Influencer-driven PR refers to public relations activities that aim to build and maintain relationships with influencers suitable for the brand. The goal is to achieve earned media in their channels, meaning visibility that has not been purchased with direct money.
In this article, we open up through our recent work what a brand should do to achieve earned media in influencers' channels.
The most popular influencers receive dozens of PR shipments and event invitations every week. Simply sending products (product seeding) is no longer sufficient in itself to gain attention. The brand must be able to produce genuine value, experiences, and a sense of community for the influencer.
When a brand plans influencer-driven PR, it's good to start with the question: What could we offer that is so interesting that the influencer feels that creating content is valuable for their audience? On the other hand, it is critical to identify those influencers for whom the idea is genuinely relevant.
Successful PR launches require an insightful idea and execution that gets both influencers and their followers interested in the topic.
Successful PR launches require an insightful idea and execution that gets both influencers and their followers interested in the topic.
One key way to achieve earned media is to tap into trending phenomena in popular culture. The better a brand is in touch with the times, the more likely it is to succeed in creating something that resonates with influencers and gives them a reason to create interesting content.
We have implemented several successful brand and PR experiences in the early part of the year, in which our partners have been able to be part of a larger, timely conversation.
Here are two recent examples of how trends are harnessed through PR as part of effective social media communication:
Sauna culture is undergoing a major transformation and is taking on new nuances. Nowadays people come to the sauna not only to relax but also for dating, yoga, or even dancing! Sauna raves have been seen around the world in London and New York, and in early February we brought them to Finland with Ehrmann's High Protein Creatine new product launch.
We combined the new product with the global Social Wellness trend, sweaty sauna raves, and ice swimming. We didn't pose in a showroom, but offered genuine fun, recovery, and community in a fresh Finnish way. As you can see from the photos, the atmosphere was really off the charts on Thursday morning!
The timing of clever marketing is everything. When we identified that in late February several influencers were excited about the Heated Rivalry hit series finale, we knew the time had come to implement a phenomenon-driven PR deployment for Kitchen Joy.
Watching the hot hockey series, we realized that Kitchen Joy's thai cubes, representing different levels of heat and warming up in five minutes, would be a perfect match for home couches. Our strategy was to deliver branded PR shipments exactly on the finale day in real-time marketing spirit.
In planning, we carefully considered the program brand's copyrights. The campaign message "Heated in 5 Minutes" was cleverly linked to the series name and the preparation time of the thai cubes. The courier was dressed as a Kitchen Joy hockey player to make the encounter as experiential as possible – and social media-friendly. As a result, the value of earned media achieved was more than three times the investment.
Brand experiences work when they are planned and executed to deliver value to influencers and the brand is connected to current cultural phenomena.
Instead of traditional one-way communication, the brand becomes part of trending phenomena and topics of conversation. Experiences planned with social media first are today's most valuable currency in both people's social feeds and face-to-face encounters. At their best, they help influencers create interesting content for their audiences.
Looking for a social media marketing partner? Get in touch with our team.
