Influencer Marketing for Black Friday 2023: Benefits + Tips and tricks

Black Friday will be soon here. As a marketer and as an online business owner, you have to market for your brand. This season is an opportunity that you must seize with a good well-planned marketing strategy. This plan has to target the right audience for your offering.

That’s why influencer marketing is a great way to reach a large audience and boost sales during this busy time. Influencers have built trust with their followers, and their recommendations can be very persuasive. In the ever-evolving realm of e-commerce, influencer marketing has emerged as a powerhouse strategy, uniquely positioned to drive engagement and sales during the Black Friday frenzy.

As brands gear up for this annual retail spectacle, it's imperative to explore the latest trends and tools that can make a significant impact. In this article, we will be tackling in detail why it is important to include influencer marketing in your 2023 Black Friday Marketing strategy; not only that, but also how to use it in the most beneficial way giving you some tips and tricks. 

Why Use Influencer Marketing for Black Friday 2023 (Statistics)

Source: freepik

Brands can partner with influencers to create sponsored posts, videos, and other content that promotes their products. It is now the most used strategy for promoting online through content creators that represent some products.

Influencer marketing not only boosts your sales during Black Friday but also has other benefits. Influencer marketing can offer several benefits for Black Friday 2023, helping businesses maximize their reach and drive sales during this key shopping period.

With the domination of TikTok, Instagram’s reel, and YouTube shorts, influencer marketing has emerged as a powerful tool. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, influencer marketing will grow into a $21.1 billion industry in 2023, up from $16.4 billion a year earlier. To make the most of this trend, brands can use effective influencer marketing strategies to engage with their customers.

Also, 38% of consumers believe in brand-centric social media posts, whereas 61% of consumers trust the advice of influencers. You may improve brand awareness, drive more traffic to your website, and increase revenue by collaborating with influencers who share your interests.

Take a look at these few advantages of influencer marketing:

• Building and keeping trust: Influencers frequently have a devoted and active base of supporters. Compared to traditional advertising, their recommendations may be seen as more sincere and reliable.
•  Social proof: Influencers can offer your goods and services with social proof. This is because when customers see other people using and enjoying a product or service, they are more likely to trust it as well. And by then This can encourage their followers to trust the brand and take advantage of Black Friday deals.
• Affordable Marketing: Influencer marketing can be less expensive than traditional advertising, especially when taking into account the possible return on investment from higher sales.
• Be more visible: By relying on influencers, brands can gain access to their audience and potentially expand their customer base to include a wider range of demographics. Influencers can assist you in expanding your brand's reach and increasing consumer awareness. This is particularly crucial when it comes to Black Friday shopping when customers are inundated with advertisements from all directions.

Take a cue from Walmart, who in 2021 launched the #UnwrapTheDeals campaign and developed a TikTok filter that revealed several Black Friday offers. Working with a wide range of creators, this challenge accumulated over 6 billion views. Source

• Quick Results: Influencer marketing campaigns are a good fit for time-sensitive occasions like Black Friday because they can be implemented rather quickly. Brands can adjust to shifting consumer trends or market conditions thanks to their agility.
• High website traffic: since it is very important to focus on your online store and how it functions during this period of pressure on your e-store, influencers can drive traffic to your website by sharing links to your products and services in their posts. This can lead to more sales and conversions.

How Do You Create an Effective Influencer Marketing Plan for 2023 Black Friday?

I am here to give you 7 tips that would help you launch a plan for your influencer marketing strategy. 

1- Pick The  Influencer that suits you

Source: Freepik

First of all, you need to make sure that you choose the right influencer for your campaign and your audience.

You need to choose an influencer that speaks their language and matches their lifestyle. You need to take your time to brainstorm well to pick the right one that can perfectly represent your campaign.

There are three main aspects you need to take into consideration as an online business owner:

• Niche Relevance: Choose influencers that appeal to your target market and share your brand's values. Influencers with audiences that fit your target market's demographic can drive more conversions and relevant traffic. The right target audience determines the success of your influencer marketing activities. So, for example, if you're an e-commerce business owner, and your target audience exists in the Generation Z category, those aged 16 to 23, you're in luck. This group is the most likely to respond to influencer marketing initiatives.
• Engagement Criteria: Then we have the engagement criteria since having a large number of followers is not always a sign of influence. Pay attention to influencers that engage their followers in real-time, have strong engagement rates, and build true relationships with them. Be sure to look for bots and deceptive followers.

• The quality of content presented: And finally, the quality of content presented. Work together with influencers who generate excellent content. Their visual appeal and storytelling skills can enhance the message of your brand. Choose right because, during Black Friday, there is no time for mistakes you’ll definitely regret.

2- Early Planning of Collaborations

Get started on your influencer partnerships early in advance. Make a strong offer to influential people and highlight the advantages of early publicity. This guarantees a well-planned and successful Black Friday marketing effort.

3- Campaigns Using User-Generated Content (UGC)

Urge influencers to produce and distribute material about your Black Friday campaign to their followers. This broadens the campaign's audience and fosters a feeling of community around your business over the Christmas season. Here is a complete guide for UGC. 

4- Exclusive Discounts and Offers

Encourage influencers to share exclusive Black Friday discounts or offers. This not only adds value for their followers but also creates a sense of urgency, driving more traffic to your Black Friday promotions.

5- Set your budget

Based on variables, including the scope of the campaign, influencer fees, and anticipated results, determine your influencer marketing budget. Make intelligent use of your resources to strike a balance between influencer pay and possible return on investment.

6- Utilize content repurposing to broaden the effect

Influencers can help you with all of your Christmas marketing by giving you content that will keep your other channels running. By finding the best influencer-generated content (IGC) for your campaign, you've already done the hard part. Now, increase the campaign's impact by using IGC in:

• Paid ads: Utilize IGC in your paid ads to capitalize on the creators' namesake and offer social proof, as 64% of buyers claim to have learned about BCFM bargains from online marketing. 
• Email marketing: Use influencer material in abandoned cart emails, weekly newsletters, and other email campaigns to instill a sense of FOMO in your recipients. I recommend taking advantage of an automation system “ Convertedin which will mainly help you as an online store owner through its email marketing capabilities, Convertedin fosters a deeper and more enduring impact of influencer marketing by facilitating direct communication with the target audience. As well as serving in managing and automating paid ads that suit your campaign and offering.
• Check this article to know the top 8 Email Marketing ideas to maximize your sales. 
• Website: Use image-based content (IGC) on your product pages to increase conversion rates and create online testimonials from influencer postings. 

6- Offer a variety of engaging Content Formats

One of the best practices to do in adopting influencer marketing in your Black Friday strategy is to offer a variety of engaging Content Formats such as :

- Product Reviews: 68% of customers state that they are more likely to purchase from a company that has received good ratings(Brightlocal,2023). 

Combining that figure with a digital influencer's ability to persuade is a surefire way to succeed. In an increasingly crowded industry, using an influencer's voice to persuade their devoted followers to choose your items over rivals could be crucial. To drive traffic on the big day, make sure to incorporate all promotional material and urge influencers to share with their followers why they adore your items.

Here is Tangle Teezer example of a product review: Tangle Teezer worked with a collection of very active influencers for Black Friday, allowing them to talk about and present their products in a new way.

Tangle Teezer used Black Friday shoppers to magnify the buzz that influencers created about their products.

Source

- Unboxing videos: Influencers who record themselves opening gifts are used in unboxing campaigns to capture the thrill of giving and share their reactions with an audience. This captivating style makes use of a suspenseful element as the influencer and their audience jointly discover the product.

Unboxing videos give prospective buyers a closer look at the goods, demonstrating how they're made, the appearance of the packaging, and usage. These videos give your audience a very close experience with your offering, a real-time experience that might push them to instantly open your website and take advantage of your Black Friday discounts.

In this example, you will find Samsung partnering with Marques Brownlee, with over 17 million subscribers, to unbox the new Galaxy Fold. This partnership would push your audience to see the features of your product, how to use it, and what is unique about it before buying it, and by then, they would wait for the Black Friday season, looking forward to seeing the offers and buying your product after watching a full unboxing review video made by a well-known content creator.

- Tutorials:  Solutions-based content is performing well on social media, as it adds value and offers consumers useful, informative content that solves a current problem. Consider running a tutorial that ties into your Black Friday or Cyber Monday promotion, depending on your line of business; this could include things like compiling fashion looks for Christmas, creating holiday recipe ideas for festive presents, making seasonal decorations, or top travel destinations for winter. 

For example, a GRWM video including the content creator using your product will create an urge for your audience to get this product to become a part of their get-ready routine.

Do more of this content that is more engaging and shareable. Interactive content can boost audience participation and generate buzz around your Black Friday deals.

Here is also an example of a GRWM video on TikTok by Ulta encouraging the target audience to check Black Friday finds with the best deals up to 50% off.

 Final thoughts

In conclusion, as Black Friday approaches 2023, the strategic utilization of influencer marketing emerges as a pivotal tool for online businesses seeking to maximize their reach and impact. The dynamic nature of social media platforms continues to provide a fertile ground for influencers to connect with diverse audiences, making them indispensable partners in any marketing strategy.

Recognizing the need for precision and efficiency in this realm, the automated system "Convertedin" has emerged as a game-changer for online business owners.

This comprehensive approach ensures that every touchpoint with the audience aligns seamlessly with the overarching campaign objectives, creating a unified and memorable brand experience. By leveraging this automated system, businesses not only optimize their influencer partnerships but also fortify their brand presence, ultimately contributing to a more successful and impactful Black Friday season in 2023.