It’s no surprise that we are seeing a natural uptick in the use of leveraging an influencer as part of a marketing plan on social media. A survey by CivicScience revealed that 15% of American’s said they’ve bought a product or service because an influencer recommended it. That number of those influenced to purchase from an influencer recommendation skyrockets to 42% when you are talking about daily Instagram users.
We see the popularity of influencers rising, and their impact can be a game changer for increasing brand awareness and the viral success of your sweepstakes.
Not all influencers are celebrities, however. Realistically, a local food blogger, a young adult you’ve never heard of who has a knack for fashion, or an everyday parent might be the right influencer for you. You should factor in their relevance, reach, and how they resonate with an audience when doing your due diligence to find an influencer.
Let’s look at a few things to bear in mind as you consider working with influencers.
- Start with your goals. It won’t do you much good if you get connected with a great influencer when you don’t have a measured goal in mind for what success looks like for your sweepstakes, whether it’s a 10% increase in followers, gathering 100 submissions of user-generated content (UGC), or collecting 10,000 email addresses, for example.
- Research for brand fit and audience fit. An influencer is an extension of your brand so dig deep into their posts and reputation. Do you want this person representing your brand? Do they genuinely like your brand? If they don’t believe it, you probably don’t want them acting like they like your products or services. Is their audience the audience you want and on the platform they are on? If not, it’s not the right fit.
- Factor in loyalty and frequency. A micro-influencer with a reach less than 2,000 followers might have a loyal audience that will participate in your sweepstakes. Broader reach can mean diluted audience engagement. Watch out for over-saturated influencers, too. Their posts will lose some of the punch if they are promoting a different brand on a daily basis, and followers probably won’t engage.
- Talk through a plan that helps you both. Set up a call to ask them what you can do for them beyond their fee. If there’s a smart way to incentivize them to work harder for you, you both might see more success in your sweepstakes.
- Allow a creative leash. Once you’ve settled on an influencer you are comfortable with, you have to give them slack to use their creative liberty. They’ve built their followers, and they know how to talk to them in a way that’s authentic and effective. If you push your agenda too much, their audience won’t buy it. However, you’ll want to make sure that they are disclosing their relationship with you per the FTC’s Endorsement Guidelines and disclosing sweepstakes rules.
You want to be wanted. It’s not enough to have passive social media followers. An influencer can be the extra allure that introduces you to new followers who will ultimately engage, interact, and crave your content.
Once you’ve landed on the right influencer for your company and goals, then you still have a sweepstakes to run, and most likely you’ll execute it on at least one social media platform. Social media sweepstakes promotions can be easy to run, less expensive than other online promotions, and viral (if you get it right!).
We’ve talked about the three easy types of social media sweepstakes: hashtag, like and comment, and retweet sweepstakes.
The most common goal for these sweepstakes is increasing your number of followers. They can also help build your library of UGC and improve follower engagement with your brand – score!
Don’t forget these basics if you are running a sweepstakes on social media:
- Check and follow the social media platform’s guidelines and policies
- Know Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) Endorsement Guidelines and Regulations
- Include appropriate legal disclaimers
- Bring in a professional sweepstakes administrator
Working with a sweepstake administrator can be important because there are so many moving parts, rules, and regulations that you can’t afford to ignore or miss. A partner like US Sweeps is a one-stop-shop for getting the expertise your sweepstakes deserves. We work with clients of all sizes – small to large businesses, and all types, including advertising & promotions agencies and fortune 500 companies.
Whether you decide to leverage an influencer to promote your sweepstakes or not, US Sweepstakes will work with you to build a sweepstakes to meet your goals and run smoothly from planning to fulfillment. Contact Us today or call (888) 706-5814 to get started.
