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Real People, Real Results: Why authenticity trumps AI on TikTok, Instagram, and beyond
As the holiday season closely approaches, what is the best way for your brand to make its way to the top of peoples’ wish lists? Digital marketing is becoming more and more impactful, specifically among celebrity endorsements via social media. This process, known as influencer gifting, is more memorable and genuine, hitting home with consumers.
Before you begin the influencer gifting process, it is important to know what your brand wants to get out of this marketing technique. Building a brand community is a great starting point in defining your goals because doing so can help in answering the following questions in the planning process:
There are thousands upon thousands of creators who could be selected to advocate for your brand- where are you supposed to start? Using Cohley can make this easier for you. Our SmartMatch algorithm helps brands find partners easier based on their mission and goals. We make it easier to navigate the creator pool by allowing you to search by industry, number of followers, post engagements, and more.
Another easy way to familiarize yourself with potential partners is utilizing Zine’s Brand Catalogue. Here, you are able to create a profile for your brand, and influencers will send in applications if they believe they are a good fit for your brand.
Once you have a clear idea of your marketing objectives and goals, it is time to find the influencers you would like to partner with. You cannot just pick any random celebrity- their promotion of your brand must make sense. You can do this by looking at four main aspects of their current persona: their follower's audience demographic, their average engagement per post, their monthly audience growth, and their previous brand associations. Using this information, choose an influencer who aligns with your brand’s target audience and marketing objectives.
Additionally, you will need to formulate an influencer agreement. This should include the specifics of what you expect of the influencer in return for sending them your products for free. As yourself: what hashtags should they use; what is the time frame; what should the mood be of the post, etc.?
Just like any other marketing campaign, it is crucial to start and plan early- especially when it comes to marketing seasonal items. For the holidays, many people begin their shopping prior to December 1st, many checking off the majority of their wish lists during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. To top it off, due to COVID-19, shipping times tend to be longer, meaning gifts are being ordered even earlier than normal.
Once you have selected your influencers, it is time for the gifting! Sending the chosen celebrities your product should be done in the mail- just one more reason why influencer gifting is such a smart technique of marketing. Gifting your own product is cheap, and quite possibly could make an impression on hundreds and thousands of eyes on social platforms.
Influencer gifting tends to be the most successful when brands choose micro-influencers. There are people who have 5,000-10,000 followers. According to David Duncan, the Co-Founder of Influencer Marketplace, micro-influencers have a higher percentage of engagement than big-name celebrities. Furthermore, their followers tend to take their recommendations more seriously because they come off as more relatable and trustworthy. When utilizing influencer gifting, trust and authenticity fall at the top of importance, which is why targeting a micro-influencer is so smart.
As we mentioned previously, influencer gifting only works if the partnership makes sense. This means you should use different influencers for different products. Furthermore, each influencer should use a different language in their captions depending on their personality.
There is more than one way to utilize online creators to help market your brand. The first and most obvious way is what I have been discussing throughout this article: gifting your product in exchange for social media posts and endorsements. A second option is having the influencer lead an “Instagram takeover.” This is an opportunity for the creator to take over your brand’s Instagram page- whether that be via stories or feed posts- to create their own brand-related content. Lastly, you could choose to send your partner a gift card rather than a specific product. This gives the creator the chance to choose which of your products they are most interested in trying out for themselves. This could potentially increase authenticity in their sponsored post because they were able to have a say in their gift.
In summary, influencer gifting is an extremely smart technique to marketing, especially around the holiday season. People are looking for advice nearly everywhere and anywhere about what to add to their wish-lists, and where is there a better place to look than your Instagram or TikTok feed? Partnering with micro-influencers is cheap and builds trust and authenticity around your brand and its products. Well, what are you waiting for? It’s time to start your search for people who could help your business in the influencer gifting game.