An Intro to Influencer Marketing for CPG Brands

By now, most marketers are aware of the growing interest, marketing dollars and success attributed to the discipline of influencer marketing. But as influencer marketing grows in popularity, and more brands take an increasingly sophisticated approach to the practice, many executives are rightfully asking how this increasingly popular marketing discipline applies to their specific industry or product category. With this question in mind, Captiv8 is launching a multi-part series of deep dives into influencer marketing best practices for some of the biggest consumer industries. We’re kicking it off with a closer look at CPG (consumer packaged goods).

Much like many other consumer categories, influencer marketing is becoming an increasingly critical discipline for CPG brands. Some of the reasons for its growing importance are true for all industries, including a bigger shift toward time spent with social media, a growing inefficiency of traditional advertising (especially true for millennials), and the increasing impact of word of mouth in purchase decisions. But many of the reasons influencer marketing is effective for CPG are specific to the category:

Why Influencer Marketing is Effective for CPG Brands

Why is partnering with creators such a great idea for CPG marketers? There’s a number of reasons, including the strong performance of CPG-themed creator content among consumers, growing opportunities to improve targeting, and proven impact on the sales and foot traffic for CPG companies:

1. Influencer-themed CPG content outperforms other industries: Perhaps the best reason why influencer campaigns are so compelling for the CPG industry is that they generate strong results with consumers. According to recent research (see right), influencer marketing campaigns by CPG food brands saw a higher earned media value than other other category studied. This suggests CPG-themed creator content is shared more often and seen more widely, for less money, than similar campaigns in other industries.
2. It builds upon organic trends already happening online: Another reason is that they tap into the popularity of “do it yourself” content already being shared by consumers. Many CPG brands are finding success utilizing content approaches like cooking recipe videos or makeup tutorials. This makes sense considering the high demand for this content among internet users. Just look at Buzzfeed’s cooking property Tasty, a site whose popular recipe instruction videos collect more than 1 billion views a month. The same is true for cosmetics, where DIY makeup tutorials accounted for more than half of the 200 most-watched beauty videos on YouTube.
3. Creator content makes it easier for CPG brands to reach new audiences: Another reason for the growing importance of influencer marketing among CPG brands is that they can help marketers expand the base of customers targeted by their marketing efforts. Recent analysis of CPG brand’s digital presence has demonstrated an important truth: many consumers don’t visit CPG websites. Less than 50% of Gen X and Millennial shoppers said they went to a CPG website, and many consumers simply head to Amazon or other ecommerce websites to make CPG purchases. This makes it all the more important to find consumers using alternative digital channels. Influencer campaigns speak to consumers using their preferred media channels like Instagram and YouTube, ensuring that they will hear about your products even if they never visit a branded .com.

CPG marketers are better positioned than ever before to take advantage of influencer campaigns. Not only do those campaigns tend to produce better results than the same marketing efforts used in other industries, they also have the potential to be more credible with consumers and help brands reach new audiences. Want to learn more about how Captiv8 has partnered with dozens of CPG brands on influencer campaigns? Reach out today to learn more. And make sure to stay tuned for our next post about CPG, which will take a closer look at some of the top influencers marketers need to know.