The days when TV advertising used to be the most effective marketing tool are long gone. These days, we are facing a new era of marketing where influencers are taking over traditional marketing tools and strategies. Collaborating with an influencer who has a fan base of loyal followers relevant to a product has proven to be successful and efficient. Nowadays, more and more world-renowned brands turn to influencers to promote their brands.
Why? Followers treat their influencers like friends. That is why as soon as a famous blogger starts using some product or talking about one, thousands of followers are ready to try the product themselves. In 2019, influencers posted approximately 4.9 million #ads on Instagram, and that number includes only those that are properly disclosed.
Actually, the numbers speak for themselves: if brands are ready to pay thousands of dollars so that an influencer mentions their product/service, it means that it’s really working. That is why we’ve decided to examine 5 inspiring cases of such successful influencer marketing campaigns.
1. Edubirdie
More than 250 popular YouTube Channels and more than 700 million views. Can you just imagine this number? This scandalous YouTube marketing campaign has brought EduBirdie thousands of loyal customers and made some serious waves in social media. This is all thanks to the idea of using social media influencers and some famous YouTube personalities and popular channels (HoomanTV, To Catch A Cheater, Coby Persin, Zias, and others) to promote essay-writing services through short shout-out ads within the YouTube content.
The company targeted students through YouTube channels that cover pranks, dating, gaming, music, fashion, and dozens of other categories – everything an average college student might be interested in. While EduBirdie targeted students by their interests, the company didn’t make any strict rules on how to present itself on YouTube, so influencers had absolute freedom to present this platform the way they saw it. And even though the ads were brief (10 to 30 seconds shout-outs), this marketing company went through the roof and had great success.
Zias (with 3.1 million subscribers) promoting EduBirdie on their YouTube channel
The campaign has drawn so much attention that the BBC published its own investigation revealing the scale of the marketing campaign and a number of YouTube influencers involved in it. As it turned out, EduBirdie’s ads were violating YouTube’s Academic Aid policy. As a result, YouTube has taken down hundreds of YouTube videos (some of those had tens of millions of views) that mentioned the EduBirdie platform and other companies.
“The situation became so resonant that even PayPal was asked to take measures regarding the payment processing services for such companies. As a result, since April 4, 2019, PayPal itself has claimed that it will no longer be providing services to essay writing companies”, says Adam Simon, a blogger and owner of an essay writing services review site.
Despite the problem that occurred, the figures remain the same, and EduBirdie has received wide coverage in the media. People were actively talking about this situation for months, resulting in making the name of the company even more recognizable.
2. Fiji Water
Healthy lifestyle is the thing that makes thousands of brands rich today. This water brand turned to instagram influencer Danielle Bernstein (2.2 million followers) to promote their product. Danielle is a fashion blogger, so the target audience was clearly defined: women whose aim was to have a good look, nice body and a healthy lifestyle. Together with the blogger they’ve created a promotional campaign, wherein Denielle would promote a brand in unobtrusive way. She would occasionally make promotional posts on Instagram and appear in public with a bottle of Fiji water in hand. The gist of the promo was to offer viewers 8-minute workout videos with Danielle and her personal coach. This marketing technique was truly efficient as it appealed to followers through their desire to look like Danielle. To do so they need to keep fit, and Fiji Water is going to help them stay hydrated. Voila, this is how you get your brand boosted.
3. H&M
These days H&M is among the brands having the largest audience of followers on Instagram. All because of the thoughtful advertising campaign they’ve created. In one of H&M’s recent marketing campaigns, the brand turned to Julie Sariñana (a fashion blogger with more than 5 million Instagram followers) and Ela Velden (a model with 1,4 million followers). The idea of the campaign was to have the influencers go about their normal routine wearing latest H&M collection. The success of the promo was due to the fact that they’ve chosen influencers who reflected H&M style by themselves. In other words, they personally liked the brand, so their recommendations were sincere. The marketing campaign didn’t seem intrusive or annoying. Thus, so appealing to their followers.
4. Diageo: My Tales of Whisky
Who would have thought that watching the actor Nick Offerman for 44 minutes in a chair by the fireplace, gazing silently into the camera and sipping whisky from time to time would go viral? Diageo, an alcoholic beverages company, believed in the idea and it was a success. It is just addictive, you can’t stop watching the video, as you’re waiting that something is going to happen (it must happen), but it doesn’t. You’re feeling at the edge of your seat waiting for some twist in the video. The idea was so creative and appealing that it even won an award being called one of the best cases in influencer advertising campaigns. If you haven’t seen this example of how you can promote your brand with influencer technique, you should definitely watch it. Still, remember that once an idea is used, it won’t work for the second time. That is why, make sure you create something unique but as creative as this campaign.
5. Tom’s of Maine
Another example of successful promotional activity. It’s not always about the quantity, but the quality. Tom’s of Maine (personal care products manufacturer) followed this idea when they’ve created their influencer marketing campaign. This company makes toiletries using only natural ingredients. That is why they needed an ad directly aimed at health-conscious buyers. Tom’s of Maine turned to micro-influencers who didn’t have lots of followers, but whose followers were 100 per cent target audience. First, these micro-influencers talked about toiletries, and then they encouraged their followers to talk about them as well. Consequently, this marketing activity resulted in bringing 4,4 million potential clients in the first three months. The success depended on the idea that the smaller the audience the more trust they have in their influencers.
Conclusion
It’s worth saying that influencer advertising campaign is now booming. It’s believed that by the end of 2020 the number of properly disclosed #ads on Instagram will reach 6,1 million. That is why, we need to make hay while the sun shines, as who knows what kind of new strategies the digital world has prepared for us. These days it’s really working, but no one can assure you for how long it’s going to be effective.
These were only 5 inspiring cases that were successful. In reality, the number of such efficient campaigns is bountiful. For this reason, it’s essential that you find your unique style in this marketing technique. Always think like your client, and don’t rely too much on other companies’ success. There’s no guarantee that the same idea will work for your brand as well. Still, the essentials are working: you find the influencers, think your advertising campaign through, make it unique and enjoy the results.
