Need some last minute tips for Black Friday, or ideas to jumpstart your holiday campaigns? With the big consumer blowout right around the corner, why not find influencers to promote your brand throughout this holiday season?
Black Friday in context
Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, serves as the opening of the holiday season in the United States. Hordes of shoppers flock to stores to score extreme savings, sometimes lining up for hours. And brands likewise up the ante on their marketing campaigns in an effort to outdo their competitors in the shopping frenzy.
The 2020 holiday season, however, is likely to be a bit different from past editions. According to a poll from Deloitte, 61% of consumers are planning to shop online this year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
That means big and small brands alike need to adjust their marketing strategies to focus on online ventures. And influencers are a great way to help you do that. Social media works hand-in-hand with ecommerce, and influencers can also imbue your brand with authenticity and trust during uncertain times.
Tips for Black Friday and holiday campaigns with influencers
Holiday campaigns require the same planning and reflection necessary to all campaigns. Make sure to decide on your goals and campaign strategy. If you need a bit of help with that, check out our Influencer Marketing Guide. Once you establish your goals, timeline and budget, then you can work in the special details.
Stretch out your sales
Most brands have been pushing their Black Friday sales forward to create a Black Week or even Black Month. But you can also extend your sales, afterwards too. In fact, CBRE claims this year will mark the most intense extension of the holiday sales season.
Keeping that in mind, you might want to contract influencers for several posts over the upcoming weeks. This way you can stay fresh in followers’ minds as well as show off your ongoing sales. Just make sure you give influencers creative freedom. They best know how to tailor your message for their audience.
Influencer specific discount codes
Unique coupon codes are useful to promote sales and track your campaign success. Influencers can help you reach their followers, and some may convert into new customers. Moreover, a discount code attached to an influencer review of your products may come across as more natural than discounts posted on your own social account.
These codes help on the backend, too. Once the sales start coming in, you can track the codes to see which channel or influencers brought in the most sales. If an influencer performed particularly well, bookmark them for future campaigns.
If you’re a local business, holiday campaigns are for you, too
Small Business Saturday is the day following Black Friday. And in 2020, it’s more important than ever.
Many of us were forced to shop close to home during the Covid-19 lockdown. Additionally, many consumers have also recognized that local businesses need their support to stay afloat. In the US, for example, 39% of consumers said they’re more likely to buy from local brands post-pandemic.
So if you’re a small business, now could be your time to shine, and influencers can help get the word out. Make sure to find local influencers who have a strong following in your community. And to save on your budget, look for nano and micro influencers and make sure you know the various ways that brands pay influencers.
Make online shopping personal and fun
Unfortunately not everyone will be able to spend the holidays the same way they usually do. But with online shopping, that doesn’t mean consumers can’t gift their loved ones something special. And the more special you can make the online shopping experience, the better.
Where do influencers come in? Well, they’re the experts when it comes to digital content creation. So let them use their creativity to help make your brand’s online experience more enjoyable! Here are a few ideas to try out:
- Gift guides targeted at certain people or personalities
- Holiday recipes that incorporate your brand’s products
- Fashion and makeup tutorials perfect for holiday Zoom parties
- DIY demos for digital cards or at-home holiday crafts
Youtuber Lucy Moon worked with Pandora to show off some holiday looks to make you feel special even if you can’t go out.
This type of educational content adds value to your brand. And it shows you understand this year’s unique situation instead of just blasting a sale.
Mix a bit of activism into your holiday campaigns
The ongoing pandemic will undoubtedly affect the oncoming holiday season. You could choose to ignore it and promote business as usual. Or, acknowledge the situation by gently working it into your campaign somehow.
This of course depends on your brand and its message, but here are a few general ideas for ways to show Covid-19 awareness in your campaigns:
- Find influencers who are medical professionals or essential workers so they can promote your brand while sharing useful info about the situation.
- Get influencers on board to help you gift products to those working to fight the pandemic.
- If your influencers are going to publish any content shot outside their home, ask them to use masks and obey other sanitary precautions.
- Have influencers promote online shopping with the various tools made available by social media (Stories Swipe Up, for example).
Conclusion
Holiday campaigns in 2020 are definitely going to be a bit different from what we’re used to. But thankfully influencers are a great way to inject your campaigns with a dose of creativity.
And one last thing – if you need to find influencers for your holiday campaigns, Heepsy is offering a special Black Friday deal! If you subscribe between 11/26 and 11/30, you can get 30% OFF your first month of our Business or Gold Plan! Just use the discount code MK_BF_30_BG at checkout.
