deeper engagement over the lifetime of an influencer and their followers, influencer marketing can help wellness companies come across multiple marketing touchpoints. Thus, influencer marketing not only helps increase customer bases, but it can also drive vertical growth for any wellness business.