It’s the most wonderful time of the year! And, for marketing, it’s also the busiest.
During the holidays, brands vie for increasingly limited consumer attention as ad spends skyrocket. This makes standing out during this busy season require strategy, creativity, and playing into emotions that evoke all of the feelings of the holiday season. One of the most effective ways to break through the noise is Influencer marketing.
As consumers are bombarded with deals, discounts — and even more deals, and more discounts — they’re more likely to trust recommendations from people they already follow and admire. In other words, they want to see a face, not a poster. Influencers can bring authenticity to your campaign, whether it’s showcasing a product in a cozy holiday morning vlog or sharing it as part of a unique, thoughtful gift guide. With the right partnership, you can turn your brand or product into part of someone’s holiday story.
Amplifying Seasonal Storytelling
But why influencers – why not paid actors in an advertisement?
Influencers, when appropriately chosen, anchor your brand in the seasonal emotions. Audiences crave stories that feel real, and this is especially amplified during the holiday season. In a time driven largely by nostalgia and feelings of returning home or to family, the average, traditional advertisement that might be effective in the summertime can come across cold and unfeeling during the holidays.
Consumers want to immerse themselves in the holiday season, too, and are more likely to turn to the influencers they know and love for recommendations on how to maximize those warm holiday feelings. So, whether it be a family recipe or rituals tied to gift giving or even gift wrapping, there is heightened authenticity when creators can weave your product into genuine moments that speak to who they are and why it’s important. They can make your brand the backdrop to real traditions. You may sacrifice a bit of production value, but what you gain in authentic storytelling will take your product placement/integration much further.
In short, the kind of emotional resonance that can be evoked through influencer marketing often leads to stronger brand recall and increased purchase intent.
Sharing brand awareness/gifting ideas:
Think of Kourtney Kardashian’s 12 days of Poshmas. While this is more of a branding play, partnering with influencers that do a collection every year ensures eyes are looking at you. Another example of this is Oprah’s favorite things. (Usually, any major celebrity’s “favorite things” tends to come with a brand deal that was influenced beforehand.)
There’s going to be so many “12 days of X” going around and holiday gift guides. Make sure you’re prepped before the busy season even begins. Most brands start their planning in Q3 or even Q2 for a perfect brand partnership. The good news? There’s no shortage of influencers looking to tie themselves to this kind of consistent, annual branding for the same reasons you are.
Finding The Right Fit
Finding the right fit for your brand is crucial. You want to ensure your partnerships align with your brand values. You also don’t want to partner with influencers who wouldn’t realistically use or engage with your products. For example, it may not be the best practice if you’re a dairy brand partnering with a lactose-intolerant creator who can’t consume your products.
Partnering with niche influencers who naturally speak to holiday traditions can make all the difference as well. If you plan ahead, you can even secure influencers during their “star” time – think Macaulay Culkin or Mariah Carey during the Christmas season or Kimberly J. Brown, who owns October as the queen of Halloweentown and pops up every year.
When searching for new creators, our top advice is not to overlook your own DMs; if creators have reached out before, now might be the perfect time to reconnect. With a little budget, you can launch a seeding campaign that offers products for influencers to try out. After all, ’tis the season of giving.
Influencers are, in many ways, translators for your brand. Creators like Mikayla Nogueira share recommendations that feel earned, and her audience sees what she shares as insider intel rather than an ad, all because of her established authenticity and trust. In other words, audiences trust the kind of creator that doesn’t come across as blindly accepting of any product that pays them. The key is to match the influencer to your audience’s mindset, not just their follower count. It’s better to connect with engaged communities rather than simply chase the biggest ones.
Building Engagement & Community
To build engagement and a strong, lasting community, lean into long-term partnerships whenever you can. Starting earlier in the year allows an influencer’s community to see your brand multiple times before the holiday season, reinforcing authenticity and familiarity. Ideally, you don’t just appear just once, as this might come off as pushy or forced. That approach is more likely to get lost in the holiday noise.
It’s also wise to use multiple micro and niche creators rather than a single macro influencer. These smaller audiences often share more of the same values and tend to be more engaged, with the added benefit of coming in at a lower cost. This strategy allows you to reach multiple communities within the same budget, creating a broader and more meaningful impact.
Most importantly, let your creators create. Influencers know their audiences best. So, give them the freedom to speak in their own voice and share your product in a way that feels natural to them. What feels natural to them is more likely to translate as natural to their established audience.
Another easy way to further boost reach and engagement is to do a partnership that involves a giveaway. It’s a simple means of tapping into new audiences during the holidays. And, with a little extra paid support behind it, you can see just how far that momentum can go.
Cutting Through The Holiday Noise
The holiday season may be one of the busiest times of year for brands, but it’s also when influencer marketing matters most. When consumers are flooded with ads and endless “must-have” product lists, they’re far more likely to trust recommendations from people they already follow and admire. The holiday season is a unique time of year, where reconnecting with home and real people are championed. Influencers can cut through the seasonal clutter by sharing products in a way that feels personal, authentic, and emotionally resonant, speaking to that desire to turn to the traditional and familiar.