According to a 2019 survey, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter account for four of the top five most important channels for influencer marketing.
As you can imagine, as more brands turn to influencer marketing as a tactic for finding new customers and building relationships with existing ones, these platforms have become oversaturated with reviews and sponsored content.
And, as a result, almost half of social media users find sponsored posts annoying. But don’t be discouraged! Despite this fact, influencer marketing still holds a lot of value. The trick is to find the right influencers and campaigns for your brand.
These are the people with audiences that have a need for, or an interest in, your products and services. In this post, we’ll show you some of our favorite examples of influencer marketing by brands and influencers who (we think) got it just right.
Example #1 – Audible, Inc.
Audible, famous for its audiobooks, started collaborating with YouTubers in the gaming, entertainment and education spaces years ago. Since then, the company has expanded its influencer program to other social channels, including Instagram and Facebook.
Carole Radziwill, known on Instagram as caroleradziwill, is one of the many influencers that has collaborated with Audible. Rather than go in for the hard sell, her posts talk honestly about how she integrates Audible into her lifestyle.
In another example, a YouTuber by the name of Honest Finance does a review of Audible that has nearly 85,000 views. He says he’s used Audible for years, painting himself as an authentic fan of the brand.
He also says he wants his viewers to decide for themselves if Audible is a good fit for them. Again, no hard sell, which his viewers seem to appreciate.
What You Can Learn:
- Avoid the hard sell
- Select influencers who already love your brand
- Don’t be afraid to encourage influencers to share their honest opinions of your brand
Example #2 – Pepsi
You may have seen Pepsi’s #Summergram, a collaboration with Instagram on a new way to bring the platform’s latest technology to Pepsi’s consumers.
The campaign used unique graphics on more than 200 million Pepsi bottles. People who purchased one could scan their bottle to unlock a Pepsi-branded augmented reality filter to use on Instagram Stories.
The campaign leaned heavily on celebrities Chrissy Teigen and DJ Khaled to promote the graphics. However, Pepsi also tapped into the influence of online personalities with smaller, though sizable, followings, including influencers Madison Payne, Sam Ushiro and Alexa Mae.
It’s also worth noting that all of Pepsi’s #Summergram influencers have a vibrant Instagram aesthetic that matched the campaign’s look and feel perfectly.
What You Can Learn:
- Partner with influencers on new initiatives and product launches
- Look for influencers that suit your brand and campaign
Example #3 – Native Deodorant
In two years, Native Deodorant went from $0 to a $100M acquisition. While many factors played into their success, influencer marketing played a key role in rapidly growing their brand.
After seeing early success with Facebook advertising, Native Deodorant decided to connect with influencers on YouTube and Instagram to reach prospective customers where they already were.
The video below by YouTuber JaaackJack is a great example of the brand’s collaboration with influencers. In the video, she reviews Native Deodorant, promoting it as “natural, cruelty-free and aluminum-free”—part of the brand’s messaging.
In the video’s description, JaaackJack shares a coupon code from Native Deodorant and links to the brand’s website using a Bitly link, so people can learn more.
Using a Bitly link, Native Deodorant can hide UTM parameters. This also allows them to track clicks that their influencers attract on their content, as well as the purchases they help drive.
What You Can Learn:
- Be sure the influencer understands your brand & messaging
- Use Bitly links to track each influencer’s efforts (and to hide those long UTM parameters)
Read: How to Build a Strategy from the Ground Up
Example #4 – Casper
Casper is the company that disrupted the mattress space in 2014. It used influencer marketing and referrals as a sales arm to build their brand. Tapping into the power of social media and peer recommendations to share their product helped the company gain new and prospective customers.
Understanding the value of word-of-mouth marketing, Casper used influencer marketing to get consumers to trust buying a mattress from an online retailer.
How did they incentivize top influencers to work with the brand? By sending them free mattresses! Along with a mattress, the brand encouraged influencers to share their authentic experiences with their followers.
In addition to this, Casper taps customers who have previously purchased mattresses from their brand. How? By asking them to share their stories in exchange for compensation and a discount on future purchases. In the example below, the influencer shares her experience with Casper on Instagram. Also, she includes a coupon code for her followers to receive a $100 discount on a mattress.
What You Can Learn:
- Offer their followers discounts
- Incentivize your customers with discounts in exchange for honest reviews
- Enable your influencers to experience your brand by gifting them with your products or services
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Get creative, experiment with different campaigns and find out what works for your brand. We hope these influencer marketing examples have inspired you to get your influencer program off the ground!
