Being Real, Relevant and Responsible Makes All the Difference
The holiday season is an advertising frenzy. Every brand on the planet is fighting for the public’s attention, so how do you cut through the advertising noise?
The answer to that question is a little on the expensive side, so why not try something a little more direct and streamlined? Something that goes right to your audience.
The key to getting your audience interested in your brand during the holidays is through influencers, not a massive, expensive ad campaign that will fall on many deaf ears outside of your core audience.
By: Justin Kline, Markerly
Audiences Trust Their Influencers
Many have come to associate the term “influencer” with vapid nonsense that no one in their right mind would relate to, but it’s important to remember that legions upon legions of people, young and old, hang on their every word. Yes, they may not be reverent to every single person, but many social media users have at least one or two influencers they truly respect, listen to, and maybe even trust.
That trust is where your brand comes in. Find an influencer, the right influencer. Find an influencer who truly matches with your brand. Work with them to find the right messaging that will resonate with their audience. People, especially young people, can sniff out phoniness from miles away; they know a tasteless marketing ploy when they see one. You want the marriage of your brand and this influencer to work so well together that the audience might even think that it was the influencer’s idea and not your brand’s.
Once all the pieces are in place and the posts are up, it’s all but guaranteed that their audience is going to flock to your product or service.
How To Visually Get the Influencer Involved
So, you’ve found your influencer and know what you want them to say. Now what do you want them to do?
That all depends on what you’re promoting.
Is this post going to be a simple picture of the product in the hand of the influencer? Is it going on Instagram? TikTok? In the same way you need to know your audience, you need to know your medium.
Yes, holding up a product with a classic text caption below might be the best way to go for Instagram. If your product is a service, best seen in action, or something that needs to be illustrated through video, it will likely be best that you show your influencer carrying out the process of your service on video, preferably on TikTok.
From there, the best move is to cross post the video onto Instagram. It might feel a little silly to post the same video on TikTok and Instagram, but there are plenty of followers on your Instagram account who aren’t on TikTok and vice versa. It’s best to cover all your bases; you’ll see the highest engagement this way and when it comes to getting eyeballs on your holiday shopping deals, you’re going to want to exhaust all the methods you’ve got.
Embrace the Trends
Another great tool is taking advantage of social media trends. You might not get to directly include your holiday promotional messaging as much as you would like, though you’re all but guaranteed to draw more eyeballs using influencers on social media.
Looking at the meteoric rise of the Empire State Building's and Duolingo's presence on TikTok, it’s proven that the best way for a brand or entity to reach young people isn’t to make a bunch of focus-grouped videos that prove they might catch a Zoomer’s attention. All you need is a small creative team of actual social media users who know what’s trending, what kinds of videos connect with audiences, and what kinds don’t. Pair that with the right influencer to deliver the message, weaving in your content as best you can, and you’ve got a winning post.
Don’t waste time making a slick video that reeks of an obvious, sponsored ad; make a regular old TikTok that looks just like all the other ones you see, but with your brand naturally fitting in with its own clever spin to stand out. Be bold. Let your audience know you have fun on social media, just like they do.
Conclusion
Of course, big commercial spots are the lingua franca of brands amid the holiday season, but a truly savvy brand will sidestep that expensive and frankly, outdated process, and go with something more modern: the influencer. Influencers speak directly to your potential customers and, with the right series of posts properly demonstrating what your brand’s product or service is in action, it’s sure to drive higher awareness to your holiday deals. If you want to amp up your creativity and be bold, don’t hesitate to take advantage of trends.
Justin Kline is Co-founder of Markerly, an influencer marketing technology partner and platform working with some of the largest consumer brands in the world.
