As far as the millennial population goes, influencer marketing campaigns certainly have a huge say in shaping customer buying decisions. Traditional ads and product placement campaigns do not do much to effect millennials’ buying decision, meaningful stories from trusted sources on the other hand, have the exact opposite effect. If you are looking to leverage the influence of Instagram celebrities for your brand, here are some creative campaigns of the big players in the industry that you can learn from.
BMW
Bavarian automaker BMW decided to partner with the who’s who on Instagram for the launch of its 7 series. The luxury car manufacturer collaborated with one of the leading photographers (who has millions of Instagram followers) and a men’s lifestyle and fashion blogger for the stint.
It did not just have them posting sneak-peeks of 7 Series cars, but something more elaborate, and creative.
As a part of the campaign, the social influencers chronicled their road trip through Munich, Milan and Zurich on the 7 Series Sedan, of course. What makes this campaign work is that it is not just your one-off Instagram post, rather a campaign series. It improves the visibility as well as reinforces the image that the influencer is trying to create.
Takeaway: Long-term campaigns can be a great idea for your social media influencer program, and with a creative spin like the one BMW created, it sure to grab some eyeballs.
Nespresso
Swiss coffee brand Nespresso kicked off an Instagram campaign to extend its outreach to the millennial generation. The brand was clever to pick Instagram influencers who resonated with the same tone and style as the brand, one of a high-end appeal. Nespresso collaborated with a lifestyle market influencer, a fashion blogger and an avid curator of upscale decor as a part of the campaign on Instagram- the common thread between the influencer’s being their classy and upscale taste.
The influencers chosen by the European coffee brand are also ones who have a millennial audience as their followers. The brand’s latest campaign is sure to garner more takers in the US market, given the wide outreach of the campaign amongst beauty, fashion and lifestyle audiences. Yet so, the brand ensured that the campaign reaches the upscale audience that it targets in the US.
Takeaway: Make sure you target the right influencer’s for your Instagram campaign- ones who reflect your brand’s voice and engage with the targeted fan following.
FedEx
The holiday campaign sponsored by FedEx had an interesting theme. It had Instagram influencers in the lifestyle market sharing stories on how they were shipping or received presents from their dear ones, whom they could not spend the holiday with. The sponsored campaign that ran under the hashtag #howtheholidaysarrive, got its fair share of hits on Instagram; the best part- it did not seem staged.
Of course, given that these influencers had a strong fan following in the lifestyle segment, FedEx had the campaign spot on! Lifestyle audience who were looking for ideas during the holiday season, were quick to notice the post. Since the posts focused more on the theme of the campaign than talking about FedEx, it did not come across as if it was sponsored. At the same time it did not lose the main idea behind the post that FedEx made it all happen. The brand struck a perfect balance between advertising and story-telling.
Takeaway: Tap on what’s happening around, so your influencer campaign gets more views. The
trick here is to make sure that you don’t want to make your product placement appear like a product placement.