Introduction

Social media is a powerful thing. It has the potential to take a brand’s performance to the next level by boosting its reputation and increasing its sales. One of the biggest drivers of social media success is influencer marketing. Influencer marketing utilizes the significant power social media content creators wield to work on behalf of brands. Regardless of the social platform, user-generated content from talented social media influencers can significantly impact a business.

There are a lot of different companies that have launched an influencer campaign that has brought back big results. Some businesses have built their entire marketing strategy on the viability of influencer marketing and benefitted because of it. But like all marketing strategies, using influencers requires smart decision-making and an understanding of how to make influencer campaigns succeed.

Learning from those that have succeeded is a great recipe for understanding how to make your next social media campaigns bring back your best results. Let’s look at three brands that have had the best response to their use of social media influencers and see what we can learn from them.

Gymshark

If you are on TikTok, chances are you’ve seen Gymshark on your For You page at one point or another. So how did an athletic wear brand started in 2012 become a billion-dollar company in just ten years? Influencer marketing has been a big part of that. Gymshark has reached 3.4 million followers on TikTok by partnering with fitness influencers and creating new fitness trends.

Gymshark has partnered with several of the top influencers in their niche, but they’ve been smart by also driving the conversation. They’ve created branded trends and fitness challenges and gotten influencers to share them, inspiring additional posts from other social users. This is essentially free marketing for Gymshark and spreads its product across the social media platform. They are one of the most successful examples of TikTok influencer marketing.

Dior

Dior is a luxury brand whose reputation has been established for a long time. However, no company is too big for a tactical influencer marketing strategy, and Dior developed one by focusing on diversity. In 2020, Dior launched an influencer campaign called “67 Shades of Dior”. This campaign was focused on launching their new inclusive Forever Foundation, which comes with 67 tones of foundation to match different skin tones. 

Dior partnered with 67 influencers to launch this campaign whose skin tones matched each shade of their foundation. Skin tone wasn’t the only qualification. Each influencer had to have high engagement levels, proven past performance, an audience interested in beauty, and be located in targeted areas. The campaign led to almost 600,000 engagements and won an award for the best influencer campaign of the year.

Levis

Levis is an established brand that is the biggest name in the jeans market. They were looking for a way to appeal to younger Gen Z audiences and boost sales after they noticed a dropoff. To do this, they launched their “Buy Better, Wear Longer” campaign, which promoted the sustainability of Levis. To launch this campaign, they partnered with famous mega-influencers on almost every continent. Names included YouTuber Emma Chamberlain, rapper Jaden Smith, and soccer player Marcus Rashford.

This campaign showed Levis the value of influencer outreach, and they continued with a TikTok campaign that used four mega-influencers on the platform. This campaign helped Levis to double its product views. Unlike the other brands in this article, Levis went all-in on mega-influencer and celebrity influencers rather than micro-influencers. They still succeeded because they partnered with the right general, trendy influencers with a broad and young follower base.

What We Can Learn From These Brands

Here are some key takeaways from each of these brands’ social media campaigns.

Gymshark: Gymshark has thrived on volume. They are constantly churning out new campaigns and partnering with new influencers. They are a business whose influencer marketing strategy is a huge part of its success. They’ve also succeeded by driving the conversation, starting challenges, and getting additional user-generated content.

Dior: Dior found success with their campaign for two reasons. They had a clear goal in mind of the type of influencers they needed to partner with and a strong message for a cause many support. Their campaign promoted diversity in a way that wasn’t forced and aligned with their product, and they found the right influencers through strict criteria.

Levis: Levis succeeded by going big with their campaigns. They are a brand with a huge budget, and they can afford to spend on top influencers. Their campaign was aspirational because it involved massive celebrities and promoted a strong message of sustainability.

If you’re looking to hit the ground running with your influencer outreach, partnering with influencer marketing firms is your best bet. Influence Hunter is a top influencer marketing agency with years of experience helping brands from global corporations to rising start-ups develop high-performing, customizable campaigns. Contact Us Today to discover how we can help make your business the next influencer marketing success story.