Influencer Marketing – EVENTS
In a recent podcast we gave an introduction to Influencer Marketing, explaining what it is and who counts as an influencer, why it’s such a great marketing technique, how to find influencers and choose the right influencer to partner with your brand and, finally, the various ways you can engage the influence to promote whatever it is you’re selling.
SIDE NOTE – You can find the Marketing 101 podcast on all podcast apps/platforms, or you can click below to listen to this specific episode.
One of the best ways to get influencers involved with your brand, product or service is to hold an event. It creates a ‘real world’ experience that the influencer(s) can then take with them back to their online audience, creating a strong, relatable story.
With this in mind we decided to throw down some of our best ‘Influencer Event’ ideas to help you figure out what kind of event you might to put on. Some of them are just ideas, and others are real events that we’ve been involved with in the past where you’ll find videos of the event. If you think of any other ideas, be sure to drop us a line!
1 – GAMES NIGHT
If you sell toys, games, merchandise then OBVIOUSLY this is great for you, but if you don’t then just use your product or services as prizes! Give the influencers a great night then shower them with gifts and get great post-event content.
Here’s an event that used dressing up, plus various games and tomfoolery to promote Harry Potter merchandise to some Wizarding World influencers;
2 – EXPERIENCE YOUR SERVICE
Great for any kind of in-store business, invite some influencers to try out your product or services. Get them in one at a time, or invite them all at once for a bit of a party. After hours with a bit of booze might go down well. This would be wonderful for;
- Hair-dressers
- Salons
- Make-up shops
- Wellness venues (massage etc.)
- Gymns
- Sports venues
- Food & drink specialists (tea tasting party / try our vegan cheeses etc.)
- Entertainment businesses (escape rooms, cinemas, laser quest)
3 – PRODUCT LAUNCH PARTY
Seasonal release, new range, or just your first time doing an influencer event? Have yourself a launch party. You might be able to do it in your shop or office, but you may have to consider renting a venue depending on how much space you need. Wine & dine your influencers, layout the product for them to touch / use, maybe a bit of entertainment – make it a night to remember, preferably with your product at the forefront of their memory.
Here’s an event we worked on with IWOOT (iwantoneofthose.com) and Menkind – filmed by one of the influencers that attended;
4 – QUIZ NIGHT
Once you’ve done your segmentation and decided what kind of influencer you want, you should have a pretty good idea of their interests. Use this knowledge to tempt them to your event with a quiz about their favourite subjects. This would work great for any businesses who’s venue is their product/service, such as wedding venues, pubs and bars, or restaurants.
It can also work for product-based businesses such as the event below where everyone who attended this Disney Quiz Night received armfulls of prizes and goody bags full of Disney merchandise;
5 – INFLUENCER CONFERENCES & MEET-UPS
There’s a lot of these kind of events already going on, so you don’t necessarily need to hold your own event, just buy some space and set-up, then the organisers will deliver the influencers to you. Check out SITC and Blog-On.
If you enjoy the event then why not take it one step further, like putting on a pre-party the night before!
6 – TOUR OF YOUR OFFICE / BUSINESS
If your business isn’t in retail/product or you don’t have physical offering to give to influencers, then an office visit might be just the trick for you. Give them a tour of where the magic happens, maybe your processes and equipment, and then perhaps get them engaged by challenging them to complete some of your tasks or try out the skills required to do what you do.
In this event, Dad influencers and their kids were invited to the HQ of Paladone who design merchandise, and then once fully briefed on how it all works were challenged to design their own piece of merchandise;
Hopefully that’s given you some inspiration for your own influencer event? Don’t forget to check out the Marketing 101 podcast all about influencer marketing and, if you’d like some support or guidance then don’t hesitate to get in contact here. You can also tweet me a @alexryanuk.
For more FREE content, advice, tips and ideas check out our podcast & vidcast;
Thanks,
Alex