‘Tis the season to dig into holiday marketing. As you craft your broader approach and consider tactics to get it all done, don’t forget about the power of influencer marketing.
Forecasts have the global influencer marketing market size reaching $24 billion this year, which speaks to the immense popularity of this tactic.
As part of this broader marketing trend, businesses are seeing outsized results partnering with what the industry calls nano- or micro-influencers. While there’s no universal definition for these terms, typically they refer to influencers with a follower count in the thousands or tens of thousands.
These smaller influencers deliver big for the brands they work with. In a survey of marketing specialists from Influencer Intelligence, 69% reported that nano-influencers had boosted engagement with their brand.
With all that in mind, you can see why deploying a holiday influencer marketing campaign might be a smart move for your business. Let’s explore how to find a place for influencer marketing in your broader strategy.
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Holiday influencer marketing tips
Before you dive in to holiday influencer marketing, here are the steps you need to take to make it a hit.
Start with a holiday marketing plan
The holidays are a critical time for businesses of all stripes. Consumer-facing brands often see their biggest revenue-generating months during the holiday season while B2Bs are closing deals with clients who wish to spend the rest of their annual budget and lock in vendors for the next year.
That’s why implementing a coordinated marketing effort during this time is crucial. And like any good marketing plan, your approach to the holiday season should begin with SMART goals.
By defining clear, measurable objectives, you can then work backward to identify the tactics (and associated budget) to get you there. As you consider the tactics at your disposal, you can then sketch out how holiday influencer marketing might slot into your bigger plan.
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Set your influencer marketing KPIs
While your broad holiday marketing plan will have its own defined goals, so too should each tactic within the larger strategy.
The key performance indicators, or KPIs, for each tactic should roll up into your larger strategic goals. So, how do you define what success looks like for your influencer marketing efforts, specifically, and how does that contribute to your big picture?
With influencer marketing, there are several metrics that can help you assess the success of a campaign. You can easily measure statistics like views, impressions, and follower growth rate, all of which help you understand a campaign’s performance.
To take things a step further, look to create opportunities for clear attribution. For example, many brands provide their influencer partners with a branded promo code or URL. Then, when any sale comes in via that URL or code, the business knows it came through the influencer.
Find the right influencers
Once you’ve defined your own expectations for your influencer campaign, you have the clarity to go out and find the ideal person (or people) to partner with.
The best part about working with influencers is that they’ve cultivated an audience for themselves. Most nano- and micro-influencers have a well-defined niche.
BookTok influencers speak to readers, while personal finance influencers help followers make smarter money moves. And, of course, there are the fashion, beauty, and wellness influencers sharing trending clothes, makeup tips, and fitness or nutrition advice.
Finding the right influencers for your brand starts with defining your target audience. Put yourself in the mindset of your brand’s ideal customer: Which influencers would you follow? And which of these influencers is a natural fit for your business?
Depending on your business model, you might also want to consider geography. If you need an influencer who can create content in person at your store or restaurant, you’ll need someone local.
If heading out into the wilds of social media to find someone seems overwhelming, you might ask other small business owners for recommendations. Or, consider turning to a platform that helps connect brands with the best influencers for their audience and campaign goals.
Pitch the influencers you like
Once you’ve created a shortlist of potential influencers, it’s time to reach out with your pitch. Start by introducing your company, sharing what you appreciate about the influencer’s personal brand, and explaining why you think you’d be the right fit to work together.
Be specific about your needs. Share high-level details about the type of social media campaign you wish to run, the number and type of deliverables you’ll need, and the budget for your project.
You may not hear from every influencer you contact—many popular personalities receive multiple pitches a day. That’s why it’s important to create a shortlist rather than setting your sights on only one person.
Provide your influencer marketing brief
Once you’ve found the right influencer for your holiday campaign, it’s time to get into content creation. Another great thing about working with influencers is that they generate the actual content—one less thing for you to manage!
While influencers know their own audiences and are pros at creating posts and videos that resonate, you should still provide them with a little guidance.
Your influencer marketing brief should share the basics with your influencer partner:
- What are your campaign goals?
- What KPIs will you track, and what targets do you hope to hit?
- Are there any specific talking points you want them to cover in the post?
- Is there a branded hashtag, promo code, custom URL, or anything else they should include?
- Do you have expectations around content review? Many brands want to review and approve influencer content before it goes live—share how you’d like to manage that process.
Remember, you want to strike the right balance between ensuring your desired message gets out there and giving your influencer creative license to do what they do best: namely, create great content.
Holiday influencer marketing ideas: Campaign types to try
If you’re not sure how to deploy influencer marketing as part of your broader holiday marketing efforts, we’ve got some suggestions to spark ideas.
These campaign types are popular in the influencer marketing space and are a great way to spread the word about your brand.
Product giveaways
Many brands choose to partner with an influencer to give away some of their products to the influencer’s followers.
This tactic introduces your brand to a whole new audience quickly. People who don’t know you might be hesitant to pay for your product right away, but they’re far more likely to give you a chance if you’re offering a freebie.
Organic skincare brand Mokosh partnered with wellness influencer Amy Crawford to give away some of its new products.
Consider giving away your hero product or a sample-sized set of products that are most representative of your brand. You want to put your best foot forward in a product giveaway to a new audience. Offering items that will dazzle is sure to generate positive attention on the influencer’s page.
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Discount codes
Another popular influencer marketing tactic is the discount code. Provide your influencer partner with a specific discount or promotional code, which their followers can enter at checkout on your website.
This allows you to offer something tailored to this influencer’s audience, whether it’s a special discount or a free gift included with anything their followers buy.
It also gives your team the opportunity to attribute sales to your influencer marketing campaign. When new customers enter an influencer’s promo code on your site, you’ll know it was the influencer’s content that brought them to you.
Live selling
If you’ve ever watched QVC or HSN, you’re familiar with the concept of live selling. A host showcases a set of items one by one and invites viewers to purchase the products.
In a similar vein of selling, pop superstar Lizzo often hops onto her Instagram to try on products from her clothing brand, Yitty.
Today, brands and influencers have reimagined this approach for the digital era with live selling on social media. By going live on Instagram or TikTok, brands show off products in real-time, engage with prospective buyers, and direct viewers to the brand’s website to buy.
You can undertake this approach on your own via your brand’s social channel, or you may tap an influencer to go live with you. This is a more involved influencer tactic and might be best for influencers who have a proven track record with your business.
Brand-influencer collaboration
To tap into the popularity of your brand and your influencer partner’s following, consider launching a collaboration for the holidays.
Brand-influencer collaborations are a more advanced type of influencer partnership, so this is another tactic that might be best for an influencer you already know, like, and trust.
These collaborations can be fruitful for you and the influencer you work with. They can be the basis of a longer-term partnership if initial sales are successful and you choose to continue (or even expand) your collaboration.
In-person event
If your broader holiday marketing plans involve hosting a live event, inviting an influencer to promote it and attend on the day is another tactic to try.
Here, it’s essential to select an influencer who you know has sway with your target audience. You want their presence at your event to entice your followers to actually show up.
This is also a more involved influencer campaign. It requires the influencer to promote the event in advance and engage your audience at the event. What does that in-person appearance look like? Are they simply attending and mingling with guests, or will they have a more formal role? Perhaps they take selfies with fans or sign their book or product.
Unboxing
Unboxing videos are wildly popular in the influencer arena. In them, an influencer walks through the entire process of opening a shipment from a brand, complete with narration of their inner monologue throughout.
If you’d like your influencer partner to create an unboxing video, plan to send them some goodies you’d like to sell during this holiday season. This might include limited-edition holiday products or existing items you’d like to sell more of.
Make your holiday influencer marketing holly jolly
Avoid bah-humbug holiday influencer marketing by starting with a solid plan. Define your goals and identify the tactics that can help you achieve them—one of which may be influencer marketing.
Then, do your research to find the influencers that align with your brand, and reach out with a solid pitch to catch their attention. If they agree to work with you, provide a brief that gives them the information they need but leaves room for their creativity to shine through.
When you do all that, you create an opportunity to launch a successful influencer marketing campaign that delights your audience, introduces your brand to new people, and contributes to your overall marketing goals.
Here’s a recap of the best holiday influencer marketing campaigns to try:
- Product giveaways
- Discount codes
- Live selling
- Brand-influencer collaboration
- In-person event
- Unboxing