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Weekly Campaign Idea: Influencer Marketing Campaign

Influencer marketing is a popular strategy for brands, with 84% of professionals planning to launch a campaign in the next year.

By Dana Kilroy ・2 min read
Campaign & Contest Ideas

Influencer marketing has become a widely utilized strategy for brands looking to give their Campaigns some extra leverage.In fact, as of May 2015, 84% of marketing and communications professionals plan to launch at least one influencer marketing Campaign in the next 12 months.

*From marketers who have already done influencer Campaigns, 81% of them agreed that influencer engagement is effective.

*This comes as no surprise seeing as influencer marketing is really just increasing your word of mouth advertising. If you're new to influencer marketing, we recently chatted with some of the top influencers out there and asked them for their best tips for marketers looking to dive into this strategy. Here is the knowledge those 10 experts passed on to us. As far as using an influencer in your marketing Campaign, it can be a great way to get more exposure and free promotion of your Campaign. In today's example we're taking a look at OnDeck, a leader in online small business lending, that recently partnered with business woman extraordinaire, Barbara Corcoran, for a contest.

We asked OnDeck's social media strategist, Jennifer Prystupa, what her tip was for other marketers looking to partner with an influencer for their Campaigns and here's what she said:

Identify an influencer who has the same core values as your company – in our instance, Barbara and OnDeck care deeply about Main Street’s success and supporting small business owners looking to grow their businesses in responsible ways.

Here are 4 additional tips we have for businesses looking to create an influencer marketing campaign.

1. Highlight your Influencer

It's no secret that the reason people partner with influencers is to get more eyes on their Campaign. If you're partnering with someone that has a large following, or is well-known, you'll want to highlight them on your Campaign. You can see in today's example that the photo of Barbara Corcoran is at the top of the Campaign and the headline of their Campaign reveals their influencer right away. You can highlight your influencer using a nice photo or even a video.

2. Keep it relevant

While it may be tempting to partner with Britney Spears for a CD giveaway, if you're a realtor you won't end up with valuable leads from your Campaign. Just as Jennifer suggests choosing an influencer who has the same core values as your company, it's equally as important to pick a Campaign theme and prize that is of value to your audience.

3. Provide your influencer with a strategy up-front

We're all busy marketers and don't like having our time wasted. To assure that your influencer holds up their end of the deal, outline and agree to a strategy for promoting your Campaign before you get started. This will assure that you and your influencer are benefiting each other and will result in an overall more successful Campaign for you both.

4. Put some ad money behind your Campaign

There are a lot of ways to promote your Campaign, and we don't always suggest putting money behind it (some Campaigns don't need it). However, studies show that 60% of marketers plan to boost ad spend for influencer marketing in the following 12 months.*  When your Campaign features a high-profile celebrity more people will want to click to see what's being offered. Extra ad dollars can get your Campaign in front of the right eyes. You should target your usual audience as well as people who are fans of your influencer.

Example of an Influencer Marketing Campaign

OnDeck and Barbara Corcoran teamed up to offer three lucky businesses the chance to go and promote their business with Barbara. OnDeck and Barbara repeatedly tweeted about this Campaign throughout it's run-time and the Campaign received more that 500 entries.

Influencer Marketing

About the author

By Dana Kilroy ・2 min read
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Dana Sullivan Kilroy is a communications professional with more than 20 years of experience delivering compelling content. Her work has appeared in national, award-winning publications and sites, including: The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Fast Company, Inc.

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