2020 Influencer Marketing Tips for Medical Practices

Influencer marketing has seen a meteoric rise in the last few years.

For example, Instagram, the backbone platform for the marketing strategy, saw a sizzling rise in brand-sponsored influencer posts—from 2016’s 9.2 million to 21.7 million in 2018.

Statista forecasts the trend to blast past 32.2 million paid posts in 2019. 

But influencer trust may be dwindling.

Media agency, UM, surveyed 56,000 active internet users across 81 countries, including in the U.S. and U.K. The study showed a 7% drop in the number of people that now trust influencers’ opinions (specifically bloggers and vloggers) in 2019.

The drop could be associated with influencer scams, fake and inflated follower counts, and undisclosed sponsorships.

More strongly, though once-loyal followers now feel their influencer has since “sold out” to paid-posts to make money and lost their authenticity.

However, 47% of global consumer respondents said the opinions shared online influenced their decisions.

To make the most of influencer marketing in 2020:

·      Sponsor micro-influencers. These are influencers with “medium” follower counts but higher engagement rates (genuine comments, likes, and shares per post), niche focus, and willing to only work with one sponsor (your practice)

·      Partner with influencers that are especially keen to retain their audience’s trust by posting less paid posts, and more authentic, quality, and useful posts

·      Agree to use performance-based influencer marketing to avoid influencer fraud

·      Choose an influencer that best resonates with your medical practice ethics, services, cause, products, and research interests

Bonus Tip: So influencer marketing is not dead. Neither will it die in 2020. Know your ideal buyer’s habits and you’ll know which influencer is worth collaborating with. Never guess. Use the tools to check if the Influencer is legit. There are way too many scammers out there.