15 Creative Ways to Engage Influencers in Promoting Your Brand
In the dynamic world of social media, engaging influencers requires creativity and innovation. We gathered insights from CEOs, directors, and other executives on unique strategies they’ve employed, from hosting charitable online yoga retreats to engaging non-target market influencers. Dive into these fifteen inventive approaches that have elevated brand visibility and engagement across various platforms.
15 Creative Ways to Engage Influencers in Promoting Your Brand
I hosted an online yoga retreat with a twist—it was all about supporting those in need during the pandemic. The goal was to spread body positivity, self-awareness, and self-empowerment, things we all needed after the rollercoaster of the pandemic. It was donation-based; people could join by giving. This not only created a community of like-minded folks but also allowed us to do some good together.
The impact was awesome. Our brand got noticed. Influencers hopped on board, and social media lit up with discussions. We became known as a brand that’s not just about travel and fitness but also about making a positive change. Engagement went through the roof, and our community grew.
We launched a “Virtual Experience Exchange” program in our pursuit of new influencer engagement. We asked influencers to immerse themselves in our brand through virtual reality experiences suited to our products, rather than standard product placements. This not only gave influencers a one-of-a-kind and memorable experience but also provided them with firsthand knowledge to honestly share with their followers.
The impact on our brand’s visibility was astounding, as influencers went above and beyond standard endorsements, passionately detailing their immersive experiences. This approach not only distinguished us in a congested social media landscape but also built a community of interested followers eager to learn more about our brand’s offerings, resulting in a large increase in both visibility and revenues.
We introduced a “Challenge Your Creativity” campaign to engage influencers in promoting our brand on social media. We sent them fun and creative challenges related to our products, encouraging them to showcase their unique ideas.
We realized it’s a great way to involve influencers in our marketing strategy. They can share their experiences and creations, fostering a sense of excitement around our brand. It allows the influencers to create interesting content and gives us positive publicity.
Additionally, these challenges are great at sparking conversations that lead to increased visibility and engagement. Users begin participating, creating a ripple effect of user-generated content that we can recycle on our brand’s page.
Tip 4
Developed Influencer-Ambassador Program
Eric Lam, Head of Business Strategy, San Francisco Tax Appeal
We developed an influencer-ambassador program with transparent expectations, responsiveness from our team, and rewards for impact, not just reach. This cultivated authentic connections that increased our regional awareness exponentially compared to more transactional influencer partnerships.
For example, by providing our ambassadors with individualized analytics dashboards to showcase their tangible influence, we further incentivized impactful content creation and engagement. We also hosted biannual events to facilitate meaningful networking between our ambassadors, fostering an ongoing community that extended our brand’s reach through firsthand referrals and recommendations.
Tip 5
Debated Hypothetical Legal Problems
Gerrid Smith, Communications Manager, Texas Property Tax Loan Pros
Create a series of “Legal Insight Challenges” in which influential people are invited to debate hypothetical legal problems related to criminal defense and federal law. Your legal staff offers experienced insights or solutions to each influencer’s individual circumstances. By working together, you can teach the audience and highlight your firm’s ability to handle complicated legal matters.
By simplifying complex legal matters into manageable parts, influencers may help their audience understand the process, making your business more approachable. This strategy can dramatically boost engagement by encouraging followers to ask questions or create situations, resulting in a dynamic and interactive learning experience.
I coordinated a social media relay where influencers passed a virtual baton by tagging each other in posts featuring our services. This created a chain of content that highlighted our brand across various influencer networks. It resulted in increased cross-audience exposure and a spike in social media interactions.
Collaborate with influencers to build social justice initiatives that highlight criminal defense and federal law challenges. Justice reform, the abolition of false convictions, and the value of fair representation are all possible areas of emphasis for such initiatives. Influencers can share personal experiences, case studies, and call-to-action messages with their followers, pushing them to get involved in these issues.
By linking your brand with social justice initiatives, you may increase your visibility and show that you’re committed to making a difference in the legal industry. Socially conscious audiences respond positively to this strategy, which could result in a larger and more dedicated fan base.
I’ve found that the best way to engage influencers in promoting my brand on social media is to make it easy for them. I’m a big believer in the idea that if you want something done, you have to do it yourself—so I reach out and ask influencers for help promoting my brand.
I’ve found that this strategy has had a huge impact on my brand’s visibility and engagement. Influencers are more likely to promote brands with which they feel they have a personal connection, and so when they see that I’m reaching out personally, asking for their help, they’re more likely to say yes.
Additionally, when an influencer takes the time to write or post about your brand, they often take care with the content they produce—and that means it’s going to be good!
We’ve had a couple of opportunities now to work with influencers who were documenting their moving experiences with us. This is a pretty organic approach for us when we can find influencers who fit our target niche and are interested. The Bellhop experience is a great fit for visual mediums, especially YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, and those are the platforms we target for our partnerships.
One of the most innovative approaches I’ve used to engage influencers in promoting my brand on social media is to invite them to a dinner party.
It’s not just any dinner party, though. It’s a dinner party where we’ve invited all of our favorite influencers and had a few other people there, too—people who are just interested in getting to know the influencers better. The idea is that these people are brought together so they can have an open conversation about what they’re all working on, what they’re excited about, and how they can help each other out.
I think this really works because it creates an environment of mutual understanding and support. Everyone gets along well, and there’s a lot of back-and-forth between everyone involved. This helps us identify more opportunities for collaboration between us—and it makes us feel more like part of a team than just another big company trying to get them to do something for us.
Brands tend to make influencers work on their content. They believe a brand can determine the best content to accentuate its value. Influencers should act as mediums and make the brand’s message reach a wide range of audiences on social media.
We took a different and unique approach to this. We gave complete creative freedom to our influencer partners. Despite our extensive research, we understood that influencers know their audiences best. They know what content will evoke emotions from their audiences and compel them to take actions, like utilizing our services.
This method worked well for us. The influencers created intriguing and unique content, which impressed their followers. It resonated with them and left a profound emotional impact. They also understood our brand’s message through the content. Consequently, it increased our brand’s visibility and engagement.
We recently partnered with an influencer named Caffeine Man, who’s a popular energy drink reviewer on YouTube. Something we did was add single-can energy drinks to our site; previously, we’d only sell full cases of 12. We would send him new energy drinks to try, and he could encourage his audience to visit us to buy a single can to try. It got us in front of an all-new audience and a younger audience we previously didn’t have access to.
We launched a “Day in the Life” influencer series. We teamed up with influencers who genuinely vibe with our brand, giving them complete creative freedom to showcase a day in their life using our products. It was raw, unfiltered, and 100% authentic—think TikTok showing real-life, relatable moments.
For example, a fitness influencer integrated our health snack into her pre-workout routine and post-workout snack. The content was her genuine routine, which resonated with her followers. This approach brought our products into real-life contexts, boosting credibility and improving engagement. By giving influencers the freedom to be authentic, we created more meaningful and effective brand endorsements.
We grew our organic audience base and engaged influencers by appealing to parents with our content and through sharing value-driven advice, relatable pregnancy content, and vital women’s health material.
For example, a recent post we made on the postpartum period strikes a balance between first-hand testimonials and real doctors’ advice for navigating the postpartum phase of motherhood. This post’s content is highly relevant to our audience and is a brick in the communities our customers are often searching for. Instagram has been a real boon to our business—for sharing educational material, testimonials, and adorable baby photos that people want to see. If you can follow the engagement, you can make your own formula for success.
Don’t discount influencers who aren’t in your target market. There are plenty of influencers who might not fall into your target, but they speak to an audience full of people highly relevant to your brand. I think when you’re able to partner with these influencers, it can be even more impactful on the audience if the connection is unexpected.
Since the market is so over-saturated, finding unique ways to stand out makes people stop, look, and take note of your brand.
Creative ways to engage influencers in promoting your brand
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