Three Ways Influencers Can Boost Your Holiday-Season Campaign

Seemingly as soon as the Thanksgiving leftovers are put away, consumers rush to retailers online and off to get a start on their holiday shopping—at least in the US. But late November ushers in the biggest shopping season throughout the Western world, influenced by global digital retailers who have set a new pace by creeping the holiday calendar earlier and earlier. Still, it’s not too late to develop a relevant holiday campaign to reach consumers.

But don’t fear—it’s also the season of miracles, and brands still have time to get into the holiday spirit with influencers. Whether you need to quickly implement a campaign from concept to market or simply want to add a dash of spice to one that’s already in the works, there are still ways to cut through the blizzard of information overload in the cluttered holiday season with the aid of influencer partnerships.

They’re Agile & Up-to-Date

One of the biggest benefits that influencers bring to the table in a holiday campaign is that they are agile by nature; well-versed in what resonates with their audiences, influencers have strong, authentic and creative voices—and can deliver in short time. In fact, partnering with a handful of influencers is a great way to co-develop a robust collection of content needed to keep your brand at top of mind in the lead-up to the holidays.

But in addition to providing scale, the flexibility that influencers bring to the table can also give your brand an edge against holiday-season competition. Shoppers have a rising interest in searching for the most up-to-date recommendations: Google highlights that “Best” and “right now” searches have grown 125% over the past couple years. Influencers have the speed and agility to weigh in on the most current trends or topics that their audiences care about, engaging them with an authoritative voice that consumers trust.

They’re Authentic—If You Let Them Be

As they begin working with influencers, many brands become concerned that they must relinquish some control of the message to someone else. Trust is key to safeguarding campaigns from getting muddled in rework and repeated review cycles—and is key to ensuring the deliverables are made on-time in the short and competitive holiday season. Realizing this, we’re ardent supporters of the idea that influencers are their most authentic when they have creative freedom in developing their content in partnership with brands.

This is the approach we used in an influencer campaign for a major UK insurer. The brand wants to raise awareness amongst Millennial and Gen-Z audiences, because some of the products and guidance they offer—such as cybersecurity and travel—are highly relevant for these audiences.

“The challenge for this brand is that they have a super strong cyber offering for consumers but mental availability in the category and for the brand themselves is low among Millennials and Gen-Z,” says Alistair Vines, Business Lead at MediaMonks.

For the campaign, influencers were briefed on the desired content, which was planned out in a quick creative phase. Overall, influencers were able to create authentic content (within some guidelines) because they bought into and endorsed the message from the brand.

The result is a coherent campaign that tackles several cybersecurity issues, delivered in a way that relates to the target consumer groups (one piece of content generated over 4,000 likes in just two days). And because the influencers produced their own content, the whole campaign was developed from brief to launch in just five weeks.

They Offer Intimacy

In addition to expanding reach, partnering with influencers can also help tailor your brand to emergent search and shopping behaviors. According to holiday insights from Facebook, mobile shoppers are 1.85 times more likely to seek gift inspiration through Instagram. When focused on millennials alone, that number jumps even higher: they’re 3.19 times more likely to. The findings show how social media is increasingly important to consumers as they research purchases.

Google also presents interesting insight on digital shoppers’ search behavior. “People indicated they are more than 2X as likely to add items to their basket and 40% more likely to spend more than planned when they identify the shopping experience as highly personalized,” they note. When brands hear “personalization,” they might think about recommendation engines and highly targeted creative—essential components of any campaign, ecommerce platform or overall brand experience. But influencers can also accentuate personalization through the intimacy they provide to their audiences, helping online shoppers find the gift inspiration and ideas most relevant to them and their needs.

The statistics mentioned above might inspire practical KPIs that brands can achieve through influencers: gain mindshare, increase awareness and drive new sales. But it’s important to remember that connection is critical to influencer success; the branded content shouldn’t feel disjointed from that which an influencer routinely offers to their audience.

From delivering cross-channel content quickly to injecting intimacy and authenticity, influencers fit several strategies for brands to connect closer to audiences old and new. This can be with a campaign built from scratch, or an added layer on top of an existing one. Either way, influencer partnerships make a great way to build relationships in the season of togetherness.