Influencer marketing has been around for a while now. If you don’t already know what it is, here’s a quick primer: you get in touch with an influencer who has a sizeable following and pay them to post about your products. Tiktok influencer marketing takes this to a whole new level. TikTok has been named as the fastest growing social media platform of all time, making the shortlist as one of the most downloaded apps globally for the past three years. “TikTok provides marketers with a level playing field when it comes to reach and engagement. Unlike social media platforms such as Instagram or YouTube, TikTok accounts with zero followers can get millions of views on a new video thanks to the viral nature of the algorithm.” says Dr Iqra Hussain Shaikh, a Pharmacist cum highly popular TikTok Influencer from Oman.
Entrepreneur Dr Iqra Hussain Shaikh is an extremely successful Influencer from Oman who has turned her content into brand marketing. She is basically a Pharmacist and is the Manager of Rafa Pharmacy located at Salalah, Dhofar, Oman. She has a Doctorate in Pharmacy and has also done her MBA in Marketing.
In light of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the internet and social media played an even more crucial role in our daily lives. Pharmacists have had to adapt to meeting more frequently online instead of in person, while embracing new ways of delivering care and disseminating health care information. Dr Iqra Hussain has created an emerging avenue through social media influencing, in which she helps promote brands, enhance her own and her organization’s popularity, and create effective communication strategies to engage the public.
According to Dr Iqra, Pharmacists’ can use social media as tools to complement and enhance their relationships with the public, health care providers, and patients. “ If a Pharmacist is a social media influencer, he or she should satisfy the following criteria: having an active and public social media presence, engaging in influencer marketing, representing or partnering with business-to-consumer or business-to-business brands, being publicly and industry-recognized as an influencer, and being known for personal branding, digital custom content, and follower integrity.” says Dr Iqra. She adds, “Just having a social media account isn’t enough nowadays. Your content has to be engaging and people have to connect with you. Once you build that connection and are loved by the audience, you can influence them into purchasing products from brands which you endorse!”
A big fan of TikTok, Dr Iqra says that a smart way to utilize TikTok is to leverage influencer communities – the stats on influencers’ leaves no doubt as to how powerful they can be. She says, “I have established highly engaged followings through posting high-quality content which resonates. As such Brands can approach me and collaborate on campaigns which usemy skills and knowledge.”
Due to so much popularity, Dr Iqra has been able to garner 1.5 million followers on Tiktok and 110K followers on Instagram in a quick succession of time! And why not! Her audience love her due to her enticing posts. She is a fashion enthusiast and she posts on the latest fashion trends and how to carry them confidently. Besides, she is an ardent traveler and frequents different destinations; posting photos and videos on social media and taking her followers on a virtual tour! She says, “I felt the responsibility to always offer new content and storytelling so I can reach more people all over the world. I want my stories to be a huge influence on their lives.For the upcoming Influencers and Content Creators, she has an important message – “We are in the digital media era now and everything is related to the image. We cannot produce anything without making sure it connects with the audience or not. Content is very important, and it helps conveying the message faster to an audience that gets attracted by what’s in front of him or her.”
