In this case study, you will learn: 

• How Skincity use influencer marketing to build trust, awareness and preference to their brand
• The importance of adapting to changes in consumer behavior and media consumption habits to remain relevant and competitive in the market
• The strategy for effectively reaching their audience with influencer marketing
• The value of measuring both quantitative and qualitative metrics to evaluate the success of marketing campaigns and collaborations with influencers

To provide some background

Skincity is a renowned online retailer in the beauty industry offering a wide range of skincare and makeup products. For Skincity, influencer marketing has emerged as a pivotal digital marketing strategy. In this case study, we unveil how Skincity, in collaboration with Cure Media, has successfully leveraged influencer partnerships to achieve its sales objectives and enhance its brand recognition and preference in the highly competitive beauty market.

Brand identity

Skincity has three brands – Skincity Skincare, Plantheque, and Makethemake, each with its own identity and target audience. Skincity Skincare focuses on making skincare available to everyone, while Plantheque is a sustainable, vegan, and natural line of skincare. Makethemake, on the other hand, is a makeup line that combines makeup and skincare.

Influencer marketing strategy

Influencer marketing is a crucial part of Skincity’s overall brand-building strategy. Skincity took a strategic decision to shift their above the line media budget in 2022 from TV/native/OLV into Influencer Marketing.

“Influencer marketing allows us to show how our products can be used in real life, which is something that traditional advertising methods like commercials cannot do.”

-Lovisa Hedlund, Brand Manager, Skincity

They collaborate with influencers to reach out to their audience, educate and inspire them with their products. They carefully handpick their influencers to ensure that their content is relatable and authentic to their audience. Skincity’s approach is to add and complement their communication with branded content that their influencers create, giving people a different way to assimilate with their brands.

This transition from traditional media, where commercials simply showed the product, to influencer marketing has enabled Skincity to move from brand-to-peer to peer-to-peer communication, which has helped them build trust with their audience.

“Influencer marketing is an important part of our overall strategy. Through our close collaboration with influencers, which we carefully hand pick and select, we reach out with our products, educate and spread inspiration and curiosity around the brands. By adding and complementing our communication with branded content that our influencers create, we believe that people can assimilate with our brands in another way. We have visions and purposes with our brands, but they get nuanced and more authentic when it’s interpreted by our influencers and communicated in their way.”

-Lovisa Hedlund, Brand Manager, Skincity

Successful content

Skincity’s successful collaborations are based on simple and easy-to-understand ideas that are eye-catching and have concrete takeaways. For example, their “top five beauty favorites” video is an excellent example of this. The collaboration catches the audience’s attention and creates a curiosity about the content. Skincity’s approach is to mediate the concept through creative briefs to the influencers to get the best possible outcome.

“My job together with Cure Media is to mediate the concept, through creative briefs, to the influencers, so they can do their job in the very best way. One thing I have learned along the way is keep it simple!”

-Lovisa Hedlund, Brand Manager, Skincity

Creative strategy

For Skincity, collaborating on the creative parts of the campaign to craft impactful campaigns, is important.

We begin by understanding the customer’s brand identity, target audience, and objectives. In the case of Skincity, we work to achieve a unique look and feel for each of their three brands, as well as their desire to use “real skin” and show imperfections to make their campaigns relatable.

We stay up-to-date with social media algorithms and trends to maximize the campaign’s impact. For instance, Skincity currently leverage “hooks” to capture viewers’ attention and drive engagement.

(Note: Hooks are short and attention-grabbing segments at the beginning of a video or post, often featuring surprising or intriguing information to hook the audience and keep them engaged.)

Educational Content

Skincity believes that educational content is key to creating engaging and relatable content, especially when it comes to skincare. Influencer briefs should be simple to understand, and the educational content should be communicated in an easy and understandable way without being overwhelming. Keeping it simple with three key takeaways makes it easy for both the influencer and the consumer to comprehend.

Balancing trends and professionalism

Skincity’s approach to balancing social media trends and maintaining a professional image for their skincare brands is by taking advantage of ongoing trends while putting their own values and developing their own take on it. Skincity believes that you cannot succeed by just mimicking and following a trend; it still has to make sense for both the brand and the audience.

“I believe in taking advantage of the trends that are ongoing and accurate right now, however at the same time putting our own values in it and developing our own take on it. There are so many messages out there competing for the limited attention of the consumers, why you therefore must be creative to stand out from the crowd and make sure to catch the spotlight”

-Lovisa Hedlund, Brand Manager, Skincity

Measuring Success

Skincity takes a multifaceted approach to measuring the success of their influencer marketing campaigns.

“I like to keep a mix of profiles that are brand-building along with sales-driving influencers, to get both parts,”

-Lovisa Hedlund, Brand Manager, Skincity

For sales-driving influencers, Skincity easily measures their impact through transactions and revenue. However, measuring the success of brand-building influencers can be more abstract, and Skincity evaluates their impact based on the quality of their content. Along with this, Skincity also measures brand tracking metrics such as awareness, preference, and consideration, as well as performance metrics such as changes in search terms over time. Ultimately, Skincity believes that long-term collaborations with influencers who have an authentic and strong brand fit are the most successful.

“What I know, and highly value, is long-term collaborations that are authentic and have a great brand fit, that always works best in the long run,”

Final Words

In conclusion, Skincity’s success in influencer marketing lies in their ability to collaborate with carefully selected influencers who share their values and vision. By shifting their marketing budget towards influencer marketing and measuring both brand building and sales driving metrics, they have successfully built trust and engaged their target audience in a more authentic and relatable way. Skincity’s strategic approach to influencer marketing is a testament to their commitment to adapting to the ever-changing digital landscape and creating meaningful connections with their customers.