A number of companies have had extremely successful influencer marketing campaigns in the last decade. Other businesses can learn from their examples and implement similar strategies in their own campaigns. Looking at what has and hasn’t worked for others is one of the best ways to learn, no matter if it’s about influencer marketing, programming, or any other skill or industry. And while it might sound smart to look for successful campaigns within a company’s own niche, there are times when it’s important to look at other industries and their success in influencer marketing. That’s because sometimes the best ideas are the ones that are completely outside of the box.
Microsoft
Microsoft created a marketing campaign titled “Make What’s Next” which encouraged young women to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). The brand decided to team up with National Geographic on International Women’s Day, and to showcase 30 different photos that were taken by well-known wildlife photographers.
The photos were shared on National Geographic’s Instagram account to encourage more women to pursue STEM activities. They included photos depicting various female scientists and outdoor adventurers With an influencer marketing campaign, Microsoft and National Geographic collaborated to increase awareness about the prominent issue of a lack of women in STEM fields, and generated over 3 million likes on the photos in a single day. Both of the brands cast themselves in a positive light with the public, and started driving a positive sentiment with consumers.
To promote the brand’s new Pixelbook laptop, Google decided to work with two DIY-focused micro-influencers that were running The Sorry Girls account on Instagram. The influencers launched a giveaway contest through a sponsored post which instructed people to participate by liking the image and leaving a comment describing how they’d use the Pixelbook if they ended up winning the product. Although The Sorry Girls are niche influencers that had less than 100,000 followers at the time of the campaign, the giveaway post alone managed to generate an engagement rate of nearly 60%.
On the other hand, big influencers and celebrities like Kim Kardashian, who has over 200 million followers, frequently yield a much smaller engagement rate with users on Instagram . Many companies have noted that micro-influencers get a much higher engagement rate compared to big influencers and celebrities because they have a stronger connection with their followers. Additionally, those followers are a lot more likely to engage with the influencers because they’re happy to see the content they share, which might not always be the case with influencers with bigger followings.