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Use influencers to generate leads, gather research and gain website traffic.

Ninety-two percent of consumers trust an influencer (or content creator) more than an advertisement or traditional celebrity endorsement.

Read that again. Ninety-two percent. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling the smallest seeds or the largest equipment, the smallest granola bar or the largest pork loin — if influencer marketing isn’t in your plan, you should be asking: “Why not?”

Influencer marketing helps brands flex their muscles in ways that aren’t muscle memory. When we partner with influencers, it all starts with identifying what you want to get out of the program. While awareness is a great first dip in the water, influencers also can help with gathering research (think about all those unsolicited, unbiased opinions in the comments section), lead generation and website traffic.

Thinking outside of the norm can pay off in a big way. Our client, Case IH, brought equipment onto MN Millennial Farmer’s farm (who operates its largest competitor’s equipment), getting competitor’s eyes on its latest product offerings and obtaining an unbiased review of its equipment, resulting in over 6 million video views in under three months.

Ensuring you’re engaging with the right size of influencers to increase conversations around your brand also is key. Our client, Lindsay Infrastructure, was looking to launch its first ever consumer messaging campaign by tapping into nano-, micro- and midtier bikers; marathoners; and family influencers to advocate to consumers for safer roadways and expose consumers to its road and safety solutions. This campaign produced well over 10 million impressions through Facebook and Instagram posts and sparked crucial conversations about safer roadways.

While every platform BR recommends launching on behalf of a client comes with a sound strategy and foundational playbook, we are always looking for ways to extend our client’s reach onto other platforms. While some clients may not want to invest resources into creating short clips that only live for 24 hours on Snapchat or may not be ready to take the plunge into TikTok, influencers are already on these platforms and have an established brand you can tap into. It’s an easier way to control the narrative for your brand and get positive brand recognition on a platform that may have previously been a big question mark without having to launch an owned channel.

You can even use influencers to elevate your branded content. For Corteva Agriscience’s Plate-Wise blog, we partnered with a food blogger in our target audience to spread awareness of the blog via videos on her feed. Since Corteva’s blog primarily discusses food challenges, the influencer talked about the tough decisions she faces when choosing foods for her family and how the Plate-Wise blog has unbiased resources to help. From this partnership, Plate-Wise gained significant web traffic, and her posts received positive commentary.