Influencer Marketing Trends That Beauty Brands Can’t Ignore in 2021

The influencer market has been growing rapidly since 2015, the total size of the market is projected at 15 billion dollars in 2022 (Techjury). According to GlobalWebIndex, 54% of social media users use social media to research products and 71% are more likely to purchase products and services based on social media referrals.

More and more brands are increasing their budget on marketing strategies that utilize Influencers, especially companies in the beauty industry, with 65% of “digital-born” consumers, or also known as Generation Z, relying on social media to discover and select beauty products (Econsultancy).

In the act of moving towards 2021, the landscape of the Influencer industry will continue to evolve thanks to the significant development of the related markets.

We’re already seeing the rise of Vietnam’s beauty products market as it grows at a compound annual rate of 30% over the past few years, with foreign brands making up more than 90% of sales, on the word of Nikkei Asia.

In this article, we’ll compile the Influencer marketing trends in Vietnam that beauty brands, chiefly K-beauty brands – the leader in the Vietnam beauty market, need to know in 2021.

1. The domination of video content

Let take a look at a few mind-blowing stats showing that video marketing has been climbing itself to the top of content marketing in recent years:

• Mobile video consumption rises by 100% every year. (Insivia)
• Videos attach 300% more traffic and help to nurture leads. (MarketingSherpa)
• 85% of consumers want to see more video content from brands. (HubSpot)
• 97% of marketers say video has helped users gain a better understanding of their products and services. (Hubspot)
• 64% of consumers will make a purchase after watching branded videos on social platforms. (Tubular Insights)

Seeing that viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to 10% when reading it in a text (Insivia) and 92% of users watching video on mobile will share it with others (Wordstream), there is no reason for brands to miss out this type of content production.

In the Vietnam beauty space, makeup tutorials and beauty product review clips always have the highest engagements and most of the Vietnamese beauty bloggers have Youtube accounts along with Facebook and Instagram accounts. Another highlight of this video content production is the shining of Tiktok and Facebook Livestream.

Tiktok has become the go-to platform for short videos for Gen Z audiences over the last years, with 66% of its users under the age of 30. It is an excellent marketing platform for brands that want to tap into younger consumers.

Facebook Livestream, on the other hand, is the top-pick for more mature adults. HannahOlala, one of the most famous Vietnamese beauty bloggers has made good use of this trend as she attracts around 40,000 to 50,000 views for each Livestream with the brand representative. Namely, this 30-minute Livestream from her.

2. Product collaborations between Influencer and brand partners

It’s clear that celebrities and social media Influencers are every bit of trend-setters. Beauty brands, with their business acumen, have capitalized on the popularity of their Influencers partner by offering them the chance to launch their own product. This type of collaboration is a sure win for brands as the Influencers know the insight of their followers, making the co-created product unique and has the solution to a market need that no other brands are doing. Not to mention the fact that these products are more desirable for the Influencer’s following consumers compared to the normal ones.

In Vietnam, there are few case-studies for this product collaboration in the beauty realm such as Miracle Apo x Changmakeup and recently is Quynh Anh Shyn x Loulou cosmetic.

A product collaboration between Quynh Anh Shyn and Loulou. Source: Loulou.

So if your brand wants to reach more audiences or just simply needs to make a unique, innovative product, maybe it’s time to consider collaborating with Influencers. Needless to say, the co-created product is the rising star, showing great promise of growth in the years to come.

3. The emergence of Nano- and Micro-Influencers

There is some confusion about what makes an Influencer. The Influencers can be well known Celebrities, but they don’t have to be. The critical part of being an Influencer is having the capability of influencing the decisions of others. Based on this requirement, you need to be an expert in some niche to be an Influencer, being famous or having a lot of followers just isn’t enough.

So what are the Nano- and Micro-Influencers and why we should use them? If we breakdown the Influencer tiers, there will be:

• Nano-Influencers: 1-10K Followers
• Micro-Influencers – 10-50K Followers
• Mid-Tier Influencers – 50-500K Followers
• Macro-Influencers – 500K-1M Followers
• Mega-Influencers – 1M+ Followers

While Mega-Influencers tend to be the ideal when brands are looking for a partner, they come with a bigger paycheck for a single post compared to the little cost Nano- and Micro-Influencers require.

Let alone the foundation of Influencer marketing is based on trust and authenticity between the Influencers and their audiences.

Through Magnifying Glass – A Micro Beauty Influencer with 22K Facebook followers. Source: Through Magnifying Glass.

In this area, Nano- and Micro-Influencers are outperformed by the nature of their intimate relationship with their audiences. 63% of consumers trust Influencers’ opinions of products – much more than the brands themselves – or even the major celebrities (Singlegrain).

Therefore, we believe that using the smaller Influencer tiers will evolve and become one of the significant trends on marketers’ radars.

4. Consumers become Influencers

The struggle to captivate the audience’s attention is always real. Consumers, filled with endless branded content every day, crave honest content and real human connection before buying the product. That is the reason why user-generated content, the content that is created by fellow consumers, will likely win audiences’ interaction.

User-generated content is nothing but actual and authentic views and feelings of consumers about a specific brand or product, which is beyond valuable for potential buyers.

Beauty brands in Vietnam, especially K-beauty companies, have again realised the power of this kind of content seeing that they usually send products for KOLs/Influencers to use before review. However, with the growth of different social media platforms, there are more ways for real consumers to become brands’ influencers.

You can check out the website: https://www.tryandreview.com/vn, a platform that allows brands to send samples of new products to get reviews or ask consumers to review your products after using them on e-commerce sites by offering rewards programs.

As stated in Virac’s article, more than 80% of the growth of skin care products in Vietnam comes from the online channel and online buyers are willing to spend more money when there are promotions on online sites or many positive reviews from previous users.

Conclusion

In the process of finding new and effective ways to capture audiences’ notice, brands will consistently lookout for trends and catch the next big thing. Take inspiration from the trends we covered above, brands must anyhow remember to consider carefully about whom they partner with. Influencer marketing can be a tricky business. After all, an Influencer is a human, and just as quickly they become the stars, they can crash and burn unpredictably. There needs to be a better match between brands’ values and those of Influencer whom they work with. This is a vital step in ensuring brands’ safety.

In case you want to know more about the Vietnamese Influencer market or just simply fancy a discussion about Influencer marketing trends for beauty brands, feel free to contact us!

SKYPERRY – Digital Marketing Agency

Email: support@skyperry.com

Website: https://skyperry.com