25 Oct Influencer Marketing During the Holiday Season
Influencer marketing during the holiday season can be a great idea for brands. Keep in mind though that like us, they are busy too. We want them to act quick, come up with great content and check off all our ‘wants’ detailed in their agreements. Every so often though I think to myself, self, what do influencers really want? More specifically what do they want during the holidays when we are all ready to shut down mentally.
Keeping engaged with your influencers is a great idea and an even better idea is reaching out to them every so often just to keep a pulse on what they are looking for in brand relationships. It helps keep you on top of changes in influencer marketing and just continues to build that relationship between your company and your influencer network. Now that I’ve given you a little push to make sure to keep in touch, let’s get to that question of what influencers want from brands during the holiday season.
Influencers have families also
A bit back we talked about the fact that influencers have lives too and that is still a standing fact. During the holidays they too have busy lives and because the holiday season is at times a big push for certain brands their schedules get booked up quickly. If you’re looking to work with an influencer during the months of November and December, you may have a harder time securing them if you don’t allow for enough time. For December programs, it’s recommended to pitch in October. Not saying you won’t secure influencers if you wait, it just might make it more difficult.
Provide Clear and Concise Program Details
When pitching influencers to see if they are available and interested in your campaign make certain that your details are buttoned up ahead of that initial touch base. Know what type of content you are looking for; do you want a blog post with social shares? Does your campaign require video content? Is a store visit necessary? This information will just let the influencer know up front what type of ask you have and then be able to provide you with their compensation rate to deliver for your brand.
Dave and Deb of ThePlanetD.com a travel blog want just that. “Influencers want brands to have a clear outline of the campaign with details of what their expectations are for the project, who they are targeting, what the budget is and what deliverables are expected. Let the influencer know what metrics you require up front, don’t ask them after the fact to track views, click throughs or social media stats. If you require that information, let them know at the beginning of the campaign.”
Give them a Challenge
Even though I’ve stressed that this is the holiday season and influencers are busy, that doesn’t mean that they just want to go through the motions. Provide them with your brand objective and theme but let your influencers do what they do best and find a way to present it to their audience in fun ways. Amy Anderson from Modpoderocks.com agrees one-hundred percent – “I love it when brands give me challenges! I like to stretch my creative brain and use mediums in different ways than they’ve been used before…or do a project according to a theme. So fun!”
Remember it is the Holiday Season
This doesn’t mean your influencer programs should halt during this time, they still want to work on programs. Just remember that while you have all your tasks and plans during this season, so do influencers so make sure to give them enough time to create that great holiday content for you. Holiday content is a lot of fun to work on when you’re not rushed through it. “Working with brands on holiday posts is so much fun! I love to write and take pictures, so it’s a perfect fit. I love to be able to use my own voice and style in the add or post” – Samantha Potter from SamanthaPotterMusic.com
With all that being said, this is not meant to scare one away from running an influencer program during the holidays. If you remember the above items, it’ll just make for a smoother execution for both your brand and the influencers involved. And, as always, we are here to help! If you’re looking at a holiday program and are unsure on how to map it out with the holidays approaching, reach out to us and we’d be happy to help.
