When it comes to picking out gifts, many of us turn to social media for a dose of inspiration. And guess what? Influencers are the real MVPs here, making a huge difference in our buying decisions. Think about it: those live product testing videos, how-to tutorials, and fun Q&A sessions you stumble upon—those aren’t just random content pieces. They’re shaping how we choose our presents, especially when the holiday season rolls around.
In this article we will show you how you can leverage influencers during the holiday season.
#1 Ratings & reviews
The majority of shoppers actively seek trustworthy information and guidance when making a purchase, particularly when sales events are in progress. According to our Ratings & Reviews Survey, a staggering 90% of consumers make it a habit to seek out to online reviews prior to buying a product. So when people are being exposed to thousands of deals and offers, ratings and reviews play a pivotal role especially if its a new unknown or even unlaunched product.
In our campaigns we activate a number of so called nano influencers and they try out the product. Afterwards the are being motivated by us to publish a detailed and honest review for a product or service on different channels (review plattforms, brand website, online shops, etc.).
A recent example is our campaign with L’Oréal Paris, in Italy we had the challenge to increase the brands awareness and specially boost the new Telescopic Lift Mascara online. We also aimed to boost online sales conversions by improving the brands visibility on Amazon. For this we selected 150 nanos on TRND.it, all women who used competitos products over L’oréal’s, for a better and authentic opinion. They managed to write 142 outstanding reviews on Amazon an rated to product a 4.9/5. As it was a product launch, the Rating & Reviews campaign became an important part of the marketing plan, as they significantly increase the product credibility and, consequently, boost sales conversion. Check out here other results of the campaign such as the impressions.
#2 User-generated content
Similar to reviews about the products, people are being influenced by User generated content they see online. Firstly the attention, if you see hundred of different posts with the same product, it does arouse one´s curiosity. And then seeing from who those post come – from normal consumers – increases the brands authenticity. This grows the brands community of brand lovers and increases conversions. Also knowing that 60% of our most recent study said, that they trust and engage more likely with UGC than with brand content, underlines its importance.
A large amount of nano influencers can be activated and produce a massive number of UGC, even for sensitive topics or products no one usually talks about! In France for example we were able to generate almost 7K content pieces on social media about trash bags with the help of 3.000 nano and micro influencers. And in Italy we had the challenge to find 2.000 nano influencers that where comfortably to talk and post about period pads. Imagine this: 3.907 contents were created with this campaign!
Not only are pictures and videos from consumers with your product all over social media, but you can also buy some of the content pieces and use them on your brands profile, which increases the authenticity.
So creating User-generated content can have huge benefits if implementing this in your christmas strategy. Of course there is als Influencer-generated content, which is a bit different (read here why).
#3 Use Influencer
Nano influencer can bring you a massive amount of UGC and great feedback from the community. Macro and Star influencers on the other hand have a huge reach. Besides the typical campaigns of an unboxing or implementing the product/service in the daily content, there are many cool christmas themed possibilities. What influencers often do during this season: They share recommendations for gifts. But the product or service doesn´t always have to be integrated so obvious in the content. One example ist our campaign with the Sparda Bank West. 6 DIY-affine Macro influencers recreated an DYI idea to make their home look cozy for the Christmas season and filmed it for an IGTV Video. While doing that they talked about their experiences on the topic of home ownership and positioned the client as a competent partner in this field. See the content here.
#4 Giveaway
Giveaways play a huge part in the content of an influencer during the Christmas season. For example many of them have their own „advent calender“ in which they do a daily give a way during december. A fun way to reach people that might be inspired to buy your product as a gift. No matter what kind of giveaway, it usually includes some engagement from the participants such as liking sharing or commenting. The actions increase visibility online and also people talk about it offline. Doing giveaways with influencer especially during that time of the year also allows the brand and the influencer to collect sympathy points because every generousity during Christmas is highly appreciated.
#5 Plan ahead
The most important thing about an christmas campaign is planning ahead. Be it a campaign with thousands of nano influencers to generate reviews and massive UGC or a collaboration with a couple of macro influencers who present your product or service authentically.