Retailers Look Toward Influencer Campaigns to Boost Holiday Sales

Todd Grossman, CEO Americas, TalkwalkerAs the temperatures cool down, holiday shopping is heating up with many brands across many industries turning to the booming tactic of influencer marketing to boost sales.From celebrities like Kylie Jenner to mico-influencers, thousands of professionals tout the title of influencer and thousands more looking to achieve the level of popularity. In fact, 37 percent of marketers now dedicating budget to the strategy, and 67 percent promising to increase the relevant budget year-on-year. With that in mind, social media analytics firm Talkwalker, found that in 2018 so far, the term influencer or influencer marketing has appeared more than 14.7 million times across social platforms, news outlets, blogs, and forums.In 2017, total retail e-commerce sales reached $2.3 trillion. By 2021 they’re projected to reach $3.5 trillion and a majority of these sales are made during the holiday season. In fact, November and December drive 30 percent more e-commerce revenue than non-holiday months.Three recent campaigns focused on retailers engaging influencers have been among the more successful.My Tales of Whisky, an influencer campaign conducted byDiageo, the parent company of Scottish whiskey brands Lagavulin and Oban, was awarded a Shorty Award for Best Influencer Marketing Campaign for this Yule log video starring Parks and Recreation's Nick Offerman. The 44-minute minute video shows Offerman sitting by a crackling fireplace, staring broodingly into the camera, and occasionally savoring a sip of his drink. Thanks to the simple seasonal premise and Offerman's unique brand, the video was a viral hit, counting 3,483,273 views and 43,000 likes from YouTube and Instagram..https://youtu.be/LS-ErOKpO4ELovePop, an influencer campaign for LovePop conducted by influencer Travis Bryant netted 77,279 views and 3,000 likes from YouTube and Instagram. Although the primary purpose of the video was to show off the cool gingerbread houses made by Bryant, he was able to discuss LovePop cards in an unobtrusive, authentic manner. On top of this, Bryant included a link to LovePop in the video description along with a generous discount.When Old Navy wanted to promote certain lines of holiday clothes, the brand decided to get an expert on the case. Influencer Meghan Rienks has 1.3 million followers on Instagram and 2 million subscribers on YouTube. Old Navy worked with Rienks to debut three different fashion styles for the holidays, which promoted the brand’s clothing lines and put Old Navy in front of Rienks’s followers, resulting in 31,928 views and 2,900 likes on YouTube and Instagram.