Influencer campaigns are a rather popular marketing strategy these days. For instance, when most people hear the word “pudding” they tend to think of their childhood and the snacks they used to have. However, women with curly hair tend to have a different response to the word. For these women, one of the most popular hair products is the Pantene Pro-V Curl Defining Pudding, which helps curly hair retain natural curl without frizzing or drying out. The product leaves curly hair shiny and smells good, and it’s often mentioned by the influencers that worked with the brand on a promotional campaign during the summer months of 2019. Pantene worked with 25 black female influencers on Instagram and YouTube, creating content that centered around lifestyle, beauty, and hair. Several of the influencers for the campaign didn’t have millions of followers, but still had a decent number of them. Every influencer was contracted to share at least one sponsored post on every channel they used for that campaign. The ultimate goal was to drive awareness for the latest collection from the brand, which included the hair product. At the time of the promotional campaign, the audiences of the influencers that worked with Pantene had between 30,000 to 300,000 followers. In total, based on the number of followers of all the influencers, the potential reach was more than 2.5 million people.
Campaign Reach
The promotional campaign from Pantene managed to generate over 200,000 views on Instagram, over 50,000 likes, and thousands of comments. The overall engagement rate was over 12% on the platform. Meanwhile, on YouTube, the influencers generated nearly 300,000 views, with an engagement rate of around 4.5%. The most important thing that every influencer did when working on the campaign was mention the specific advantages that consumers could get when using the products from the brand. The goal was to create more product awareness with the target audience for the brand.
Audience Presence
The reason why Procter & Gamble decided to invest a considerable amount of resources in an influencer marketing campaign for this product launch from Pantene was that that’s where the consumers already were – social media. The target audience for these hair care products was present on social media platforms, not watching TV or reading newspapers and magazines. According to researchers, the main reason most consumers follow influencers these days is that they trust them a lot more than traditional outlets such as TV, newspapers, and magazines.
Consumer Trust
Many people these days don’t trust traditional media outlets. According to research, over 60% of consumers have stated that they trust the opinions of influencers a lot more than what the brands can say about themselves. In the same research, nearly 60% of consumers confirmed that they’ve purchased a product because it was recommended by an influencer. Influencers are able to connect with their audiences in a meaningful way, forming trusting relationships with them. When brands work with influencers on promotional campaigns, they build credibility with consumers, which generates more sales.