7 Holiday Influencer Marketing Campaign Planning Tips

Influencer marketing matters year-round.

But marketers know all too well how holiday campaigns are most brands’ bread and butter.

Especially as the holiday retail season is longer (and more lucrative) than ever.

From e-commerce to brick-and-mortar retail, we’ve seen firsthand how brands of all shapes and sizes ramp up their influencer partnerships heading into Black Friday and throughout New Year’s.

And that’s all the more reason to prepare your holiday influencer marketing campaigns ASAP!

Below we break down our best tips and advice to maximize the impact of those campaigns.

1. Gift the Right Products to Your Influencers

For starters, focus on gifting products to creators by October or November (if not sooner).

With holiday influencer campaigns, it’s crucial to put your product choices under the microscope.

Let’s say you’re a skincare brand. It’d make more sense to focus on gift sets or products that could be featured in holiday gift guides versus something like an anti-aging serum.

Why? Because most people aren’t going to buy an anti-aging serum as a gift.

Holiday bundles and collections are ideal for influencer marketing campaigns because they allow creators to show off a variety of products. This also takes some pressure off you to pick the “perfect” product since your creators have options.

Just be mindful of what you send in your PR packages to creators over the holidays and don’t just send random items.  Pro-tip: your creators will appreciate receiving products that can be featured in gift guides. These products will make their lives easier when planning their holiday content.

2. Prep and Plan Your Holiday Promotions

Honestly, holiday influencer campaigns aren’t totally different from your year-round promotions.

There’s just less room for error.

This is why you need to set realistic goals and start planning early.

That planning might include making a list of creators you want to target for your holiday promotions.

Consider using Instagram or TikTok’s “save” feature to track influencers to pitch. Just remember that finding the right influencers can eat up a lot of time if you aren’t using a platform to match with them.

Beyond that, you need to be you’re prepared on the physical end before you launch your influencer campaign. Let’s say you’re promoting a huge Black Friday sale. You’ll want to have plenty of inventory on hand to account for an uptick in sales.

Your website should also be up-to-date to streamline the buying process for all new customers and repeat buyers. If you want influencers to help promote your brand’s Black Friday specials, you should get those gears in motion a few months early so they can post in time for your promo’s launch.

Engaging with content creators early will also help you secure influencer content that resonates with your target audience and drive valuable traffic to your holiday promotions.

3. Don’t Wait to Reach Out to Your Holiday Influencers

Again, you should start your influencer outreach in October or early November for the holiday season. This gives you time to negotiate with influencers and get your products in their hands ASAP.

The earlier, the better! Especially to account for issues like lost shipments or getting ghosted.

Timing matters with holiday influencer campaigns. Think about how most people will start their holiday shopping season in November. If you can get influencers to post about your brand in November, you’ll have content to promote throughout December and heading into the New Year.

4. ConsiderYour Holiday Campaign ROI

Tracking the success of influencer campaigns can be challenging if you’re trying to do it DIY.

And this applies to holiday campaigns, too.

Of course, there are many benefits to consider outside of “direct” ROI and revenue to consider. That’s why you need to make sure that your influencer marketing strategy ties in with other campaigns you’re running. This might include paid social, organic search or email marketing promotions.

(Check out our blog to learn about the different forms of influencer marketing ROI, including how user-generated content from influencers boosts engagement rates across multiple channels!)

5. When in Doubt, Keep Your Holiday Campaigns Simple

Expect an influx of brands reaching out to influencers at the same time you are.

The simpler your campaigns and the easier your instructions are to follow, the more likely you are to get content. That’s why it’s crucial to create a clear creative brief for your influencer partners.

If you are not clear about what you want from the influencers and don’t offer a strong value exchange through your products, don’t expect a ton of responses or posts.

Although this is important for influencer marketing collaborations all year, it’s especially true during the holiday shopping season because influencers are pitched so heavily. Anything you can do to stand out is a plus and keeping things simple is a smart way to do exactly that.

6. Couple Your Campaigns with a Dedicated Holiday Promotion

Tie your influencer campaigns to your Black Friday and other holiday promotions by providing influencers with a coupon code to share with their followers.

Just make sure you require them to mention the coupon code or promotion when they post! This can help improve your tracking and gather campaign insights.

When creating your influencer promo, be sure to add some exclusivity. If you’re already running a 20% off campaign on your website, make your influencer promo code slightly different (for example: 20% off + a surprise gift). This makes the promotion more exciting to share with their followers and likewise feels more exclusive than your other sales.

In our experience, giving a deadline for a promotion creates more of a sense of urgency which drives more conversions. For example, someting like “You can get free shipping on all orders through the end of the month” or “Use coupon code HOLIDAY for 20% off through December 15th.”

7. Don’t Silo Your Holiday Influencers

If you’ve never done an influencer marketing campaign in the past, make sure you manage your expectations if you are going to try it out for the holiday season.

The main misconception we see is business owners thinking that if they just partner with influencers, they will get customers and ROI instantly.

The reality? Influencer marketing should be one part of your full marketing strategy.

There’s so much you can do to support your creator campaigns and likewise there are so many ways your influencers can have a poistive impact elsewhere. For example, here are some to-dos:

• Making sure to have updated social accounts, with all current promotions listed.
• Engage with the influencers and their followers as they comment and answer their questions
• Reposting and promoting the influencer content (with their permission)
• Triple-checking your website and e-commerce checkout process for errors (on mobile, too)
• Setting up retargeting campaigns for shoppers that bounce from your website

Ready to Ramp Up Your Holiday Influencer Marketing Campaigns?

Getting ahead of the holiday rush means thoughtful planning and moving quicky.

Influencers and user-generated content play a massive role in maximizing the reach and visibility of your holiday promotions. Not to mention that creators instantly humanize your brand and help you stand out from the crowd.

If you need a faster way to get rights-ready influencer content for the holiday season, Statusphere’s software can help.

Our micro-influencer marketing software matches brands with influencers from our vetted network using 250+ first-party data points. This includes geotargeting for brands that want to promote products at retail locations. 

Statusphere also eliminates the most time-consuming pieces of working with influencers in-house thanks to our advanced matchmaking and fulfillment technology. That’s how our platform helped Lifetime earn 400+ pieces of content for a single holiday campaign.

Want to see how our platform works? Get in touch with one of our experts to learn how we can support your brand’s holiday campaigns with influencer content at scale.

This article was first published in August 2021. It was last updated September 6, 2024.