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You cannot escape it, influencers are now a major part of the marketing landscape. All over, businesses are trying to capitalise on the power of said influence.
This means collaborating with influencers for marketing campaigns, but a good influencer marketing campaign doesn’t just happen naturally. You’ll need to carefully consider the influencers you work with and the format your campaign is going to take. You’ll also need to strategically plan every step of the campaign.
We already know that influencer marketing has been hugely successful for brands and businesses of all sizes, so we’ve highlighted some of our favourite influencer marketing campaigns to help you get inspired.
Who knows, maybe this is the first step to launching the most successful marketing campaign you’ve had yet.
The best influencer marketing campaigns
Dunkin’
Influencers: Ice Spice, Ben Affleck
Not all influencers are the same, and Dunkin’ certainly went for the most mega of mega-influencers available. They partnered with drill music sensation Ice Spice to launch a new drink called the “Ice Spice Munchkins Drink.”
The campaign includes an ad featuring Ben Affleck (the official spokesperson for Dunkin’) and Ice Spice brainstorming a name idea for a new drink. Ice Spice then suggests the name she has for her fanbase - munchkins - as the solution.
The drink itself is made by blending together pieces of the Pumpkin Munchkins Donut Hole Treats with the popular Frozen Coffee. The name of the new drink is a combination of the name of the Ice Spice fan base and the name of the doughnut treat.
The ad is produced by Artists Equity, the production company run by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
Why it worked
Dunkin’ pounced on the fact that Ice Spice was at the time one of the most trending artists in the world and made a short, smart, and amusing ad.
The Munchkins campaign plays on the company’s classic tagline “America runs on Dunkin” and replaces it with “America runs on Munchkins” - something that works to great effect when posted by Ice Spice, considering that’s the name of her fanbase.
Part of what makes a strong influencer campaign is the element of surprise. At the time, before they started teasing the collaboration, nobody expected the Hip-Hop superstar to be partnering with the U.S. mega-brand. The short and sweet nature of the ad was also the right move.
Jacquemus
Influencers: Kendall Jenner
On the Jacquemus Instagram, they posted the back of the Kendal Jenner Winter Collection to tease the launch of their new location, the first ever mountainside store.
The next move was then to build suspense by asking followers to guess where the location was; a perfect way to boost engagement. They also encouraged users to jump on the TikTok “Pingu” trend and announce where they think the location is; a perfect way to boost UGC.
The location was then finally announced the opening of the store in Courchevel via a carousel of AI, UGC and professional content.
Why it worked
They used a combination of influencer marketing, social listening, and UGC to build suspense and ultimately pull off a big announcement.
The focus of the campaign was on Instagram and TikTok where they ran the pre-launch campaign and where they made the official announcement.
By creating suspense that led to a creative pay-off, the campaign resonated with audiences.
FIJI Water
Influencers: Daniel Bernstein, Eric Johnson
Fiji Water partnered with influencer and founder of WeWoreWhat to promote existing products.
Bernstein posted about working out with celebrity trainer Eric Johnson and included a range of FIJI Water bottles in the post. She promoted the FIJI products by reminding her audience to stay hydrated and offered a discount code for home delivery.
Bernstein created 8 workout posts, each around 8 minutes long, showing her routine when travelling or at home. Simple, but effective.
Why it worked
Bernstein promoted FIJI alongside her own brand, making the posts feel less like product placement and more like an authentic reflection of her workout routines.
By working towards a common goal, both brands benefitted without the need for a long and drawn-out campaign. Bernstein's posts were essentially a response to her audience asking for her routine, and adding FIJI water to the post was a great way to kill two birds with one stone.
Topicals
Influencers: Dami Hope, Sean Garrette, Ishini Weerasinghe, and others
Topicals, a popular skincare and beauty line, collaborated with 18 micro and macro influencers as part of the brand’s birthday campaign.
The beauty brand hosted an entirely BIPOC-sponsored brand trip to Bermuda where they posted a host of stories and posts covering the trip. The hashtags #TopicalsTakesBermuda and #TopicalsTurns3 were used to create some social media buzz.
The influencers were featured on the brand account, but each guest also posted daily Instagram story content to boost reach. The brand also uploaded a few recap videos to TikTok with the same hashtags.
According to Topicals, the campaign resulted in 3M+ impressions and an additional 5K followers across TikTok and Instagram.
Why it worked
Topicals took an inclusive approach that emphasised the importance of diversity and celebrated BIPOC. With a content strategy focused on authenticity and 18 influencers posting about the trip, it resonated with the audience.
It also doesn’t hurt to upload high-quality social media content from the paradise-like Bermuda.
Gymshark
Influencers: Twin Melody and a range of athletic influencers
Gymshark, a popular active gym wear brand, often partners with influencers in marketing campaigns. The campaign known as the 66 Days: Change Your Life challenge was a massive hit on both Instagram and TikTok.
The idea behind the campaign was to drive people to work out. The brand itself as well as the influencers they partnered with encouraged users to spend 66 days living an active and healthy lifestyle. In return, they could get a year’s supply of Gymshark products for free.
The community was asked to post before and after pictures with the hashtag #Gymshark66, and influencers would upload stories and posts to spread the word and raise awareness about the challenge.
Gymshark then used TikTok and Instagram to post “Stories of the 66” - a video series highlighting different community members who have adopted healthier lifestyles through the challenge.
Throughout the campaign, Gymshark posted helpful tips and shared resources regarding staying healthy and fit.
Why it worked
As a fitness brand, it made perfect sense for Gymshark to encourage users to get healthy as part of a campaign. Partnering with athletic influencers was a reliable way to spread the word, and making it a challenge was an easy way of driving user-generated content.
Offering a reward for participants and consistently sharing resources and tips helped keep the community engaged, motivated, and active.
ABSOLUT
Influencers: Jess Bowen, John-David Brown, and a wide range of other climate and pride activists.
ABSOLUT are a world-renowned Vodka brand that created an influencer marketing campaign focused on eco-sustainability and LGBTQI+ rights.
The goal of the campaign was to create buzz and spread the word about ABSOLUT, and ultimately drive home the fact that the brand is passionate about the planet and its people. Influencers used the hashtags #AbsolutPlanet and #AbsolutPride to post.
The campaign itself essentially involved different experiential events that highlighted ABSOLUT’s commitment to eco-sustainability and championing diversity. One of the events was a four-day immersion covering the brand’s dedication to sustainability at its Swedish production facility.
In 8 months, 612 posts were created by 95 influencers. With 68.4M total impressions, 7.7M passive engagements, and 739.5K active engagements, it was a huge success. The incredibly focused and immersive campaign was awarded Gold Winner for the Best Food and Drink Campaign at the 2020 Influencer Marketing Awards.
Why it worked
ABSOLUT did more than just ask influencers to post about the brand. They created immersive events and experiences while using their reach to highlight the importance of climate protection, eco-sustainability, and diversity.
Communities resonate with brands when it feels like they’re doing something important. Keeping the focus of the campaign on the planet and its people was a perfect way to create brand awareness while driving home a bigger point.
Calvin Klein
Influencers: Justin Bieber
Massive brands tend to partner with massive influencers, and in the case of Calvin Klein, they did not hold back. In 2014, the fashion brand partnered with global pop star Justin Bieber for the #MyCalvins campaign.
The campaign aimed to encourage community members to post about their journey of self-expression by uploading a picture of their outfit with the hashtag #MyCalvins. The campaign launch took place via YouTube video which currently sits at 10M+ views.
Other celebrities also got involved since the launch, including Hip-Hop superstar A$AP Rocky and media personality Kendall Jenner.
While these mega-influencers had a significant impact on the campaign's reach, the goal was to boost user-generated content. When the campaign ended, the brand showcased all of the best user-generated content on a micro website.
920K+ posts have since been uploaded with the hashtag #MyCalvins. In the year after the campaign, they gained 2.2M followers on Facebook, 1.8M followers on Twitter, and 1M followers on Instagram.
Why it worked
Calvin Klein used the power of influencer marketing to spark massive amounts of user-generated content. They did not just rely on the power of celebrity to spread brand awareness but instead focused on using it to engage with the community.
By getting the audience involved and focusing on the pursuit of self-expression, the campaign resonated with many going through a journey of self-discovery.
Tips for creating a successful influencer marketing campaign
So you’ve seen what a powerful influencer marketing campaign looks like, but how can you do it yourself? While big brands can easily partner with influencers for marketing campaigns, it’s not exactly as easy for smaller companies.
We’ve put together a few influencer marketing campaign tips to help you.
Define your goals and KPIs
Every influencer marketing campaign has a main goal. Maybe you’re launching a new product, or perhaps you just want to increase brand awareness about your existing products.
The first step is to outline exactly what you hope to achieve from the influencer marketing campaign. Ask yourself why you’re running a campaign and what you hope to gain from it as a brand.
You’ll also need to consider how you can measure the success of your campaigns and implement certain KPIs for monitoring purposes. There should be performance indicators for both you and the influencers you’re working with to help you determine the success of the partnership.
Use an influencer finder tool
While big brands can easily partner with celebrities, it might be a bit more difficult for you to lock in a collaboration with Justin Bieber.
So what can you do? Go smaller. Not all influencers need to be major celebrities, and you’ll need to find content creators of a similar size to your business.
An influencer finder tool is a great way to identify influencers with a specific amount of followers and a target audience related to your products or services. You can even use a UGC tool as part of your influencer marketing campaign to help drive user-generated content and engage with the community.
You can also get creative to find influencers, creators or professionals to work with. Search specific hashtags on social media, review speakers at conferences and events, look at who other brands have worked with, etc.
Targeting micro and nano influencers makes a lot more sense for smaller businesses. Working with multiple smaller influencers can have as big of an impact as working with a macro or mega influencer when your strategy is right.
Get a list of potential partners to reach out to, as not all are going to be as willing to work as others. Remember, find influencers who align with your brand’s values.
Decide on budget
Always outline your budget before you get started on your campaign. Without proper planning, you could easily end up spending way more than one would consider reasonable.
Your budget serves as the guide for the influencers you choose to work with, the number of influencers you work with, and how you plan on compensating influencers (commissions, cash, products, services, etc.)
Not all influencers are going to accept the same payment terms, and you may need to leave some room for flexibility when you’re finalising your choices.
Consider the content
Think about what you’re going to post. Which platforms are you going to use? What type of content are you going to post? Are you going to do any in-person events?
You’ll need to review what type of content your audience engages with the most and capitalise on that when launching your influencer marketing campaign.
You’ll need a content calendar too to outline when influencers need to post and how long you’re going to run the campaign for. Using hashtags is a great way to keep all posts related to the campaign connected.
Your content should be informative and valuable to your audience, or encourage some type of community participation.
Test, monitor, refine
You need to constantly track your influencer marketing campaigns to make sure they’re working. If your content is failing to get the reach and engagement you were hoping for, it may be time to reconsider your strategy.
If you notice a specific type of content or specific influencer is getting the most engagement, maybe it’s time to double down and focus on that direction.
You may realise that Instagram is getting far more views than TikTok, and choose to focus on Instagram going forward. Or perhaps your video content is doing much better than your images, and you decide it's better to abandon image posts altogether.
The most successful marketing campaigns come after regular monitoring, testing, and refining of strategies.
Summing up
The best influencer marketing campaigns effortlessly combine creativity, authenticity and collaboration. All throughout the world, small and big brands alike are partnering with influencers for launch campaigns, brand awareness, and more.
From celebrity partnerships to the strategic use of nano-influencers to tap into niche communities, there are plenty of ways to capitalise on the power of influencer marketing.
We can see above that the most successful influencer marketing campaigns focus more on just promotion. Some stand for a cause such as environmental sustainability, some issue social media challenges to improve health and fitness, and some just know how to make it funny. What’s clear is there is a variety of methods for brands to execute successful influencer marketing campaigns.
At ttagz, we provide a UGC tool that helps brands drive user-generated content for their influencer marketing campaigns. To learn more about what we do, book a call with one of our team members today.
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