How to Influence People to Choose Healthy Habits

Influencer marketing is inexpensive and drives engagement — should it be part of your marketing mix? Ochsner Health says yes.

// By Jane Weber Brubaker //       

When you think of influencer marketing, do celebrities like LeBron James and Taylor Swift and their millions of followers come to mind? Ochsner Health is thinking small, successfully leveraging “micro-influencers” — those with 1,000 followers or more — to get the word out in Louisiana about choosing healthy habits.

Ochsner chose to tap into the power of social media influencers for one big reason: one in five Americans trust health influencers more than medical professionals. Even so, to convince your leadership to invest in influencer marketing, you might have to answer questions like: How do you find the right influencers? How do you control the message? Is the message credible if the influencer is being paid to deliver it?

Adair LeBlanc, manager of digital content at Ochsner Health

“One of the biggest concerns our leaders had was credibility,” says Adair LeBlanc, manager of digital content at Ochsner.

LeBlanc presented Ochsner’s influencer campaign at the Healthcare Internet Conference in Los Angeles in November, with Craig Fairfield, managing director, and Amanda Herriman, senior marketing strategist at Wax Custom Communications. In their presentation, “Using Influencer Marketing to Amplify Ongoing Population Health Efforts,” they shared Ochsner’s experience with influencer marketing and offered tips for others seeking to use this channel as part of their marketing mix.

Louisiana is one of the least healthy states in the U.S. To reverse the trend, Ochsner Health launched a public awareness campaign, “Healthy State.” Part of those efforts include encouraging community members to choose healthier food options, which aligns with the mission of Ochsner Eat Fit. The campaign’s multi-pronged program to improve population health includes:

• Teaming up with resident nutritionists and local chefs
• Restaurant collaboration program
• Mobile app
• Cookbook and zero-proof cocktails book
• Resources, research, and data
• Strategic partnerships.

Connecting with influencers “was a way to amplify what Ochsner was already doing,” explains LeBlanc.

Finding the Right Influencers

Craig Fairfield, managing director at Wax Custom Communications

As influencer marketing has grown and evolved, so have the tools to find, evaluate, and manage influencers. According to Influencer Marketing Hub’s Benchmark Report 2023, 1,360 influencer marketing-focused platforms and agencies entered the market in the last five years.

“It’s like using a dating app for matchmaking,” says Fairfield. Marketers establish the criteria and create a prospect list by platform, reach, geographic area, tier, and content themes.

Influencer profiles include the number of followers on social media platforms, demographics, and location as well as engagement rate and average cost per post.

How to Pitch Influencers

Amanda Herriman, senior marketing strategist for Wax Custom Communications

“Influencers are getting bombarded by advertisers,” Herriman says. To increase your chances of breaking through, she recommends reaching out to five to 10 influencers a week. Just like with other forms of advertising, crafting the offer is key. Wax recommends this approach:

• Make an offer they can’t refuse
• Cast a wide net and try multiple methods
• Be flexible about payment terms
• Make your pitch compelling
• Make your subject line compelling.

Understanding Influencers

Influencers have successfully built an audience. They are the experts when it comes to their own brand. They understand the type of content that resonates with their followers, and they need to speak to followers in their own voice. Marketers seeking to partner with them should be willing to share creative control and let the influencer decide how best to deliver the message. “It’s important to give them a seat at the creative table,” LeBlanc says.

The Maxine Firm on Instagram promotes nutrition, physical activity, mental health, and primary care to more than 8,600 followers in the Baton Rouge area. In this post, she announces that she’ll be sharing information about healthy eating and primary care in partnership with Ochsner Health.

Jordan Basham’s Instagram page, wheretogeaux225, boasts 24.9K followers. Here, she posts about a Mexican restaurant with healthy options. “They truly have something for everyone,” she says.

Cost to Post

As with other forms of advertising, the larger the audience, the higher the cost. In the influencer profiles posted above, the price ranges from $100 for an influencer with 8.5K followers to $1,280 for one with 107K followers. As with platforms like Airbnb or Lyft, an influencer management platform lays out the expectations for the engagement and manages the billing and payment process.

Results

To date, Ochsner has identified 27 potential influencers. So far, 13 have been approved by the Ochsner team and four are actively posting. Overall, the influencer campaign has reached more than 200,000, with engagement as high as 2.61 percent.

Fairfield notes that influencer marketing should be viewed as part of a larger plan and not as a standalone initiative. “It’s one tactic that’s part of the mix,” he says. LeBlanc stresses the importance of aligning a campaign with the organization’s overall strategy, which in Ochsner’s case is to “help people choose to change” to healthier habits.

Jane Weber Brubaker is executive editor of Plain-English Health Care, a division of Plain-English Media. She directs editorial content for eHealthcare Strategy & Trends and Strategic Health Care Marketing and is past chair of the eHealthcare Leadership Awards. Email her at: jane@plainenglishmedia.com.