In 2019, the U.S. wellness market was worth $174 million. Health and wellness brands are becoming increasingly popular on social media. On Instagram and other social media platforms, consumers can easily connect with health and wellness brands that cater to their needs and preferences. Today, it is impossible to build a health and wellness brand following without a social media presence.
To learn more, check out the infographic below created by George Washington University’s School of Business.
<p style="clear:both;margin-bottom:20px;"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dqtmwki9i/image/fetch/https://www.project-alpine.com/assets/02355a9d-876b-4e27-a542-db1e34a2e31d" alt="How sound social media strategies can have a positive influence on health and wellness businesses." style="max-width:100%;" /></p>The global wellness market is growing steadily, and emerging trends are creating opportunities for startups and established wellness brands. There is no better time than the present for brands to consider potential areas for growth and expansion.
Annually, $4.2 trillion is spent on wellness, which is more than half of the $7.3 trillion spent on health. Personal care, beauty, and anti-aging accounted for $1.1 trillion of the wellness sector’s market value in 2017, which was the highest share. Healthy eating, nutrition and weight loss was second with $702 billion, followed by wellness tourism at $639 billion.
International wellness tourists spend an average of $1,528 per trip – 53% more than typical international tourists. North America registered $241.7 billion in expenditures, followed by Europe at $210.8 billion and the Asia-Pacific region at $136.7 billion. Financially speaking, Europe led the way in trips with $292 million, followed by the Asia-Pacific region at $258 million and North America at $204 million.
There are a wide range of wellness trends that are worthy of attention. A key trend is post-workout wellness, a concept whose categories include body, skincare and cosmetics for consumers with active lifestyles. Another wellness trend, feminine and fertility care, involves products and services providing ovulation tracking, sperm testing and assistance with the fertility journey. Boutique meditation studios are a trend involving services designed to help manage depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses. Another trend involves wellness pop-ups in retail, which sees beauty and wellness aisles being redesigned to offer a more luxurious shopping experience. Home fitness also fits into the wellness trend category because consumers now have options for smart home fitness equipment, weightlifting systems and treadmills. Another notable trend is plant-based foods, where companies are recreating animal-based foods to meet the demand for plant-based alternatives. Finally, the personalized nutrition trend is one where startups are using technology to experiment with genomics-based nutrition.
To support a growing business and pursue strategic objectives, there are seven social media-based marketing tools that wellness brands should consider implementing within their strategy.
The first tool, Hootsuite, is a social media management platform offering integrations with over 20 social networks while featuring content scheduling and content curation. Sprout social is also a social media management platform, and it features campaign conversions, measurement and optimization in addition to integration with top social networks.
The social media marketing software Mention is a tool that can help brands drive conversation through features like social media publishing and competition research. The fourth tool, Hubspot, is a marketing, sales and customer service software tool that features customer relationship management, analytics, and email automation.
Another key tool is Google Analytics, is a data analytics platform featuring detailed reporting, data analysis, and data activation. Additionally, IFTTT is a connectivity platform tool for products featuring customer behavior analytics and account management and technical support. Finally, Raven is an SEO, marketing and reporting platform that features marketing reports, a site auditor, and a link spy.
With so much being said on social media every day, it can be difficult for brands to be heard, seen and trusted. However, there are numerous tips that can help brands build trust, grow their audience and convert customers using social media.
Some of the tips for using social media to build brand trust involve showing the personal side of your business, such as sharing photos of team-building charity work or encouraging the CEO to post on the brand’s social media accounts. Other tips building public transparency, such as responding to customer comments and criticisms and being humble when speaking about company controversies. It’s also important to show a bit of your unique personality, being careful to strive for a balance between empathy and professionalism. Finally, it can be important to talk about your competitors with confidence in your own brand.
When it comes to social media advertising, you can run inspirational campaigns with motivational language and faces of real customers. You can also tell stories that include relatable antagonists or specific goals. Additionally, you can use education and emotion to highlight a problem or serve prospects at the top of the funnel. You can also work with influencers to raise awareness of your product or service. Finally, you can run a campaign to collect email addresses in exchange for a coupon code or VIP access.
Social media is an open playing field for every wellness brand willing and ready to engage enthusiastic and curious customers. An audience is only a few clicks and social media posts away.