AIRPLANE MODE
What do brands need to know before sending creators jet-setting on influencer trips?
from unboxing and try-on hauls
to “GRWM” videos, products have long been the currency exchanged between influencers and brands. The business of influencer marketing is evolving, however. As video platforms like TikTok allow influencers to show more of their personality and day-to-day life, brands are bankrolling multiday trips with fellow influencers in the hopes of videos going viral.
Cosmetics brand Tarte has become synonymous with bucket list influencer trips, sending the likes of Alix Earle and Monet McMichael to Dubai last year, and another group to Bora Bora last month. Guess put a gaggle of influencers and their friends on a private plane to Coachella last year, where they stayed on a compound of party houses for a weekend. Then there was Shein’s attempt to quell allegations of forced labor by sending influencers to visit their Guangzhou, China factory.
While many of the trips attract the ire of consumers for their lavishness (Tarte) or attempt to greenwash (Shein), they succeed in generating buzz and views.
Here Evan Wray, CEO and cofounder of influencer marketing firm Mavely, and content creator Cici Michele Haith (@_cicimichele) share the “dos” and “don’ts” to a successful influencer trip.
DO Create valuable networking opportunities for creators.
Trip itineraries should strike a balance between work and play. “There are plenty of influencers that just want to have a lot of fun, but what we’ve found is the ones that are going to be more professional—and really, what the brands are looking for to represent their brand—they are running these as businesses, so they’re not just trying to go have a party,” Wray said. “They’re trying to learn, connect and further their businesses.”
Haith explained that some of her most valuable experiences on brand trips have come from opportunities to meet highpowered founders and industry players. “Brands should take into account that meeting other influencers is great, but it also would mean a lot to meet some higher-ups in the industry,” she said.
DON’T Make the trip feel unattainable for your brand’s target audience.
Brands should critically consider their target audience before beginning to plan a trip. For many consumers, elaborate trips to foreign islands don’t make the annual budget—and relatability plays a major role in strategy when using influencers to drive interest in a company, Wray said.
For that reason, Wray said, Mavely has begun to advise brands to consider smaller-scale trips in locations closer to influencers’ homes—both for the sake of influencers’ time and in the interest of feeling relatable to the target audience.
“If your goal is to connect with their audiences in an authentic way at scale…then it needs to be something that's more authentic and more relatable than flying on a private jet to Coachella,” he said. “I think that’s the thing that a lot of brands can miss with these influencer experiences, is who is your audience?”
DO Think of the tiny details.
For your next influencer trip, remember that sometimes, the devil really is in the details.
Haith, who lives in Maryland, said she has gone on two trips with Ulta Beauty—one to New York City, and another to Los Angeles. On both occasions, she noted, she rarely had to give transportation and logistics a second thought. “I’m not thinking of how I’m getting home from the airport when the trip is over; they had Uber codes for us,” she said. “All the details being thought out was great.”
DON’T Mandate inorganic content from trips.
Brands should steer clear of mandated posting schedules during the trip. Haith said brand trips already have jam-packed schedules and advised that brands not add an extra burden by dictating constant content. Plus, it distracts creators from the high moments of trips.
She noted on the Ulta trips, rather than requiring posts throughout the duration of the trip, the brand asked for one post per month leading up to the trip. Haith said she thought that strategy was fair and effective.
“Don’t enforce such strict rules about posting; just let creators organically post about the trip,” Haith said.
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