5 Secrets of Influencer Marketing in Quarantine

You want to be there with your audience through challenging times and influencer marketing campaigns are enabling just that. They provide an efficient means to get the message across a diverse range of users.

Communication is the only way to preserve the trust people put in your brand despite it having been worn down due to the pressure the uncertainty of tomorrow brings. However, the words you pick have to reach a level of accuracy that leaves no room for misinterpretation.

With economical activities facing deceleration, companies rely on marketing channels to maintain their connection with the public. As the prospect of amassing large waves of new clients fades with consumers cutting down on their expenses, most businesses have to go back to basics. Nurture their core community of clients, those people who kept choosing the same labels despite the competition getting more attractive with each passing month.

So here are a few tweaks that marketers can discuss with their communities of influencers. These steps have already proven to be effective in driving action across social media in the months following the coronavirus outbreak.

1. The stress falls on “information”

Prior to the global health crisis, there was a general routine and everybody was part of it. There was no need anymore for explanations. People were so familiar with the way things worked, that seldom did brands engage in informational ads.

It’s gotten to such a state that commercials and social media banners were all about creating a state of mind. The Old Spice man has become the fragrance all ladies want to sense when with their men. Red Bull advanced beyond the cliche images of people drinking a can of energy drink. Their marketing efforts have been gathering sports lovers for years to catch their craziest stunts on film while they’re wearing the Red Bull logo.

This way, advertisers had complete freedom to fill up those seconds, minutes or hours of content meant to make viewers feel something. Less time for definitions, more time for creativity.

Yet the pandemic changed the rules of the game. Those who have no other choice but to stay home, those who have to go to work while looking back their shoulders with each passer-by, and those who are at great risk saving lives or businesses. These are the ones that have already forgotten how to do shopping on the spur of the moment. Each expense has to be justified.

Consumers need to know if their products are necessary in these times. This essential quality can either handle the basic needs of the shopper or the humanitarian initiatives of the source company.

For instance, Ariel has posted about how GoGo SqueeZ snacks are not only kindling precious family moments but also helping customers pay it forward. With each product people buy, the company delivers a meal to food banks.

2. The second read is for negative reactions

Whether you’re going through a copy sent by a social partner for a second opinion or the guidelines you pointed out for your influencers, you need to play the devil’s advocate. Otherwise, others will do it for you.

The world is now waging war against misinformation and speculation. At any sign of one of these lapses, the public fed up with manipulations and fake news will retaliate. This is why it’s crucial to go over your soon-to-be-published content with a critical eye. Consider which parts are highlighting values and which are prone to future backlash.

While the waves coronavirus has stirred across social media are beginning to settle down after a month of lockdown, this is no time to let your guard down.

Curated photos and videos are starting to amass good engagement rates once again as people are getting accustomed to their new comfort zones. Still, make sure there’s no poorly chosen background or insensitive word that might disrupt the healing process.

This doesn’t mean that brands can’t join the social recovery as the world readies to exit the lockdown. On the contrary, social media content might be exactly what people need. The thrill of feeling alive and reconnecting with the beauty of the world. Yet proceed on the path equipped with an empathetic and tactful approach.

3. Aim for prevalence

More companies are diminishing their ad budgets as the coronavirus has put wallets on lockdown. Yet the current developments beg the question: is this the right time to catch one’s breath or will an aggressive attitude towards marketing ensure the financial economy?

The aggressive side shouldn’t spring from spamming the public with the same message. Now more than ever, brands need to hold their position within people’s list of priorities. They can do that by committing to a slew of actions periodically in line with global efforts of taking down the threat to all our health.

So while your competition is withdrawing from the public attention, keeping their resources for better times, you can turn the tables in your favor. Those brands that are on everybody’s lips nowadays are those that got involved knee-deep in current undertakings, despite the risks.

A low-key approach might keep you safe throughout difficult times. However, this strategy helps no brands from slipping off people’s minds overnight.

So one of the things influencers are really good at is to tape your logo to feeds and Stories. Every time users open their social apps, it’s ideal to see your brand mentioned in some form or another. Being prevalent in times of crisis will most definitely secure an accelerated comeback in the ensuing prosperous period.

4. Be you

With events canceled all over the world, brands don’t have the dashing glam of product launches to hide behind anymore. It’s just them and a confined audience.

Magic tricks and artifice cannot soothe the anguish your audience is now going through. In this case, influencers have to connect at a more intimate level with people that have not had a change of scenery in weeks. This is the picture that frames the cultural environment right now with few variations.

It is vital for brands to be perceived as relevant and supportive. What better way is there to reach isolated customers than through influencers who are managing their followers from the seclusion of their homes.

Julieta Roldan is a micro-influencer with a knack for making herself comfortable at home. She shares with her audience how she’s spending her isolation days, even though her activities are as mundane as playing video games and snacking. But isn’t everybody doing it these days? Her couch is the perfect setting that everyone can relate to.

5. Team up with entertainment

Granted, anyone that puts a smile on faces in a crisis offers relief and attracts gratitude. It’s not an easy task to entertain without coming off as insensitive. Yet once influencers hit the sweet spot, they reaffirm their charisma to their audiences.

Brands are rolling out influencer campaigns with a touch of fun. They succeed in diffusing some of the accumulated tension. This underlines the fact that people are still searching for things that make them feel good and take their minds off the grim news even for just a moment.

Influencer marketing is ceaselessly adapting

Influencers are going where their followers are dreaming. That is, social creators have raised to popularity through their content that becomes inspirational to a large audience.

Therefore, influencers are an integral part of their audience. This is something brands might not be able to achieve. Companies will always remain some external stimuli due to their inability to expand their plethora of recommended lifestyles and products beyond their own offering.

That is why influencers and brands will always make a great team. Even in challenging times, influencers remain the same customers who are the first to try new products. Experiment the new normal of staying home. Test helpful items in the context of a lockdown. All this time, social users are watching and testing the routines they see in their own terms in lack of any other form of guidance.

All in all, influencer marketing campaigns have all the right cards to help sales in the aftermath of a pandemic. They are versatile. They can inform, get positive feedback, stimulate ubiquity, commit to authenticity, and entertain an audience.