In today’s modern ecommerce climate, brands large and small are leveraging the power of influencers to promote their products. When you look at the stats around influencer marketing, it’s not hard to see why.
When done correctly, influencer marketing can yield some pretty impressive results. There’s a significant return on investment to be had, with some businesses earning $20 for each dollar spent on influencers!
On top of this, influencer marketing is a surefire way to get your brand name in front of the right people, build trust amongst your target audience, and enrich your content strategy.
If you want a piece of the influencer marketing pie, but aren’t sure where to start, you’re in the right place.
Prepare to be inspired, for here is Swanky’s round-up of the best influencer marketing campaigns by Shopify Plus merchants. These 10 brands have mastered the art of influencer marketing to extend their reach, connect with audience members and boost conversions.
Frank Body: Micro-influencers for mega results
Australian skincare company Frank Body used influencer marketing to transform their humble start-up into a multi-million-dollar cosmetics business.
When they first started in 2013, they had no initial marketing budget, so chose to promote their product exclusively on Instagram. They shipped samples of their signature product, an all-natural coffee scrub, to make-up artists, beauty bloggers, and micro-influencers worldwide. Influencers were asked to give their feedback on the product and to build awareness of the soon-to-be-released scrub by uploading user-generated content to Instagram.
It didn’t take long for the brand to become an Instagram hit, with hashtags like #thefrankeffect taking the platform by storm.
They amassed 350,000 Instagram followers in less than a year, with photos of micro-influencers covered in the signature scrub appearing on feeds across the world.
Fast-forward a few years, and Frank Body was soon worth $20M, shipping to around 150 countries. This right here is the power of the micro-influencer.
Simba: Out-of-the-box thinking
British mattress brand Simba bounced to the forefront of the global sleep market with its attention-grabbing parkour influencer campaign.
Going far beyond traditional product placement, they asked a group of parkour influencers to demonstrate the comfort and quality of Simba’s products by jumping off rooftops onto piles of mattresses. These stunts were edited into a high-octane action cut designed to appeal to the young target market. There was a direct call to action featured within the first 90 seconds, offering viewers a link to a special discount.
Intrigued? Check out one of the videos here.
This one-of-a-kind campaign helped Simba to stand out in what is an increasingly saturated market. All in all, their five YouTube videos were viewed over 2 million times, garnering nearly 12,500 clicks through to the purchasing site.
Taking this innovative approach to marketing allowed Simba to see tangible business results in a short space of time.
YouFoodz: Relevance = results
Healthy ready-to-eat meal delivery company YouFoodz has seen some tasty growth since their launch in 2012. This Aussie food brand has successfully harnessed the power of social media influencers to promote their new seasonal menus, with some pretty notable results.
For their 2017 winter menu campaign, they followed a deliberate, data-driven micro-influencer strategy to carefully select 81 influencers relevant to the food, health and fitness niches. These influencers created 167 pieces of content, along with more than 160 Instagram stories.
The result? Over 500,000 impressions, nearly 70,000 direct engagements, and a reach of nearly 1.5 million people across Facebook and Instagram.
This is a great example of how choosing relevant influencers with strong ties to your product niche can drive transformative results for eCommerce brands.
BoxedWater: Building visibility with a noble cause
Sustainable water company and philanthropic project BoxedWater built a successful influencer marketing campaign around a social cause close to their sustainable values.
They partnered with the National Forest Foundation to promote their ReTree Project, pledging to plant two trees for every photo that was posted on Instagram with the campaign hashtag #Retree.
By tying their brand to a relevant environmental cause, they were able to extend the reach of BoxedWater and garner the organic support of celebrity influencers. Stars such as Julianne Hough and Alyssa Milano shared the campaign across Instagram without any paid sponsorship, further increasing visibility and credibility.
Gymshark: Taking influencer marketing offline
One of the most successful fitness apparel online retailers in the world, Gymshark has boomed into a £100M business in just seven short years. The secret to their success? Influencer marketing.
In the brand’s early days, founder Ben Francis sent social media’s top fitness influencers boxes of Gymshark clothing, free of charge. In exchange, he asked them to showcase themselves wearing the clothing across their social platforms. Soon, the Gymshark Athlete Community was born — a group of athletes who share the brand’s core values and represent the company across the globe.
Gymshark has taken influencer marketing to the next level with its latest innovation. In 2018, they hosted their first brand-focused event, ‘We Lift the City’, to connect with their loyal customers offline. As well as a pop-up shop offering the latest products, attendees could meet their favorite Gymshark influencers, a promise which attracted customers in their droves.
This demonstrates that influencer marketing strategies don’t have to be confined to cyberspace. By getting creative and thinking of ambitious offline ideas, brands can leverage the power of influencers in a whole new way.
HiSmile: Tapping into a shiny new market
Founders Nik Mirkovic and Alex Tomic have leveraged the power of influencers to transform their teeth whitening start-up HiSmile into a multi-million dollar social media sensation.
The Australian duo began by distributing their products to micro-influencers in the hope they’d endorse them across the web. Five years on, HiSmile products are promoted by influencers of all sizes, including infamous Instagram sisters Kylie and Kendall Jenner.
To reach into what was an untapped market for the brand, HiSmile recently used an influencer partnership with MMA star Conor McGregor to connect with young men aged 15–25.
Instagram content was released in the lead-up to McGregor’s world-famous boxing match, thrusting the brand into the spotlight amongst its target demographic.
The Instagram campaign reached a staggering 14 million millennials, drove a 5x return on ad spend and increased male customers by 90%! The ads with McGregor were so successful that HiSmile soon achieved an even audience split.
MVMT: Collaborations based on common ground
With a social-first growth strategy and a number of successful influencer collaborations behind them, the global timepiece empire MVMT has captured the attention of millennials across the world with their aspirational content.
Rather than working with high-level influencers, MVMT focus on building strong relationships with mid-tier influencers who have more of an authentic following.
“You have to find influencers that make sense for your brand and your product. And for us, one of the core values is authenticity. I think that consumers are starting to see the over-saturation in the influencer world and all the ads — they’re starting to disregard it.”
Alicia Radabaugh, MVMT Director of Ecommerce (Source: Yotpo)
Their collaboration with inspirational influencer and lifestyle filmmaker Sam Kolder is an example of this in action, with the special edition release selling out in a record 24 hours! Sam’s inspiring adventures align perfectly with the ethos of MVMT and their followers, providing authentic and engaging content for people to connect with.
SodaStream: Capitalising on pop culture trends
Israeli drinks company SodaStream recently began leveraging the impact of top influencer talent to reach out to new demographics and drive further global growth.
After-sales data showed that their products resonate more with millennials without children, rather than families, the brand turned to a more relevant marketing strategy to tap into this exciting market.
They created a spoof Game of Thrones scene with influential actor Thor Bjornsson, incorporating the SodaStream brand in a funny and inventive way that would appeal to their new target audience. Soon, the campaign went viral, amassing more than 50 million views and 100,000 shares.
Fashion Nova: Divide and conquer
Hailed as an influencer marketing phenomenon, Fashion Nova has become a global fashion sensation, attracting millions of visitors to its eCommerce store every month.
Their meteoric rise to the top of the fast fashion industry is thanks to an army of around 3000 ‘Nova Babes’ that are dominating target markets region by region. The brand is a big believer in the power of the micro-influencer — accessible, relatable people that customers can trust.
Whilst they have collaborated with stars including Kylie Jenner and Cardi B, their choice to be less reliant on mega-celebrities and macro-influencers means they benefit from higher engagements for their money, whilst protecting the brand from any backlash against individual influencers.
Fashion Nova is also known for its celebration of diversity and body positivity and work with influencers of all shapes, sizes, and ethnicities. This has helped them to expand their reach and overtake competitors that are lacking in diversity.
PuraVida: Everybody is an influencer
Artisan jewelry brand Pura Vida view all their customers as micro-influencers, even if they have just a few hundred followers. By tagging the hashtag #puravidabracelets, customers can share their images and spread the word about the brand.
This facilitates authentic peer-to-peer engagement and image-sharing amongst friends. The brand harnesses these strong peer connections to generate brand awareness, reduce customer acquisition costs and ultimately drive sales.
To organize and incentivize their customers-come-influencers, the Pura Vida Rep Program was born.
This unique three-tiered influencer program, powered by Refersion, gives influencers a unique discount code and encourages them to make sales to their friends and followers. They are subsequently rewarded according to the number of sales they make. With over 110,000 program members from across the globe, it’s no surprise that Pura Vida is the second most engaged jewelry brand on Instagram!
So, there you have it, 10 of the best influencer marketing campaigns by Shopify Plus merchants. We hope you can channel these examples into your very own success story!
About Swanky
Swanky is a leading Shopify Plus agency specializing in web design, marketing, and growth strategies. We have years of experience implementing creative solutions, like Refersion, for influencer marketing, as well as paid ad campaigns across social media and PPC. If you’re looking for an agency to spice up your eCommerce store, don’t hesitate to get in touch!
