The days are getting shorter and before you know it, photos of apple picking, cute plaid shirts, and Pumpkin Spice Lattes will take over your Instagram feed. December and the festive holiday images that go along with it may still seem like a long way off, but if you are looking to have influencers boost your sales among holiday shoppers this season, it’s time to start planning this October.
Influencer marketing has picked up a tremendous amount of traction in the past few years, and “94 percent of marketers who use influencer marketing find it an effective practice.” In a time where people can now fast forward through commercials and easily ignore online ads, influencers provide an opportunity to naturally integrate your holiday gift products into content people are actively selecting to view.
Depending on your business goals, there are multiple ways to see a positive ROI from influencer partnerships. Some brands have seen success by turning to micro influencers as content creators. This strategy makes a lot of sense when you think about it; influencers are experts at creating images and videos that resonate with people on social media. If your business lacks the digital assets to successfully market your products during the holiday season, consider contracting influencers to create the content for you in addition to promoting your brand.
Other companies look to see a bump in sales directly from influencer promotion. This can be tackled in a few ways. Many businesses see success from large macro influencers who provide their fans with unique discount codes. Brands like Hello Fresh and Fab Fit Fun have been especially open about how they rely on influencer marketing to drive sales. Other companies look to activate large numbers of micro-influencers to post consistently about their products. Here the emphasis is less on the quality of the imagery and more about bringing word-of-mouth marketing to social media. Managed correctly, both tactics can be centered around holiday gift-giving.
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Regardless of the specific influencer marketing strategy you choose, it’s crucial that you provide yourself enough time to execute the campaign. Unlike traditional paid media campaigns, influencer marketing activations require significantly more lead time. The right talent must be sourced, compensation and contract wording must be negotiated, the product must be shipped to the selected influencers, and then the actual content needs to be created. It can often take 4-5 weeks before an influencer campaign is ready to go live.
To further complicate things during the holiday season, many influencers that might be perfect for your brand are already getting booked up. Influencers do not want to fill their feeds with too many sponsored posts, which leaves limited space for them to promote holiday gifts. These coveted spots fill up quickly, so make sure you lock your influencers in early so that you can work with the right people! Signing contracts with influencers in the early fall will also ensure that they will have ample time to create high-quality content for your posts and even allow time for potential re-shoots if needed.
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Our team would love to get involved! Please email us at info@socialflyny.com and we will help you optimize influencer partnerships this holiday season!