Influencer marketing is already a multi-billion dollar industry that both big and small brands are taking advantage of. It may seem simple: find influencers, pay them to promote your brand on social media, and then watch the results come rolling in.
However, it’s not as simple as that. Influencer marketing campaigns take a lot of time and dedication. You have to define your campaign and its objectives, find and activate influencers, and then monitor the campaign as influencers publish.
Another thing to consider is: what type of campaign do you want to run? How do you want to present your products to the audience? Bear in mind that different platforms have different ways to engage with content, which means what’s good on one network might be bad on another, or vice versa. You can’t compare ideas of Instagram influencers with Youtube influencers!
To help you out, here are a few ideas of types of collaborations you can do with influencers.
Unboxing
Unboxings show your products right out of the box, without any apparent brand or manufacturer interference. The idea is that the audience gets a sense of what to expect should they buy the same product.
itsLunaloo, an illustrator and small business owner, unboxing a gifted printer and cutter, the Silhouette Portrait 3.
The key here is choosing an influencer who aligns with your brand and is truly excited about your products. The success of an unboxing is dependent on the influencer’s spontaneous reaction and whether or not your product makes a good first impression on them.
To find influencers that align well with your brand, ask yourself the following:
- Is their content related to what my brand does or sells?
- Does their content meet my quality standards?
- Does the influencer’s style complement my brand’s?
- Does the influencer have healthy engagement (connection to their audience)?
Takeover
Takeovers involve an influencer posting directly from a brand’s profile. This means the brand has to give the influencer permission to access their account, so make sure you trust the influencer you’re working with and have laid out any guidelines you have for the takeover.
@bo_thebuilder taking over @bloomscape’s Instagram account.
Takeovers are a mutually beneficial collaboration. The influencer can do a countdown on their account to notify their followers, bringing them to your brand’s account to see what the influencer gets up to. And the influencer gets exposure to your brand’s followers when they post on your account.
Tutorial
Tutorials or demos show your product in action. Got a complicated product that needs some explaining? Have a project with great, visual end results? Show it off in a video tutorial!
Madeleine Olivia showing Kamikoto knives in action during a multi-recipe video.
These videos allow followers to see how the product works and what it’s capable of. When including tutorials in your influencer collaborations, make sure you take the time to explain your brand and products to the influencers, and answer any questions they may have. This way, they know exactly how to use your product when demonstrating it on social media.
If you really want to take things to the next level, try a live tutorial/demo! This is a riskier option, as influencers can’t edit out content they want to remove. But, it does give the audience the feeling that they’re participating in the event. What’s more, you could include a Q&A session to answer any lingering questions followers may have after seeing the demo.
Giveaway
You’ve probably seen giveaways on social media before. An influencer partners with a brand to run a type of raffle that includes the brand’s products as a prize. Giveaways usually require participants to follow the influencer and brand’s accounts, like the post, and sometimes comment on it tagging a friend.
Fitness influencer @laurmkrich partnered with @yorkathleticsmfg to host a giveaway for a prize package of a pair of sneakers and a virtual training session. Image source.
Giveaways are a great way to boost your follower count and engagement; everyone loves free stuff so they’re willing to do what needs to be done to enter. However, know that this boost may be temporary. Once the giveaway closes, some people will unfollow you. Or if they don’t, they may not engage with your content, as the reason they followed you in the first place was to win free stuff.
Conclusion
These are just a few ideas you can use with influencers. But with all the different media formats offered by the various social networks, the sky’s the limit when it comes to ideas. Just remember to stay focused on your campaign goals, and to choose influencers that help you work toward them. To learn more about how to define your goals and find influencers, check out this influencer marketing guide.
