Influencer Marketing for CPG Brands: Effective Content Strategies

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 sharing a multi-part series on influencer marketing best practices for some of the world’s biggest consumer industries. This month’s focus is on CPG (consumer packaged goods) brands. We’ve already taken a look at why influencer marketing is such a great fit for the CPG sector and highlighted some great creators to partner with for CPG-focused marketing campaigns. To wrap things up, we’ll use this final post examining some popular CPG content strategies you can use to gain traction with consumers.

Here are a few of our favorite content ideas based on countless hours spent observing and executing CPG-focused influencer campaigns:

1. Recipe videos and “how-to” posts: DIY content has huge appeal for millennial consumers. Even as far back as 2013, one study estimated the total size of the US “crafting” industry was around $29 billion dollars. This love for experimentation and making things among millennials extends to the use of influencers to create DIY content like recipe videos and makeup tutorials. Uncle Ben’s used this approach with influencer Gina Homolka of Skinny Taste, who designed a recipe for Korean grilled lettuce wraps incorporating the company’s brown rice. The campaign earned more than 1.4 million views and 12,000 shares on Facebook in the process. Meanwhile in the makeup and beauty space, YouTube vloggers like Michelle Phan have become huge household names by sharing tips and how-to videos on topics like hair removal and sunless tanning.
2. Holiday and special occasion posts: CPG-focused food and special occasions were meant to go together. Your product might offer a “sweet” method of celebrating a special moment like this post from Ben & Jerry’s celebrating Pride Month. Other brands like Dole Packaged Foods have successfully partnered up with influencers like Julie Lee from Julie’s Kitchen, using this holiday approach to offer special holiday-themed celebration ideas and giveaways (see right).
3. Celebrate a fandom: Not all CPG products are delicious enough to be eaten every day. But for a select few products with celebrated histories, or with fanatic fans, a “fandom” approach is an interesting opportunity to tap into the organic love already being shared by consumers online. Brands can harness this energy by partnering with a creator associated with the fandom, or by creating content that mimics popular post styles by others talking about that topic. A great example of CPG-based fandom is pizza, which has attracted its own crop of creators like Pizza Blonde and the simply-named “Pizza” account, which claims to be the official account of pizza on Instagram. Want to find out out if your product has a fandom? Use Captiv8’s insights tool and search by hashtag for your product’s “generic” name or brand name to see how many people are organically sharing content about it.
4. Behind the scenes: Similar to the idea behind fandom accounts, some brands have the popularity and the support of consumers to inspire enough interest for “behind the scenes” content to make sense. The idea behind a behind the scenes content strategy is to show the process behind how the brand’s product gets created or made. Imagine giving consumers an inside look at your brand’s factory, or letting them follow the process as a new flavor or product is being developed and refined. The benefit of this approach is that fans feel like they get exclusive knowledge about the brand before it’s shared with the general public, giving them added incentive to engage with content and share with others. This approach was used with great success (see left) during a behind-the-scenes factory tour conducted by Captiv8 and the M&M’s team earlier this year.