Gifting KOLs: How do these campaigns drive product launches and reinforce social proof?

[Dimaeiya333]

Offering products to KOLs for free makes them happy and, if they are convinced, they will highlight them with an authentic and sincere opinion. This initial freebie already sets 20% of the path towards a relationship of trust between the content creator and the brand. Using a specific KOL allows you to precisely target the right people, the audience that best identifies with the brand for optimal impact.

The gifting concept encourages KOLs to create “spontaneous” content that is full of passion and enthusiasm, much more so than in a paid collaboration where guidelines can be rigid and precise. Finally, a content creator’s work cycle concludes with the outreach of their message, with the highest engagement rate among nano and micro KOLs, reaching an average of 2.53%, the highest among the different KOL types .

This engagement rate has a direct impact on the sales that this investment will generate. However, sending a gift to a KOL does not necessarily guarantee that they believe in the product, and this lack of conviction can lead to a failed campaign and, as a result, a loss.

To avoid this, it is crucial that the alignment of interests between the brand and the KOL is clear from the start. It is necessary to choose the right actors and surround yourself with the right people to avoid any mishaps along the way. Technological solutions such as Kolsquare exist precisely to meet these needs and maximize the strategic and operational investment of any influencer marketing campaign through enriching insights and effective monitoring.

Success story: L'Oréal Pro x Wellcom
In 2023, L'Oréal Pro in collaboration with the Wellcom agency carried out a campaign to launch its new Steampod 4 steam straighteners with Kolsquare. The identified beauty KoLs received the products and shared their opinions and experiences on social media. In the end, the launch of Steampod 4 allowed more than 80 influencers (mics, macros and tops) to make reviews in the form of videos on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok simultaneously . This campaign generated a total of:

More than 1 million impressions,
Participation rate of 5%*
20% increase in sales.
Charlotte Caron, Consulting Director in charge of influence strategies at Wellcom, details the strategy implemented:

«We identified two types of end consumer profiles:

* Prescribers = people who "set trends" and like to try cutting-edge or expert products, and if possible, before anyone else;

* The “ gift givers ” = people who are looking for the best gift for those around them (or even for themselves!), such as parents or families of teenagers, in particular.

In the next phase of our strategy, our selection focused on content creators presenting heterogeneous profiles , thus ensuring effective communication with all target segments. This diversification was particula vp r&d email database rly evident in the choice of personalities with varied hair characteristics , allowing optimal identification of each individual within our audience through the transmission of content.

In the case of L'Oréal Professional Steampod 4, we organized the campaign in 3 stages:

* 1 = We went to the trendsetters first to get that exclusivity/preview feel;

* 2 = We have expanded our target to reach a wider audience, with the aim of making our product a must-have for end-of-year gifts;

* 3 = media coverage of certain content to amplify the campaign.

Social Proof is installed when authentic content is offered with (in our case) before/after results to show the effectiveness of the product in a real-life situation.