Black Friday Influencer Marketing in 2020

Black Friday influencer marketing was a popular brand tactic this year. Black Friday has always been America’s largest retail shopping season, jumpstarting crowds of buyers looking to get a head start and score some exceptional deals on their holiday gifts. With the persistence of COVID-19 placing emphasis on public health and safety, the natural focus was shifted towards social distancing and, in turn, contactless shopping options. It seemed like our traditional Black Friday, with lines around the block and crowded shoppers trampling over each other, would be less of a possibility in consideration of our society’s current state. But thanks to social media and creators, shoppers got to celebrate Black Friday while remaining safe within their own homes thanks to online shopping. According to a study by Adobe, covering over 100 million SKUs, US consumers spent around $9 billion online on Black Friday, which is up by 21.6% from last year. Because this presents a major brand opportunity, marketers have doubled up on turning to influencers to reach their target customers. And for most, TikTok has become a recent favorite platform for influencer marketing campaigns   

Black Friday Influencer Marketing Example 1:

Walmart, for example, launched a #WalmartSyncAlong marketing campaign on TikTok featuring musical influencers like @jvke and @spencerx singing along to a designated jingle highlighting the many deals featured on the upcoming Black Friday sale. Many other creators were then prompted to create their own TikToks or duets by a chance to win $100 Walmart gift cards! The campaign not only reached over 2.5B views but also resulted in a great amount of user generated content. The campaign presented their ad in an easily shareable music format, allowing the jingle to spread quickly across the platform:

Black Friday Influencer Marketing Example 2:

Amazon has also attempted to use TikTok to promote their holiday sales. For example, Amazon Fashion launched their #PajamaJam challenge, with influencers walking or dancing to their designated soundtrack while showcasing their favorite Amazon holiday pajama fit! The sponsored hashtags feature TikTok icons Charli D’Amelio, @Justmaiko, and @team2moms while covering a wide range of audience demographics by including creators from different minority, sexual orientations, and religious backgrounds. The hashtag similarly catalyzed lots of user generated content as well as a whopping reach of over 4.1B views.

Black Friday Influencer Marketing helped brands gain market presence and awareness of their brands and campaigns. With online shopping not slowing down anytime soon, influencer marketing will become even more dominant as a primary advertising channel. If you’re interested in mapping out 2021 influencer marketing success, visit Captiv8.io for more info!

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