Mastering the art of influencer gift giving
Written by Nicola Wellington on 3 minute read
Gifting platforms can help small businesses to grow their brand and engage with influencers.
Screen time and social media consumption surged throughout the pandemic, imposed lockdowns and the forced closure of hospitality, high street retail and travel operators saw many users adopt online to browse and shop.
The absence of in-person socialising led many to crave interaction via Zoom, House Party and influencers. In fact, influencer marketing consolidated its value for brand marketers, as consumers were able to view product items in real-time in an authentic and real way – without filters and on-demand.
The concept of consumer trust from product reviews isn’t new, the popularity of Tripadvisor, Trustpilot and online community forums speaks volumes. Influencer reviews accelerated the trust process, particularly in the absence of ‘try before you buy’ and due to the accessibility of short-form video content via Reels and TikTok.
How to optimise your gifting strategy
Gifting an influencer is an efficient and quick way for small businesses to start gaining social media mentions, brand awareness and increase traffic to site.
Successful influencer campaigns are based on brands allowing a content creator to experience their product – whether this is via Get Ready With Me make up looks, fashion hauls, laptop demos or a holiday. An influencer cannot truly recommend a product or item, without having used the product first, and due to the popularity of TikTok #hashtag challenges, viral videos and live shopping, online users want to get involved with your product too.
Go organic: as a brand marketer, you are seeking an influencer that is already engaged with your product, and reflects your target demographic. Look out to see who is already talking about your content, tagging your brand or engaging on social. Authenticity is the key to successful influencer content, and will pay off in acquiring loyal and returning customers.
It’s the thought that counts: gifting an influencer is the starting block to a long-term partnership; personalisation goes a long way. Let your recipients know that you value their review, time and content creation, and allow them to have input – add a note, ask them what colours they prefer, what items do they want, best ways to message, realistic content timings.
Gifting and the affiliate channel - it’s a gift that keeps on giving
Awin’s Link Builder (and Chrome extension), enables content creators to generate personalised tracking links directly to your brand’s product SKU and/or landing page. Affiliate links can be added directly to the influencer content that is featuring your gift or product. This enables consumers to purchase immediately at the point of interest, and for your brand to acquire customers that match your target demographic.
Don’t confuse gifting with payment; incorporating performance metrics rewards both brand and influencer, providing real-time reporting on audience engagement and product performance, and allows influencers to receive commission on sales generated for your brand. Awin’s platform facilitates quicker payments allowing brands to bonus in influencer fees within one platform.
Why is a gifting platform good for your brand?
Time is money, especially for a small business; gifting platforms offer all-in-one management allowing brands to send gifts at scale, facilitate introductions and contracting, resolve delivery issues and coordinate commission payments via Awin. Depending on the platform, your brand can choose whether to send out a specific new product launch or blanket selection or allow influencers to pick and choose from your website (up to a certain value or exclusive landing pages).
Awin collaborates with multiple gifting platforms such as The Room, Shopping Links and The Blogger Programme enabling brands to facilitate gifting, generate data insights down to product-level tracking, and tailor campaigns with voucher attribution and personalised discount codes.
- Discover influencers using customer parameters or search by demographic or keywords
- Obtain valuable data insights pertaining to each influencer over time
- Manage multiple gifting campaigns concurrently
- Review and pull-in content into one housed platform
- Personalise your influencer gifts
