How to Effectively Market New Products Through Influencers

Influencer marketing has become an essential strategy for brands looking to expand their reach, increase awareness, and drive sales. Especially when launching a new product, leveraging influencers with engaged audiences represents an opportunity to get your product in front of potential customers. Read on to learn more about product influencer marketing and how to make it work for your business.

What is Product Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing utilizes key personalities on social media to promote products and services to their audiences on platforms like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and more. Over time, these personalities have cultivated loyal followings who rely on them for recommendations for what to buy, wear, and try.

Product influencer marketing is the specific practice of leveraging influencers to promote knowledge of a new product to their audiences. When launching a new product, brands will identify influencers with audiences that align with their target customer and provide them with product samples or discounts to feature the product organically in their content. The goal is to drive awareness, interest, and intent to purchase the product through the credibility and connections that influencers have nurtured with their followers.

Benefits of Product Influencer Marketing

There are many advantages to utilizing influencer marketing to promote new products, including:

Targeted reach: Influencers have often built audiences based on a specific niche or interest area, allowing brands to connect with potential customers efficiently. For example, brands launching new beauty products may work with beauty influencers.

Increased awareness and discovery: Followers rely on influencers to make them aware of new trends, brands, and products to try. Product influencer marketing benefits from this by introducing followers to products they may not have found on their own.

Seen as authentic recommendations: Compared to traditional ads, consumers tend to see influencer recommendations as more authentic, credible, and trustworthy. This translates into higher intent to purchase products endorsed by influencers.

Social proof: When potential customers see a product being used and endorsed by an influencer with an engaged following, they assume it comes with the social proof and unspoken endorsement of all those followers as well. This makes them more inclined to try the product.

Brand lift: Product influencer marketing aims to not only directly drive sales but increase overall brand awareness, affinity, and lift for the long-term.

How to Choose the Right Influencers for Product Launches

Choosing the right influencer partners is crucial for effective product influencer marketing. Consider these tips when vetting influencers to work with:

Relevant niche & audience: Ensure the influencer’s audience and niche align with your target customers for maximum relevance.

Authentic voice: Look for influencers who take an authentic and genuine approach to their recommendations rather than overly promotional.

Engaged following: Prioritize working with influencers who demonstrate engaged followers through likes, comments, and usage of branded hashtags. Engagement indicates followers pay attention to recommendations.

Content resonance: Evaluate whether the type of content and style an influencer shares seems to resonate well with their followers to estimate possible engagement rates for your product.

Compensation expectations: Be clear on an influencer’s expected compensation for product features upfront to ensure it aligns with your budget. Typical compensation may include free products, affiliate commissions, or monetary payment.

Best Practices for Product Influencer Marketing Campaigns

Running an effective influencer marketing campaign for product launches requires strategic coordination pre-launch, execution during launch, and post-launch analysis.

Pre-Launch:

Provide specific guidelines for influencers on ideal content formats, key messaging, optimal timing, recommended hashtags, and disclosure requirements to coordinate the campaign and maximize reach.

Ship product samples well in advance for influencers to test and create organic content.

Determine usage rights for user-generated content shared to re-share user reviews and experiences.

Launch:

Suggest staggered product reveal timing amongst influencers you’re working with rather than mass reveals all at once for a steady stream of buzz.

Develop branded hashtags for easy campaign and UGC tracking.

Share campaign results and user-generated content in real-time for influencers to reinforce momentum.

Post-Launch:

Collect and analyze campaign data and metrics to determine ROI. Relevant metrics include social reach, post engagements, affiliate conversions driven, user-generated content views, and sales.

Thank influencers and potentially extend offers to continue working together if the campaign performed well. Gather their feedback on what worked and what didn’t.

Repurpose quality user-generated content and influencer content on your brand channels.

Common Product Categories Leveraging Influencer Marketing

As consumers increasingly turn to social media not just for entertainment but for purchase influence and decisions as well, influencer marketing has become nearly ubiquitous, spanning countless industries. Some common product sectors leveraging influencers include:

Beauty & Cosmetics

Influencers drive major awareness for new makeup, skincare, haircare, and other beauty products. Followers pay close attention and have come to immensely value recommendations from beauty YouTubers, TikTokers, Instagrammers, and bloggers when evaluating new products.

Fashion & Apparel

The fashion industry has long worked with influencers to promote new clothing collections, accessories, jewelry, shoes, and more. Instagram in particular has become a platform where influencers can make or break emerging fashion brands.

Food & Beverage

Food influencers wield immense influence guiding dietary choices and what new CPG products audiences buy and try in grocery stores. Brand partnerships often involve showcasing new packaged food, candy, snacks, alcoholic beverages and the like.

Toys & Games

Toy brands leverage kid influencers on YouTube to drive awareness and trendsetting for new toys, games, and collectibles among their young audiences. Unboxing videos in particular have become popular and effective.

Home & Kitchen

Instagram and lifestyle blogs commonly feature influencer recommendations of home decor, furniture, appliances, cookware, tableware, and more to audiences furnishing homes or looking to upgrade kitchens and living spaces.

Wellness & Fitness

Health and wellness influencers on Instagram often partner with brands launching new supplements, fitness apparel and gear, nutrition products, and more. Their personal use and endorsement helps lend expertise and trust.

Reaching Your Audience Through Product Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing represents an invaluable opportunity for brands launching new products to efficiently and effectively reach target customer audiences, drive discovery, and boost credibility through leveraging influencers’ existing connections with their followers. With strategic coordination spanning influencer vetting, pre-launch planning, campaign execution, and post-launch analysis, brands can gain traction for new products while expanding their overall consumer reach and awareness for the long run. Consider tapping into established influencer audiences to introduce your newest, cutting-edge products and watch engagement and sales meet growth goals.