As influencer marketing continues to skyrocket in popularity and effectiveness, we’re all becoming more familiar with tactics and campaigns to promote brands and products. But what if the “product” was the environment? Or a medical problem such as fighting cancer? Or possibly a social cause such as bullying? Well, influencer marketing for causes is happening all around us.
Influencer Marketing for Causes
Passionate people constantly share about causes in order to raise awareness about what matters to them. And, what’s even better, is they have a captivated audience.
The same principles of influencer marketing for brands still hold true for influencer marketing for social causes. People listen to influencers they trust and respect, and word-of-mouth has more credibility than paid promotions.
Influencer marketing for causes has especially taken a firm footing in the Millennial community because this group of young people is particularly cause-conscious. They are also more inclined to believe people based on integrity and respect as opposed to promoted content.
Millennials demand authenticity, and that’s exactly what influencer marketing delivers. Millennials are also very active on social media, so they are already in the perfect place to establish influencer relationships.
How Influencer Marketing for Causes Helps
In general, most people want to make the world a better place and to help people in need. And influencer marketing is a way for them to connect with passionate people who have the voices to talk about things they value.
Cartoon Network and bullying
One example of influencer marketing related to a relevant social cause is the campaign run by Cartoon Network to address the topic of bullying. The campaign features popular social media influencer marketers Bottlerocket, Jack Dytrych, Mike Bennett and Maddy Esther in six-second Vine video clips. The messages were aimed at kids being bullied and encouraged them to get help when they were being targeted.
One Direction and Trekstock
Another high-profile example of influencer marketing in an altruistic mode was the participation of the London band One Direction and their work for Trekstock. Their work for cancer prevention was targeted at young people in the hope of educating them about making better lifestyle choices when they are young that could help prevent the onset of cancer later in their lives.
Boxed Water Retree Project
Sustainable water company Boxed Water wants to change the way people buy their portable water, so it sells it in recyclable paper cartons. In addition to being clever and inventive, the company remains true to its cause of environmental protection, which it promoted in an influencer marketing campaign called the ReTree Project.
The brand engaged customers to participate in a photo-sharing program in collaboration with the National Forest Foundation. For every photo of Boxed Water posted on Instagram, the Boxed Water company agreed to plant two trees. They reached out to popular influencers on Instagram and encouraged them to reach out to their followers. The result was over half a million trees planted by the end of 2016, halfway to their goal of one million trees.
This all shows the incredible power of social media—and especially influencer marketing—when the cause is something people believe in and the influencer is authentic, convincing, and respectful.
