Influencer marketing is a popular technique in the current digital marketing landscape. It involves the promotion of brands and products using influential people rather than using traditional marketing techniques. And according to a recent study, 94% of marketers agreed that influencer marketing was an effective marketing strategy.
Let’s take a look at six examples of influencer marketing done right, and what you can learn from them.
1. Tommy Hilfiger
Tommy Hilfiger is a leading designer brand that’s recognized almost everywhere in the world. It was acquired by PVH Corp. in 2010, and the brand was worth $6.5 billion in 2015.
Tommy Hilfiger wanted to promote their Spring Season 2016 (SS16) eyewear collection in a unique way, and stand out from the rest of the competition. So they approached Imagency, an influencer marketing agency, to help them promote the collection.
Rather than conventional fashion models like the brand used to work with, influencers were selected to promote the Tommy Hilfiger eyewear collection. The influencers helped the brand reach their target audience with the hashtag #WishYouWereHere on various social media platforms.
To further increase their reach, the launch was also conducted through in-store events in all of the brand’s flagship stores worldwide.
Tommy Hilfiger collaborated with an influencer named Lovely Pepa for the promotion of the eyewear collection. Here’s a Facebook post she created for the campaign:
Another influencer named MVB also promoted the Tommy Hilfiger sunglasses. Take a look at how she promoted the collection:
The influencer marketing campaign for the product launch was a huge success, and generated 27.4 million impressions through 367 earned posts. The average engagement rate for the campaign was 3.4%, and the brand received an ROI of 422%.
2. Pedigree
Pedigree was looking associate human feelings with their brand and support a cause. According to a study by Cone Communications, almost 90% of the customers have a keen interest in switching to a brand that is linked with a good cause.
The campaign was was called, “Buy a Bag, Give a Bowl.” They collaborated with influencers to promote their campaign through various social media platforms. An influencer named Jamie H helped promote the campaign. The instagrammer shared the campaign on her Instagram account with the following post.
Another influencer, named Brandy Nelson, also helped promote the campaign. Below is the promotional post on her Instagram account.
The results of the campaign were impressive. The media value of the brand increased 1.3 times. The campaign also resulted in 62,000 content views, and a staggering 43 million impressions. The biggest impact of this campaign was that Pedigree was able to achieve what they wanted from the campaign by touching the emotions of their target customers.
3. Airbnb
As you’re probably already aware, Airbnb is a San Francisco based company that deals with booking accommodations around the world. But Airbnb wasn’t successful initially. When they started in 2008, they were unable to gather enough funds for expansion. But just ten years later, it is now a $31 billion company.
The influencer marketing strategy used by Airbnb has helped them attain massive growth over the years. They have collaborated with some of the top influencers on social media.
The above post was posted by Instagram influencer Martin Garrix. He is seen promoting Airbnb in the post.
The influencer marketing campaign by Airbnb was a huge success. A series of 37 promotional posts by various celebrity influencers received 18 million likes and 510,000 comments. The brand also gained 2.2 million followers on Instagram.
4. Subaru
Subaru is one of the largest growing automobile manufacturers in the US. This manufacturer has seen an ever increasing growth in their market share year after year. One of the reasons for the growth of this automobile manufacturer is their effective use of influencer marketing.
In their, “Meet an Owner” campaign, the brand collaborated with various influencers including photographers and athletes.
Zach King is a performer famous for his magic tricks. He has 19.7 million followers, and he was one of the influencers who was used to promote Subaru.
Another influencer, known as Devin Super Tramp, has 594k followers on Instagram, and more than 4.6 million subscribers on YouTube. He helped tell a unique story about Subaru in one of his YouTube videos.
The results of the influencer marketing campaign were outstanding. From 58 promotional posts, the campaign resulted in 1.9 million likes and 9k comments.
5. American Express
American Express is a well known financial institution, and as per a study conducted by Business Insider, spends a staggering $2.4 billion annually on advertisements.
The brand used top influencers as #AmexAmbassadors to promote their platinum credit card to potential customers.
Credit cards are offered by many large financial organizations, so the brand has some tough competition. To get an edge above other competitors, American Express used influencer marketing to promote their credit card. They also offered customers rewards like tickets for various events, travel upgrades, and other perks.
As part of the campaign, an influencer named Cara Loren posted a promotional post on her Instagram account. She has more than 700,000 followers on Instagram.
Another influencer, named Heidi Larsen, was also part of the #AmexAmbassador campaign.
6. Timex and MVMT Watches
Timex and MVMT Watches reached an audience of over 2M within one week with the help of influencers. The watch brands worked with niche influencers related to fashion.
Timex hired 22 influencers, who created approximately 27 sponsored posts on Instagram. The campaign, which reached about 2.3 million people, was a huge success. The posts received 86,000 likes, and over 1,000 comments.
One of the promotional posts for Timex was posted by Valdezkate, who is a commercial model with over 300,000 followers on Instagram.
Another post for Timex was posted by kateeliciousofc, who has close to 100,000 Instagram followers.
Similarly, MVMT watches hired 62 influencers, who created 73 sponsored posts. They were able to reach close to 3.4 million people.The posts created for the brand garnered 100,000 likes, and 2,800 comments.
This images was posted by an influencer named Kate Maksimcuk, who is a PhD student at the University of Manchester.
Another post for MVMT was uploaded by helloitsloh, who is a lifestyle blogger.
Conclusion
The examples above are real life cases showing how big brands like Timex, American Express, and Subaru have used the power of influencer marketing to promote their brands and achieved the desired results. In addition to these, brands like Motorola, Sony, Dunkin’ Donuts, etc. have all successfully executed campaigns with influencers. You can read about their success stories in this Influencer Marketing Hub post.
Do you have any questions about their influencer marketing campaigns, or any tips to add? Please share them in the comments below.