Think of an Influencer as a bridge between traditional PR/media relations efforts and digital marketing/social media. Everything goes hand in hand, which is why the word ‘integrated’ is uttered 100 times a day at HIPR and Maverick.
Amplifying Buzz and Raising Awareness – Social media audiences live vicariously through Influencers, so take a ‘more is more’ approach. For broad campaigns, leverage and lean into PR and media relations to create a halo effect. For focused campaigns, use Influencers to bring experiences to life. Maverick used Influencers to generate buzz for its Hyatt Loves Local campaign last fall, coordinating takeovers with lifestyle publications and leveraging Influencer marketing to bring smaller stories of the program’s collaborators to life through first-person experiential narratives. Instagram Stories from regional and local Influencers peeled back the curtain on collaborators, while their photo and video content was so rich it painted a more colorful picture of collaborations than any PR pitch could provide.
Leveraging Specific Calls to Action – Among benefits of Influencers as spokespeople is the ability to work with them on messaging and have them include calls to action on their platforms, giving their audiences access to content and resulting in conversions. A trackable link specific to the Influencer, for instance, will track how many people clicked through. For The Point in Saranac Lake, New York, Maverick partnered with Influencer Lindsay Silberman to increase occupancy during winter, bartering a long-desired stay for real-time posts on her experiences. Silberman’s “Silb Squad” is famously loyal, so we weren’t surprised to see real-time conversions as she started posting. Not bad for a $2,000/night resort.
Let Influencers be the Face of Social Media Takeovers – When pitching social media engagement editors at magazines, let Influencers do the talking by telling of their experience on social media. This is a great option for securing hard-to-get coverage of limited campaigns while getting the brand’s messaging across – with the added benefit of securing coverage on the publication’s, the Influencer’s, and your own social media channels. To pitch Travel + Leisure on new pop-up igloos for outdoor dining at The Alexandrian in Virginia, Maverick enlisted local photographer Austin Rutland to experience and send all assets our way for rights-cleared views, getting the hotel in front of T&L’s six million followers and more.
Content Capture – All Influencers are content creators, but not all content creators are Influencers. Find those with photographic eyes, let them play double-duty by highlighting what they’re supposed to while giving you photography to use for social media, e-newsletters, marketing campaigns, and pitching media. We’ve found that content capture influencers tend to have smaller followings, so we often negotiate on a barter basis. For an Influencer trip to The Tryall Club in Jamaica, HIPR secured five leading travel and golf Influencers with affluent followings aligned with the property’s target audience. Payoff? Editorial-inspired visual asset creation including drone video content that the property can now leverage on its social media channels and marketing initiatives. Influencer trips should be considered along with press trips to alleviate the burden and cost of asset generation for the client.
It’s also worth noting that while the HIPR and Maverick Creative teams are on property making sure Influencer and press trips go smoothly, they’re also clicking cameras and amplifying content captures. We’re big fans of hitting many birds with one stone in keeping with our Influencer strategy to make the most out of something – on the front and back ends.
Watch the full presentation: https://vimeo.com/572748593