As the shelves begin to fill with festive paraphernalia, brands are gearing up for the Christmas rush ahead. With only a few months left till consumers start to shower their loved ones with gifts, marketers all over the globe have already begun to ramp up their marketing strategies, making the most of the busiest shopping time of the year.
Insights released by the Australian Retailers Association outlined that despite the increase in the cost of living, pre-Christmas shopping is on track to hit record highs in 2022, with spending set to reach a mammoth sum of $64.8 billion in Australia, which is a 3% increase from the previous year.
The study also revealed that consumers will be starting their Christmas shopping earlier than normal, with sales to kick off from November the 14th. As well as starting early, it comes as no surprise that 70% of that traffic is set to occur online. So, if you haven’t already thought about your Christmas campaigns, it’s time to make a start.
With a plethora of marketing strategies available to brands, it can be difficult to figure out the best plan of action to successfully promote your products. With the rise of online content creators, and the exponential growth of the ‘influencer’, which according to a report by Collabstr, is set to grow into a $15 billion market by the end of this year, it’s easy to see why marketers have set their sights on influencer marketing.
The answer is simple. Influencer marketing allows brands to work closely with relatable, genuine, and extremely influential content creators across the globe. Influencers allow brands to tap into niche markets and share their products with communities they usually wouldn't be able to reach and to do so through public figures that consumers listen to and trust.
Let’s face it, consumers have developed a pretty decent bull**** radar, they no longer want to see fake, misleading content by advertisers. By partnering with influencers and using the power of word-of-mouth marketing, brands are able to create genuine connections and start building long-term relationships with audiences they may never have been able to tap into.
Along with creating key connections with consumers, influencer marketing allows brands to build up a portfolio of branded marketing content that they can repurpose and reuse in other campaigns throughout the year. So really, It’s a win-win.
Now that you understand the power of the influencer, I am sure you’re wondering how best to utilise them for your Christmas campaigns. Firstly, finding the right influencer for your brand is essential.
With an influx of influencers over the last few years, finding the right representative for your brand can seem like an impossible task. There are a few important steps to take when vetting through the talent to find your brands perfect match. Every influencer is different, each with their own specific values and styles, so ensuring they align with your brand and product is crucial.
Firstly, by researching an influencer's niche you can ensure you’re working with influencers who truly align with your product and are also experts in their field. This allows you to share your product with a like-minded community, and with consumers who trust the opinion of the person who is sharing the information.
Secondly, you want to ensure that you factor in their reach, engagement, and their specific audience type. By ensuring their reach and engagement levels are high, you are making sure your brand is being exposed to a larger audience of active consumers who genuinely listen and respond to the influencer. As well as this, ensuring their audience type and demographic is well suited to the brand is crucial.
It’s important to keep in mind, that although reach is important, do not disregard the power of the nano influencer. A nano influencer usually has a following of around 1K to 10K followers, and although these numbers aren't astounding, their following can be more impactful and loyal than macro-influencers, who have a following of 50K to 1M. Nano influencers as also more cost-effective and share a very authentic view with their audience.
Although there are easy steps to help you find the right influencer for your campaign, it can still be a tricky task. Luckily, there are various platforms that can assist. Companies like The Influencers Agency can assist you with everything from building your initial strategy, to talent vetting, campaign support, and reporting post-campaign.
When planning for your Christmas campaigns it’s important to think about your main objectives. There are various ways to work with an influencer. From sponsored Instagram posts and stories to social media takeovers and live shopping events, there is a plethora of opportunities. Having clear goals in mind will help you to best choose what type of collaboration suits your brand.
Again, it’s never easy to pin it down to one option, so here are a few ways you can collaborate with influencers to best suit your brand this Christmas.
A well-known way to work with influencers is through a gifting collaboration. Gifting is when a brand gifts a product to one or multiple influencers in an unpaid collaboration. The brand provides a product free of charge in return for the influencer sharing an authentic review with their online community.
A great way to get your products top of mind for Christmas is by sending influencers a gift pack to review, perhaps even working with them to create a Christmas gift guide that they could share across various social media platforms.
Gifting is also a great way to ensure the influencer aligns well with your brand and that their audience also responds positively to your products. By taking away the financial factor, influencers feel they aren’t pressured to fake their responses to the products you send and can authentically express their overall experience with your brand. Platforms like #gifted are designed specifically for gifting only collabs!
Another way to work with influencers is through Christmas competitions. Competitions are a sure-fire way to drive traffic to your website, grow your social platforms, as well as create engagement and awareness around your brand and the campaign. By partnering with influencers to host your Christmas giveaway, you’re opening your brand up to their audience and letting consumers connect with your brand through a voice they trust.
Competitions also add an element of excitement and fun, which can sometimes be lost in traditional types of collaborations. If competitions sound like something that would suit your brand, remember to have fun with them. Try playing into the Christmas theme, for example doing a 12-days of Christmas countdown where you give away a small gift every day.
You may have seen your favourite brands being hijacked by an influencer for the day and wondered what on earth is going on, well social media's newest trend has taken influencer collaborations to another level.
If you’ve ever been curious about social media takeovers, Christmas would be the time to try it out.
With consumers being bombarded with brands every time they open their phones, creating a collaboration that’s a little different will definitely help you stand out from the crowd.
Giving influencers control over your social platforms for a set period of time is a fantastic way to build trust with the influencers and their community, gain new followers, be exposed to a new set of eyes, and have a bit of fun with your partnership. Influencers have a certain power over their audience, so by allowing them full access to your brand, consumers can follow along for the journey and form a genuine connection to your products.
A fun way to do a takeover this Christmas could be by giving the influencer a backstage pass to the brand. Opening their audience up to your brand in an uncensored way really allows the brand to show its personality and build an authentic relationship with its followers. Think about giving the influencer access to behind-the-scenes of your brand, with access to your warehouse or retail stores, and letting the influencer share all your Christmas goodies with their community.
Last but not least, there is social media video content. Working with influencers to create video content, such as reels or stories is a fantastic way to get your products in front of large audiences with a public figure who they already trust and look to for advice.
A great way to use video content for Christmas this year is by doing a pre-Christmas Live haul or unboxing of your products, where the influencer discusses each individual product you have on offer this festive season. The live factor also allows influencers to speak firsthand with their audience in real-time, adding a deeper authentic connection between the influencer and their community.
Whichever type of collaboration you choose, it’s clear to see why brands are turning to influencers to elevate their Christmas campaigns. By launching an influencer campaign ahead of Christmas, you can market your brand to a larger audience, tap into a market you perhaps weren’t able to reach or connect with previously, and greatly increase your ROI. So, if you haven’t already, it’s time to start tapping into the world of influencer marketing.
If you need help making sure your Christmas campaign is a success, you’ve come to the right place! For a flat rate of $3k+GST per campaign, we’ll handle everything from strategy, sourcing, contracts, content approval & reporting. Get in touch with us today organise an explainer call with one of our expert team!
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