Is Influencer Marketing Still Possible During Covid-19 Concerns?
In short, yes, it is.
Amid Coronavirus concerns and increasing measures to cancel or postpone social activities and events, it's to be expected that companies will too have to minimise marketing activities and especially move away from any events marketing.
However, that doesn’t mean your influencer marketing strategy has to come to a grinding halt - on the contrary, with even more users active on social media following mass self-quarantine, your influencer marketing strategy can still reach its audience during this time.
Pivot from Offline to Online
Where possible, turn your offline strategies into digital ones. Let’s say an influencer has planned a meet-and-greet event for their viewers - now this would unfortunately not be in anyone’s best interests right now, but a lot of work has gone into preparing for the event. Repurposing it into a live-stream event where users can ask the influencer questions, or be part of a live version of their regular content such as an unboxing or clothing haul video, helps keep your influencer connected with their audience risk-free.
Reevaluate your campaign’s goals
With ongoing or existing campaigns it can be necessary to reevaluate your campaign’s goals and adjust them. For example, right now it might be counteractive to work on generating conversions or sales, particularly if your product isn’t hand sanitiser or toilet roll. Instead look towards brand awareness campaigns, building followers on social, or creating an email capture list for retargeting at a later, less tumultuous date. This also applies to moving a campaign’s incentives around current consumer needs; for example, offering free delivery on your products.
Freedom to experiment
If you have ongoing partnerships with influencers, allow them freedom to experiment with new ideas or approaches to their content, creating something they know their audiences will respond well to. Your influencers can also be messengers of hope during the crisis - while not directly pushing a product, having the right attitude during times like these will help solidify your brand as positive and uplifting in difficult times, and one that audiences will want to keep using again and again. Creating content focused around self care, good hygiene practices, fun ways to spend your time indoors etc. are all ways to generate authentic content that will keep your audiences engaged, even if they won’t necessarily need your product in the coming weeks.
Look towards long-form content
With less of your audience out and about and on the go, they’ll have more opportunity to enjoy longer-form content such as a podcast or video. Your influencer strategy could begin to include live-stream content as discussed above, or a longer, more detailed video. While YouTube is the second most influential media platform, your influencer may have a more established audience on Instagram; here IGTV and Instagram Live could also be highly effective.
Support your influencers
If nothing can be done and it looks like things are on hold for the time being, it’s still possible and essential to be Supporting your influencers during this time where work can be difficult to find for creative freelance and contract workers. Stay in touch and keep up to date with your influencers, be sensitive to their individual situations, and you’ll retain your strong relationships for when circumstances change once again.
During this time it would be counter productive to launch a full scale campaign, but by utilising your influencers you can use this downtime to experiment with new ideas and create more entertaining content for your audience, keeping them engaged and in touch with your brand online.
Bee Influence are a dedicated influencer marketing agency based in Manchester, UK. We’re committed to finding the most effective influencers for your brand and delivering end-to-end management for your campaigns.