‘Tis the season for holiday marketing. It’s the perfect time to start using influencers if your brand hasn’t started. This time of year, traffic on websites, the internet, and social platforms is higher than usual. That means more engagement and, hopefully, more sales.
Influencers can make a huge difference in the way your products and services are received by different audiences. Infusing them into a diverse holiday marketing strategy builds deeper connections with your existing audience while exposing your brand to new ones. While this sounds simple, it’s not.
Whether a large or small business, influencers have an important niche area that can help gain traction. The holiday season is competitive and can get expensive when considering different forms of advertising. Using influencers helps make an impact and statement with those items that are “must haves” among your audience.
Here are seven ways influencers should be part of your holiday marketing strategy:
- Creativity
Influencers know how to connect with audiences in their own unique way. This is a good tactic for adding variety to your promotions. Influencers use different platforms to engage effectively and help your information stand out. They understand the audience and already have a following so they can target the right people to give them what they want and need. - Timelines
Influencers can provide the perfect timeline for your holiday marketing campaigns because they know and understand your audience and have the analytics to show when they are most engaged. They also know how to interact with those audiences either through reels, IG posts, stories, or another tactic that will get people looking and talking on the platform while looking for more on your site. - Personalized discount codes
E-commerce is bigger than ever and continuously growing. Holiday marketing is the best way to capture those people who still prefer shopping online. Influencers can promote e-commerce stores and options with discount codes that focus on personalization. It’s a winning strategy because you get additional traffic to your site which is able to track engagement and the influencer’s success. - Authenticity
This is a great opportunity for brands to use influencers who know and use their products. Influencers who already support your brand add a level of authenticity to their messaging and can truthfully tell the audience why they love your products and services. - Time-limited offers
Influencers can help create a huge buzz around your time-limited offers through imaginative storytelling. Getting them to promote these offers days before going live helps build anticipation, especially if there are great teasers. The right influencers create excitement that gets the audience to tell others about what’s coming. - Different platforms
Influencers work their magic on the platform they are most comfortable with. That means using the right influencer for the different platforms where your audience is. There is a certain type of customer on each platform, whether it’s Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube. Using a mix of influencers that can increase reach, engagement, and new customers is key. - Advertising
With so much organic engagement going on, what happens to traditional advertising? While many businesses only consider what’s going on via social platforms, traditional advertising still has an influence on purchases. Adding an influencer in tandem with holiday advertising campaigns directly speaks to those who know them on social media. Bringing them offline adds personalization and seamlessly integrates online and offline channels.
Think about this – you’re creating your own team that has made an impact on social channels. That means you’re building a relational holiday marketing strategy that moves beyond the holiday season. In fact, top influencers have a seat at the table while crafting these strategies to provide insight and information you need to get to your consumers. Having a collaborative approach isn’t just smart, it’s effective and productive in ways you may not realize.
These influencers have enough experience to help you define campaign goals, choose which products will perform best on certain platforms, help create stand-out content, promote your content in ways you can’t, and in most cases, provide an ROI you’ve always dreamed of.
When using influencers, it’s important to focus on the most important things instead of all the things. Influencers should be used for products and services that not only add value but need exposure. Start by partnering with the influencers you’ve already worked with because they know your products and services. Secure those influencers way ahead of time, like in August if you can. While some influencers are available for last-minute pushes, the one thing you don’t want is to have rushed campaigns.
Not only do influencers increase ROI, but they help smaller brands connect with audiences without a huge marketing budget. In essence, chances are the brand gets a lot more for the money they spend. While well-known influencers may command top dollar, micro-influencers can have just as much of an impact. Creating a package that suits your brand and budget in a meaningful way cuts costs but gains traction.
Influencers should be an integral part of your holiday marketing because people trust them, which means your brand will start developing trust from those audiences. The power of persuasion is everlasting, and using an influencer that has the interest and engagement of the audiences you want to purchase your products and services is invaluable.
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