Southeast Asian beauty buyers turning to influencers over celebrities for guidance

Southeast Asian shoppers are increasingly turning to social media influencers, especially those on Instagram, for their beauty tips.

Meltwater's latest study on the shopping journey of beauty buyers in Southeast found that social media influencers are now preferred over celebrities for beauty-related collaborations, giveAsian their higher engagement, ROI and credibility among niche audiences.

According to Celebrity Intelligence, 80 per cent of survey respondents said influencers are pivotal in shaping opinions and buying decisions of consumers. In terms of ROI, the report found that for every $1.30 spent on beauty influencers, brands received an average return of $11.80.

"Consumers today know when they are being sold to and would much rather hear from real people. As such, brands need to be more strategic in their talent collaborations, looking not only at vanity metrics like follower numbers, but also incorporating deeper insights such as average engagement per post, true reach, and demographic data to determine whether an influencer appeals to the right audience," said Mimrah Mahmood, regional director, media solutions, Meltwater Asia Pacific.

Indonesia accounted for 38 per cent of social media chatter around beauty, leaving behind Malaysia and the Philippines who reported 29 per cent and 27 per cent respectively. According to Euromonitor, Indonesia's beauty and personal care market is worth $6 billion and is expected to touch $8.4 billion by 2022.

The report also found that Instagram is the channel of choice. Indonesia is leading the shift, as usage numbers doubled to reach over 44 million in 2017.

Meltwater identified four strategies for businesses looking to leverage social media influencers as part of their campaign:

1. Create an immersive experience on digital channels to help overcome existing barriers toward online sales

2. Focus on personalised experiences

3. Leverage data to identify the right influencers and evaluate their relevance to the brand's target audience

4. Adopt sophisticated social listening and AI tools to stay on top of what customers want, as well as trends