Just A Few Hints And Tips To Help Your Brand Socially Shine
The best time of the year is finally here. Family and friends, endless amounts of food and cozy nights by the fire...it’s officially Holiday season! Not only are the holidays great for our private lives but brands are able to reap the benefits of this wonderful time of the year as well. Why?
Well, these are the months that consumers engage with their favorite brands the most -- probably because of all of the presents that need to be bought! For brand marketers, this is a great time to implement a comprehensive marketing campaign that effectively engages current and prospective consumers. One of the best ways to go about doing this is through influencer marketing. In this blog, Hollywood Branded provides four tips on how to successfully use influencers this 2022 holiday season to increase sales for your brand.
When To Start The Influencer Campaign? The Earlier The Better
Similar to how people plan months in advance for what gifts, food, etc. need to be purchased for the Holidays, brands should start planning earlier than later on how they want to target consumers during the Holiday months, and how to use social influencers.
According to a past eMarketer study, roughly 40% of consumers started shopping for the holidays by October. So, it’s best to start thinking about this as early as possible. In doing this, you will be able to maximize how many eyeballs see your brand, potentially putting your product at the top of people’s wish lists.
However, if you are a little late on planning your Holiday influencer campaign, don’t worry. There are plenty of tools and holiday helpers (like our agency!) out there that can help your brand make up for lost time and ensure that you still put together a successful campaign. Reach out to find out how Hollywood Branded can help you rock this Holiday season.
Find The Right Influencers
As with any influencer campaign, you’re going to want to make sure that you find the right influencers for the campaign at hand. To do this, set clear campaign goals then find influencers that you feel will help to achieve those goals best. For example, if you’re a travel company looking to promote your mountain resorts for the winter, using an influencer that consistently promotes warm beach destinations might not be the best choice. Instead, look to use adventure travelers or others that produce similar geographically located content.
The key here is to find influencers that look like they would naturally engage with your brand thereby presenting your brand in its most authentic light. On the other hand, if you’re a toy company looking to promote products specifically for children below the age of 10, you have to be a bit more strategic about which influencer to use considering most children aren’t active on social media. In this case, you may want to use mother/parenting bloggers as their followers will more than likely be the ones purchasing these toys for their children.
E-Commerce, E-Commerce, E-Commerce
In today’s digital age, online shopping is one of the hottest and fastest growing segments. People are ditching brick and mortar stores to shop from the comfort of their screens. By 2021, online sales in the US are expected to reach $603.4B and a large chunk of that will be purchased during the Holiday season.
Want to know a little secret about online shopping? A lot of consumer interest starts from social media. People see something that they like on platforms like Pinterest, Instagram, or Facebook and immediately want to purchase it, making e-commerce is a gold mine for brands during the Holiday season. What’s even better is that technology is starting to catch up as well. When influencer marketing first started to catch steam, an influencer had to include some type of call to action that encouraged their followers to go visit the brand’s e-commerce site. Remember the “check link in bio” days? Those days are slowly starting to die out.
Some social media platforms have built tools that allow users to shop directly from the app. For example, Instagram has included deep links that allow users to purchase products immediately from a brand’s page, allowing for frictionless purchasing. This newfound ease-of-purchase is perfect for brands during the holiday season. With a killer influencer campaign, brands will be able to drive sales without the consumer ever having to leave a single platform. Getting excited? Well you should. Influencers along with technology are making that glue between brand and consumer stickier and sticker as the days go on.
Be The Gift That Keeps on Giving
Don’t be afraid to give your customers a little gift. After all, it IS the Holidays. What we mean by this is don’t be afraid to include some type of special Holiday incentive for consumers. Even something small like free shipping when tied in with an influencer campaign can work wonders for your brand.
The more value that you’re able to provide to consumers throughout the buying process, the more likely they are to buy from you. If you were ever going to give your customers a little gift, this is definitely the time of the year to do it.
Share Share And Share Some More
When you have gotten some of that social media gold - lovingly stated testimonials and endorsements from an influencer... make sure you share that content with your own followers. So many times an influencer will work with a brand and the brand does something quite shocking. They don't like, comment or share that post with their own fan base or repurpose it in any way. And that's a shame.
So Now What?
We get it, sometimes planning a campaign around the Holidays can be a difficult task -- you’re busy trying to meet end of the year quotas, maybe budgets are starting to quickly disappear before your eyes or your simply eager to get home and do nothing but gorge out on grandma’s famous cherry pie that she only makes during the months of November and December.
Whatever it is, don’t feel ashamed, we get it! But, as a brand marketer, if you’re looking to wrap up the year strong and impress your boss, think long and hard about launching a Holiday focused influencer campaign (but don’t think too long, you don’t want to think yourself through the Holidays).
Influencers are the perfect way to generate buzz around your brand during this high-buying season. Who knows...maybe your influencer campaign will put your product under the tree for thousands of consumer to enjoy in the new year! Wouldn't that be great?! To learn how Hollywood Branded can brings these goals to life, check out the Only Guide To Social Influencers You'll Ever Need. Happy Holidays!
Also, be sure to check out these other blogs we wrote on social influencers - they'll help you figure out your best options for success!
- 3 Brands Show How To Market Mobile Apps Using Influencers
- 3 Insights To Create Affordable Influencer Marketing That Sells
- 5 Signs Why Influencer Marketing Will Work For Your Brand
- 8 Step Guide To How Much To Spend On Social Influencer Marketing
- 7 Steps To Secure The Right Celebrity To Post For Your Brand
