The holiday season always creeps up a bit faster than we’d like to admit, and getting a jump on your holiday campaigns is a must to ensure you have ample time to see them through. To amplify your holiday marketing and advertising campaigns there is no doubt you should be leveraging influencer marketing, making your presence on social media known, and guiding your audience this holiday season.

In order to better help brand marketers this season we are sharing 5 of our favorite ways you can leverage influencers for the holidays.

1. Create A Branded Holiday-Themed Hashtag Challenge

One thing we know for sure to grab attention on social media are branded hashtag challenges. If you’ve spent any time on TikTok this year you are no stranger to this format. A notable example is Aerie’s #AerieRealPositivity challenge, which was initially participated in by a small group of TikTok creators who posted videos for the campaign launch and encouraged their audience to participate, which eventually generated over 2B+ views and thousands of user- generated videos.

Replicating this format for your brand’s holiday marketing efforts is a simple way to utilize influencers. Source a group of talent, have them create content around the challenge, and ask them to encourage their audience to participate. You never know… it could go viral overnight!

2. Sponsor a Holiday Giveaway Series 

Giveaways are a great way to utilize your inventory and partner with influencers if you don’t want to launch a massive campaign. Giveaways serve as a powerful co-creation opportunity, a way to introduce people to your brand and work in the spirit of giving for the holidays. 

You can do this by partnering with a small number of influencers to host the giveaway on their social media accounts (can be replicated across platforms). You can include a variety of your products and some holiday goodies to make it festive. There are so many ways to go about this so make it your own!

3. Have Influencers Share Branded Gift Guides

Gift guides are a staple during the holiday season and working with influencers is a great way to inform your customers about what products you have that would make great gifts, who to gift them to, and where to purchase them in order to receive them on time.

When it comes to gifts, many look to influencers to inform what they should buy, where to buy it and who to buy it for, so there is no better way to ensure your products are top of mind than working with talent on branded gift guides. This is such a simple format that will yield amazing results. 

4. Holiday-Themed Livestreams With Creators

With the recent addition of TikTok’s LIVE features, there are now livestream options across most social media platforms. Livestream videos are a great way for your brand to interact with your audience in an authentic and fun way. Want to make this an even better experience? Partner with a group of your favorite creators to produce these holiday-themed livestreams.

You should partner with talent that are either huge brand advocates or create content within your specific niche, allowing your brand to get the most out of the co-marketing opportunity. 

5. Give Back With Your Talent

The holidays are all about giving back, and while this might seem counterintuitive, you’d be surprised how your audience will respond to this format. This can be done in a variety of ways:

• Have your talent pledge a donation to a charity/cause of their choice
• Pledge a donation percentage of the influencers sales
• Donate a product for each item sold via the influencer 

These are just a few examples, make it your own, you want this to feel authentic to your brand, your audience, and the influencer. 

Let us Handle your Holiday Partnerships

The lead up to the holiday season is notoriously busy for brands, and staying on top of influencer partnerships can be quite tedious. Reach out to us at partner@sostandard.com if you want to work together on your holiday influencer marketing, we’re here to help!