Pierre Fabre is the 2nd largest dermo-cosmetic laboratory on the earth and the 2nd largest personal French pharmaceutical group. Within the US, Pierre Fabre USA has an intensive portfolio of prestigious manufacturers reminiscent of Eau Thermale Avène, Klorane, René Furterer, Glytone, and extra.
Within the article under, Elena Suarez, Affiliate Director of PR and Influencer Advertising at Pierre Fabre USA shares how she constructed its influencer program from scratch throughout a time of unprecedented uncertainty and alter.
How Pierre Fabre USA Constructed a Profitable Influencer Program
Crafted a tailor-made technique with the flexibility to pivot
“Once I joined Pierre Fabre in 2019 there was no inside PR division and no influencer program. The technique felt very straight from the standard ‘playbook’, together with issues like giant gifting campaigns, minimal analytics, and no in-person influencer occasions. When the COVID pandemic hit and the whole lot modified. The rationale why we have been capable of shortly and efficiently pivot was as a result of we did the exhausting work of clearly defining our objectives and key areas of differentiation, and didn’t enable ourselves to get distracted by competitor noise.” — Elena Suarez, Affiliate Director of PR and Influencer Advertising at Pierre Fabre USA
Constructing an influencer program for a big model from scratch isn’t any small feat. There are sometimes lots of concerns and transferring components, and it may be overwhelming to construct a technique that’s measurable, predictable, and (if profitable) repeatable. To deal with this problem, Elena and her group:
Outlined and prioritized key areas of differentiation. Every model has a singular persona and differentiation level, and, in line with Elena, understanding and clarifying these two issues can present a robust however versatile basis to your influencer program. This can assist you establish who you accomplice with, what content material you set out into the world, and extra. For instance, Avène is a portfolio model with a French pharmacy heritage, and is rooted in dermatology with merchandise which might be focused in direction of delicate pores and skin. To be able to craft Avène’s individualized influencer program, Elena first frolicked researching who was educating and speaking overtly about delicate pores and skin points on social media. This led her to seek out skincare and dermatologist influencers — most of which have been keen to strive Avène’s merchandise as a result of they have been already intently aligned with their viewers’s wants and pursuits. Elena’s recommendation to different entrepreneurs? Don’t waste your time pattern chasing or copying competitor methods. There isn’t one method to construct a very good influencer program, so it’s vital to seek out your individual path to success!
Set clear key efficiency indicators. When Elena kicked off Pierre Fabre USA’s influencer program, she knew it was vital to set key efficiency indicators (KPIs) so they may simply measure success and establish areas of enchancment. Because the authentic influencer program was meant to construct model consciousness and affinity, her and her group set basic KPIs like variety of activated influencers, video views, common engagement fee, and distinctive hashtag makes use of. Then for extra particular campaigns like influencer product seeding, Elena set related “quantity” or exercise objectives. For instance, she would monitor the variety of new influencers connections or product sends. When she began Pierre Fabre USA’s influencer product seeding campaigns, there have been solely 15 influencers per week (roughly 60 a month), however since then it has quickly expanded to a listing of over 1,000 influencers that continues to develop.
Tip: Study extra about the best way to set objectives and KPIs to your influencer program.
Created room for adaptability. The unique influencer program technique that Elena set out for Pierre Fabre USA in 2019 included basic components like natural influencer product seeding, sponsored content material, and in-person occasions. Nonetheless, lots of this needed to shift when the COVID-19 pandemic took maintain in 2020. Fortunately, lots of the objectives, goals, and key messages that the group had outlined for his or her influencer program may very well be translated into different initiatives. For instance, in-person influencer occasions have been not allowed resulting from shelter-in-place mandates, so the group morphed them into academic Instagram Lives. Equally, influencer product seeding campaigns remained a staple, however turned extra complicated. Elena and her group needed to keep away from waste and likewise weren’t certain how a lot house every influencer needed to retailer merchandise — this meant they averted doing mass sends, and as a substitute chosen influencers fastidiously and requested every one to opt-in to receiving merchandise. (Extra on this within the subsequent part.)
Developed various and artistic partnerships with high influencers
“I’m actually passionate in regards to the relationship part of influencer advertising! If you wish to construct up a robust community of companions to your influencer program you have to be scrappy, personable, and artistic. That is very true if you’re making an attempt to construct long run model advocates on a finances! I’m at all times difficult myself and my group to repeatedly put money into their influencer relationships, even when it might take a while to see the return.” — Elena Suarez, Affiliate Director of PR and Influencer Advertising at Pierre Fabre USA
Influencer advertising is, at its coronary heart, all about building strong relationships. In case you don’t have a robust community of companions, then your influencer program will fall brief. Elena and her group did a number of good issues when constructing their community of companions for his or her influencer program:
Leveraged use circumstances to personalize influencer product seeding campaigns. To keep away from waste and inefficiency, Elena and her group needed to ensure that they have been strategic about how they gifted merchandise. The group did this by utilizing product use circumstances to seek out high influencers. For instance, they used Traackr to find influencers that had beforehand posted about challenges that their merchandise assist remedy like thinning hair and eczema breakouts. The group additionally used Traackr to judge how influencers’ posts about gifted merchandise carried out — influencers that had excessive efficiency have been then thought of for paid partnerships.
Tip: Do you know that 61% of entrepreneurs report that lower than half of influencers receiving gifted merchandise really publish on social media? Take a look at our latest influencer product seeding report back to uncover extra knowledge, suggestions, and methods that may assist your influencer program.
Prioritized a various set of influencer companions. The wonder trade is a extremely saturated house, particularly in relation to influencer advertising. Elena and her group knew they wanted to work with greater than conventional magnificence influencers, in order that they created influencer “subcategories”. A few of these embrace: pores and skin specialists (physicians, dermatologists, and different pores and skin professionals), “skintellectuals” (common customers and influencers who’re keen about all issues skincare), comedians, and mothers. These influencer subcategories have been activated in line with every model’s tone and desires. For instance, portfolio manufacturers Avène and Glytone are centered round schooling and science — so the group partnered with physicians.
Invested in relationship constructing and artistic campaigns. To make sure alignment, earn model love, and enhance creator retention, Elena and her group targeted on constructing sturdy relationships with every influencer. A part of this was achieved just by spending time with each influencer, and a part of it was achieved by discovering distinctive methods so as to add worth to their influencer companions. In the course of the pandemic the group wasn’t capable of put money into lots of conventional sponsored partnerships resulting from low finances, in order that they discovered a method to assist causes that their influencers cared about. For instance, #AskAvene was an Instagram Stay collection that targeted on the tutorial side of the model. Dermatologist companions like Dr. Mona Gohara, Dr. Ted Lain. Dr. Adeline Kikam, Dr. Elyse Love, Dr. Onyeka Obioha, Dr. Latanya Benjamin, and Dr. Jenny Liu have been requested to come back on each week and discuss a subject and pores and skin concern. In return for taking part on this phase, the group despatched Avène merchandise to a charity or hospital of the physicians selection. By the tip of the collection, there have been over 10K merchandise donated to totally different charities whereas additional creating an ideal relationship with key opinion chief (KOL) physicians.
Embraced a performance-driven influencer advertising mindset
“Knowledge is essentially the most highly effective device out there for influencer advertising groups! Because of this it is so useful to see that we’re getting extra platforms (like Traackr) to assist us measure and analyze efficiency metrics, spend effectivity, and value equivalency. At Pierre Fabre USA, we use knowledge to know what we’re doing nicely, set benchmarks for ourselves to work in opposition to, and to uncover the place the “grey house” or alternatives for enchancment lie.” — Elena Suarez, Affiliate Director of PR and Influencer Advertising at Pierre Fabre USA
One of many trickiest and scariest components of beginning a brand new influencer program is that you simply don’t have previous knowledge to base finances or projected efficiency on. Fortunately, Elena was ready to make use of her prolonged expertise in influencer advertising to approximate what “good” efficiency seemed like for the totally different campaigns that the model was operating.
As soon as the model accomplished its first few campaigns, one of many first orders of enterprise was to do a full efficiency audit. For instance, with a few of its early influencer product seeding campaigns, the group evaluated:
- Which influencers talked about them essentially the most?
- Which influencers carried out greatest? (earned essentially the most engagements, most video views, and highest engagement fee?)
- Which influencers included the messaging and tone that match the model?
- Primarily based on the above, which influencers would cross the “spend effectivity” take a look at in the event that they have been to be introduced on as sponsored companions?
One other instance was the model’s first TikTok marketing campaign, which had over 25 influencers. On this case, the group evaluated:
- Variety of mentions per influencer
- Efficiency metrics per influencer (whole posts, engagement fee and views)
- Spend effectivity per influencer (price per view, price per engagement, and many others)
- Price equivalency per influencer utilizing Traackr’s Brand Vitality Score (VIT)
Tip: In case you’re simply getting began and are not sure the best way to measure or report on success, we now have a template for the last word influencer program report.
Pierre Fabre USA’s influencer program outcomes to this point
“Our main aim has at all times been to make sure that we’re rising model consciousness, whether or not it is by way of natural or sponsored campaigns. As we glance to our future campaigns, we’ll proceed using a data-led technique, whereas guaranteeing that we’re staying aggressive with our KPI’s, and leveraging a wholesome mixture of platforms and tendencies.” — Elena Suarez, Affiliate Director of PR and Influencer Advertising at Pierre Fabre USA
Provided that Pierre Fabre USA’s finances was small for its first marketing campaign, the group initially set conservative KPIs. However because of the model’s potential to select the correct companions, develop actually partaking content material, and leverage a number of social platforms, their outcomes far surpassed their objectives:
- 15 energetic influencers and posts (67% over aim)
- 7,434,611 video views (1387% over aim)
- 9.6% engagement fee (380% over aim)
- The marketing campaign additionally resulted within the creation of a brand new hashtag (#30secondstosoothe) which when first launched had 6.7M views on TikTok however now has 9.1M views
This was the start of Pierre Fabre USA’s paid influencer campaigns, and since then the group has continued launching totally different ones throughout all of their manufacturers, difficult themselves with aggressive KPI’s every time. Two standout successes embrace:
- Avène’s Cicalfate+ Restorative Protecting Cream marketing campaign earned a 2.7M attain, 4.66% engagement fee, and a spike in gross sales that helped shift it to the present primary product inside the Avène portfolio.
- Klorane’s Nationwide Dry Shampoo marketing campaign highlighted the cult favourite Dry Shampoo with Oat Milk, activating 98 creators and leading to 41M attain and a 7.3% engagement fee. This product remains to be a favourite and high performer inside the model portfolio.
Elena and her group additionally use Traackr’s Brand Vitality Score (VIT) metric to repeatedly glean new insights and monitor the efficiency of their influencer program. For instance, in 2022, regardless of having a decrease variety of activated influencers, the model efficiently elevated their VIT resulting from sturdy content material efficiency and influencer loyalty. This yr, the group is trying to enhance that VIT success much more by sustaining its sturdy model advocates whereas additionally placing additional emphasis on activating extra influencers.
If you wish to keep updated on the superb work that Elena and her group are doing at Pierre Fabre USA, comply with the manufacturers on Instagram at @aveneusa @glytoneusa @renefurtererusa and @kloraneusa!
