How To Run Successful Influencer Campaigns In Summer 2020

With most of us quarantined at home in the past few months, the demand for non-essential items and services dropped. After all, who needs a new Chanel bag if you can’t show it off? The influencer marketing industry has understandably been shaken up.

But that doesn't mean you should keep holding off on influencer marketing campaigns. Venues are opening back up and people are going out again, which means there’s probably more necessity for your products and services. Influencers also help provide a sense of community, inspiration, and guidance to help their followers make sense of current events.

Wait! Open venues don’t mean a complete return to pre-pandemic life. Many locations have implemented certain safety precautions, such as mandatory face masks and social distancing. Social gatherings with large crowds of people, such as music festivals and sporting games, aren’t resuming yet. Your influencer strategy should reflect the world as it currently stands, showing sensitivity and empathy to current events. 

Here are some ways you can work with social media influencers in 2020 and stay in touch with your audience:

How your brand can work with influencers now

1. Promote lower-risk activities and avoid portraying higher-risk ones

Some activities are simply safer than others, mainly due to how much distance you can naturally and/or easily maintain from other humans. Being outdoors is generally safer due to better air circulation, so running on the beach or going on a hike pose lower risks. Indoor activities with little space between yourself and others, such as going to a nightclub, are too risky at this point. 

Your influencers can promote your product or service being used in the safest ways you can that’ll still look great on Instagram. For example, a fashion brand might want to hold off on the party dresses and instead promote activewear at a stunning hiking trail (not a gym). If you’re a food brand, please don’t have an influencer raving how your BBQ sauce is the “life of the party” in a crowded yard. 

The safety of your influencers and customers should come before your profits and certainly before any awesome but risky ideas you have.

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2. Continue to promote products and services that can be used at home

Even if your local mall traffic has returned to pre-pandemic levels, not everyone is ready to go out as often as before. This is especially true for those of us who are immunocompromised, older, have other health conditions, or simply live with other individuals of the above.  

This means you can continue to promote loungewear, lingerie, Zoom call makeup looks, cleaning supplies, home workouts, and other items made for the home.  When doing so, ask your influencers to encourage their followers to stay home if they are at risk. Show how your product livens up home life.

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3. Work with a diverse range of influencers in ethnicity, skin color, and overall appearance.

Don’t forget that 2020 will also be going down in history for our recent civil rights movement. The last month’s movements have brought several amazing legal and social changes to our society, reforming our law enforcement and opening up important dialogues about racial discrimination. This phenomenon has graced the business world, as several companies have donated to nonprofits and have written odes to solidarity with Black people and people of color in general. 

Even though you’ve probably participated on social media as well, your activism shouldn’t merely be short-lived and performative. Racial discrimination has been pervasive in the influencer marketing industry, with multiple large companies having faced criticism for a lack of skin tone and racial diversity in their choice of influencers. Others have been criticized for hiring diverse influencers but failing to treat them with inclusivity and respect. 

Your customers are diverse and will want to see themselves reflected in your brand. If they don’t, they may look for themselves in your competitors.  Many customers prefer to buy from brands that reflect their values, and many value seeing a wide range of faces and bodies.

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4. Be careful who you work with.

You’re probably already careful to vet influencers for their followers, engagement rate, and past conversions. However, profits and numbers aren’t everything. As previously mentioned, your customers also care about your social values, which should impact which influencers you choose.

The pandemic and social movements have left many folks  justifiably emotional. Many are calling out brands for insensitive responses to the pandemic or to the Black Lives Matter movement. Since influencers are also brands in a way, followers are also sensitive to their responses to social issues as well. 

Your choice in influencer will impact your brand’s reputation. If you value making a positive social impact, it would be wise to choose a wholesome influencer with a history of activism. You should do plenty of research into anyone you choose. Working with an influencer known for a scandal or two could cause backlash.

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5. Partner with a nonprofit. 

You already know that the pandemic has caused several layoffs, which means millions more people have been needing a helping hand. Fortunately, several nonprofit organizations have stepped up to provide food, shelter, and other services for adversely affected families and individuals. Many animal shelters are asking for foster homes. National racial justice organizations have raked in millions in donations from several brands, so look into local ones.

Donating a portion of your profits to some of these organizations would be a seriously socially responsible thing to do. Talking about this on social media will catch the attention of your more charitable customers and make them more inclined to buy from you, tying back to the above point that customers prefer brands that align with their values. 

Influencers are fantastic options for getting the word out. Choosing an influencer with a history of activism would be ideal, as they’ve probably built up an audience interested in giving back.

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6. Craft meaningful messages.

These are odd, confusing, and sometimes troubling times. Influencers are seen as a source of inspiration, so pay attention to your campaign’s overall tone and voice.  Ensure that messages are generally positive, authentic, and inspiring in a way that aligns with your brand. 

Whatever you choose, try to avoid sounding too angry, pessimistic, or grim. If you’re going to stand for social causes, make sure you and your influencers authentically care about it and aren’t just showing off for clout. Many customers can detect shallow, inauthentic messages. 

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As much as we’d also like to have fun at a music festival, our health and safety come first. Some of your products and campaign ideas, no matter how groundbreaking they are, will just have to wait until things get better. 

No matter how many conversions you’re looking for, marketing nowadays isn’t just about that. Your brand is also about the community you build and the values you promote.

If you need any help with influencer campaigns, let’s talk!

xoxo,

Irose

How To Improve Diversity, Equality, & Inclusion In Marketing

Recent events have been shining a spotlight on a serious problem that’s plagued humanity forever: racism. Millions of protesters have been taking to the streets in major cities worldwide to show their support for the organization Black Lives Matter. Several individuals and brands have been taking to social media to show their support. Several companies have donated several thousand dollars to over a million to social impact organizations such as NAACP and the ACLU.

As a creative and influencer agency, we believe that companies have the power to do more than this, and many of them already have. Through marketing, brands can promote an environment that truly values different looks and voices long after these events. While educating your employees on equality and inclusion, your marketing can show these values to the outside world, building stronger relationships with your customers.

Starting with influencer marketing, here are some ways you can champion genuine diversity and inclusion that lasts.

1. Feature a truly diverse range of models and influencers -- in not just ethnicities but physical features.

A simple step towards more conscious marketing is through your influencer strategy. The influential figures representing your brand should reflect the diversity of your customers. If you aren’t familiar with influencer marketing, it works. According to research, consumers are very likely to look to influencers for purchase recommendations.

It’s unlikely you have a product that’ll only be used by light-skinned, extremely fit folks. If a diverse range of people can use your products, your marketing needs to reflect that. Choosing to have your brand represented by a narrow demographic will give the impression of exclusivity. 

Exclusivity and aspirational marketing is a brand strategy of the past; the current market demands diversity and relatability. One factor behind the success of brands like Savage X Fenty, Thirdlove, and Glossier is the diversity in the ethnicities, body types, and skin tones of their models and influencers. Customers like seeing themselves represented in their favorite brands.

Only featuring a narrow range of humans is likely to garner criticism. Fashion giant Revolve has been heavily criticized for disproportionately featuring skinny, white models. One theory behind the decline of Victoria’s Secret is its lack of body diversity compared to its competitors. According to its Instagram page, this is something they’re currently changing.

For many customers, a wide range of racial diversity isn’t enough. Every ethnicity features a wide range of skin tones, and darker-skinned black and brown women have often been ignored. Many people have pointed out that a disproportionate amount of the black women featured in ads are light-skinned and “not too black.” If you look at Fashion Nova’s Instagram, there are always comments along the lines of “finally!” every time a dark-skinned woman is featured.

Another great way to feature diversity by celebrating multicultural holidays, such as Eid, Diwali, and Lunar New Year. For example, beauty giant MAC features glamorous makeup tutorials specifically for Diwali, one of India’s most important holidays. If your marketing typically doesn’t include too many human faces, this can be a great way to show some cultural inclusivity.

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2. Make sure your influencers and models are all treated equally and respectfully.

Once you have a diverse set of employees and brand representatives, you have to keep them. Since subconscious biases are more common than we’d like to admit, this can take some work, but it’s vital. 

Multiple influencers of color have reported instances of exclusion and mistreatment on brand trips. A trip with the app Dote featured actual, literal segregation. Influencers have described being ignored by photographers and the other influencers onboard. 

This means that hiring influencers to make your brand look diverse and accepting isn’t enough. If they’re not being treated fairly behind the scenes when no one’s looking, your activism is merely performative. The influencers will definitely hold you accountable.

Any pay gaps should also be addressed.

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3. Study past marketing campaigns to not repeat their mistakes.

In 2018, Heineken released a short video with the tagline “sometimes lighter is better” to promote their light beer with only 99 calories. In the video, a bartender slides a glass of beer past three black individuals (the only ones clearly shown) before a light-skinned, racially ambiguous woman picks it up with a smile. 

While a glass of beer with only 99 calories was a great step forward for the beer giant, the ad was seen as a massive step backward, echoing traditional, regressive tropes. Even if a 99 calorie beer is surely preferred by many, so has lighter skin been. The preference for lighter skin is a global sentiment that has resulted in severe difficulties in social mobility. 

Several studies have found instances of darker-skinned children being discriminated against and graded more poorly by teachers relative to their light-skinned counterparts with the same behavior and performance. As adults, darker-skinned individuals face more difficulties in the job market and dating.

Your ad doesn’t have to be explicitly saying “white is right” to cause a backlash. Any implication, whether spoken or visual, of lighter-skinned or white superiority, can be read in a way you may not have intended it to. 

You can claim that the two people in the PlayStation ad below are equal to all you want, but it’s hard to deny that their pose is quite reminiscent of more divided times. 

Ads like the above are a cry for help for diversity in the marketing industry. If you have a diverse team, you’re less likely to have insensitive; tone-deaf ads make it out to the public. Not only will insensitive campaigns hurt your brand image, but they also result in profit loss.

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4. Participate in social movements and donate to nonprofits.

In light of recent events, several brands have featured posts of solidarity on social media. While most brands have posted short statements with a simple graphic and #blacklivesmatter, some have gone above and beyond. Uoma Beauty, a high-end, black-owned beauty brand, showed its CEO attending the protests on Instagram. Several brands have put out resources to educate its customers on anti-racism and have donated thousands of dollars to nonprofits fighting for racial equality.

You don’t need to wait for another series of protests to donate. If your team finds an issue you’re knowledgeable and passionate about; you can incorporate it into a marketing campaign even if mass protests aren’t being held with a call to action to donate to a relevant nonprofit. If the issue concerns a group of people that some of your customers may fall under, such as being LGBTQ+, this will make them feel appreciated and included.

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Understanding and connecting with your customers are an immovable part of business success. You should deeply analyze your existing and ideal customer base and pay attention to their feedback. Failing to hear their voices will push them away, feeling unwanted. If your customers don’t feel included and represented by you, they won’t stick around even if your products improve their lives.

Failing to be inclusive of your customer’s looks and opinions will hurt you in the long run. There’s probably someone else with an equally good product that works with influencers that customers can relate to better.

At Irose, we aim to be customer-centric. Even before these current events, we understood the importance of customers feeling represented, included, and appreciated. It’s not just about profits (although you’ll likely get a bump there); it’s also about making a positive social impact.

Xoxo,

Irose