SKINN Cosmetics

Until 2019, Shopify brand SKINN Cosmetics operated on a traditional home shopping network, catering to women aged over 45. The brand has since expanded its target market to include a younger audience — namely, females in their 20s and 30s. But as a small brand, SKINN’s budget was limited. To overcome this challenge, Jessica Selfridge, SKINN’s Social Media, Brand & Influencer Partnerships Specialist, decided to bet on influencer product seeding — getting SKINN’s products into influencers’ hands with no obligation to post but hoping to build a buzz through word-of-mouth.

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Spoiler alert: it worked.

Finding partners to reach a new audience

SKINN takes a non-discriminatory approach to product seeding, meaning that the brand is open to inviting everyone — from traditional social media influencers, to skincare experts, to other brand fans — to try its products and spread positive word-of-mouth. But when you have such a large pool of potential partners, it’s hard to know who will drive meaningful business impact.

With Aspire’s search database, Jessica is able to leverage accurate, real-time data to connect with creators on Aspire who have well-aligned audiences. Additionally, through Aspire’s creator marketplace and landing page integration, SKINN receives inbound interest from influencers who are organic fans of the brand. These tools have allowed SKINN to scale its product seeding campaigns from around 30-50 influencers to hundreds.

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Customizing each relationship at scale

Once connecting with creators, Jessica keeps track of each unique relationship in Aspire. Here, she can see any past conversations, past content the creator has posted about SKINN, and what “stage” they’re in currently — showcasing where each relationship stands after sending out the product and when Jessica needs to follow up.

Because of this smooth workflow, Jessica has been able to easily identify those who love SKINN and build deeper relationships with them. Now, she is working with a handful of these passionate creators as part of the brand’s new SKINNfluencer Squad ambassador program.

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Leveraging organic content to drive sales

Not only has this influx of content allowed SKINN to source engaging assets to repurpose across their digital channels, it’s also had a big impact on conversions. In fact, when a macro-influencer mentioned SKINN’s Luminous Skin Oil in their Stories late last year, the product saw a 192% jump in sales when compared to the prior month. Additionally, a recent seeding campaign for the Divine Elixir Firming Algae Facial Oil resulted in it becoming one of the brand’s top-performing products, despite it having been just one month since launch. Plus, compared to last year, the brand has seen a 19% increase in web traffic, just from social alone.

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