Sustainable Marketing: Integrating Eco-Friendly Messaging in Home Influencer Campaigns

Home influencer campaigns focusing on DIY projects, eco-friendly exteriors, and sustainable decor are more relevant than ever, with consumer trends showing strong support. Here’s why:

• Although growth rates for brand TikTok accounts have been slowing overall, home brands managed to skirt the trend with an average month-over-month growth rate of 5.0% this year, according to Dash Hudson.
• 82% of consumers are ready to embrace online home decor shopping, challenging the long-held belief that brick-and-mortar stores would always dominate the home decor sector. This is according to the 2024 Home Decor Ecommerce Market Research Report by 2 Visions. 
• The majority of every generation (77% Gen Z, 72% Millennials, 67% Gen X, and 62% Baby Boomers) are willing to pay more for sustainable products and services, per the PDI Business of Sustainability Index.

Knowing there’s room for growth within the home industry, here are some tips to help marketers integrate eco-friendly messaging in their influencer campaigns.

What this means for home brands

For home brands, these trends indicate a significant opportunity to expand their digital presence and tap into evolving consumer preferences. TikTok has emerged as a powerful tool for home brands to showcase DIY projects, design ideas, and sustainability practices.

Additionally, with 82% of consumers embracing online home decor shopping, there’s a clear shift toward e-commerce in this traditionally brick-and-mortar-dominated sector. Home brands need to focus on building seamless online shopping experiences, leveraging immersive content, and partnering with influencers to drive sales.

The rising willingness across all generations to pay more for sustainable products also signals an opportunity for home brands to differentiate themselves by emphasizing eco-friendly materials, ethical sourcing, and sustainable practices, which will resonate with an increasingly eco-conscious audience.

How to incorporate these sustainability insights into campaigns

With these insights and tips in mind, brands can launch compelling campaigns. 

Start with the right influencers

For home brands focused on sustainability, the best influencers for these campaigns resonate deeply with eco-conscious audiences and have expertise or genuine interest in sustainability. Here are the types of influencers to consider:

Sustainability influencers: Creators focusing on eco-friendly living, sustainable practices, and minimalism. Their audiences are already primed to care about reducing environmental impact, making them a natural fit for campaigns promoting green home products or decor.

DIY and home improvement influencers: These influencers often have highly engaged communities that trust their recommendations for home projects. Partnering with DIY creators who incorporate sustainable or recycled materials in their projects can align perfectly with eco-friendly home brands.

Interior designers with a focus on sustainability: Professional interior designers who emphasize eco-conscious design choices, from materials to energy efficiency, bring a level of authority and trust to your brand. They can showcase how your products contribute to a sustainable home environment.

Nano- and micro-influencers: TIt’s not always necessary or effective to dedicate your budget to a celebrity or mega-influencer. Engagement matters more than audience size, and that’s where nano- (1K to 10K followers) and micro-influencers (10K to 100K followers) shine. These lesser-known creators often produce the best ROI on campaigns thanks to niche audiences, high engagement, and affordability. Their niches could include sustainability, zero-waste living, or specific eco-friendly home decor. 

Local influencers: As you begin your search for creators for your home influencer campaign, you may also want to look beyond niche and engagement to consider location if your brand is carried in brick-and-mortar stores. You can conduct searches for local influencers to connect with regional customers. If your brand is available in specific regions or has a physical retail presence, partnering with local influencers can help connect with audiences in those areas. Influencers with a local, community-driven following can promote sustainable practices within their geographic market.

Experts in sustainability: It’s worth noting that when it comes to sustainability, industry experts can be worth their weight in gold as brand influencers. From ecologists and certified climate change professionals to sustainability interior designers and authors of books about minimalism, your content creators can be personal or professional experts. Their authority and expertise add credibility to your brand’s sustainability claims and position your products as genuinely eco-friendly.

By choosing influencers who authentically align with sustainability values and have the right expertise or audience focus, home brands can create powerful and effective influencer campaigns.

Focus messaging on enhanced benefits

A 2024 Deloitte survey found that 62% of Gen Z and 59% of millennials have significant climate anxiety, with both cohorts feeling that businesses should implement sustainable practices. Rather than contribute to this anxiety by emphasizing the catastrophic effects of climate change, pesticides, and deforestation, for example, focus on the benefits of eco-friendly products and services.

Likewise, these younger consumers are increasing anti-capitalism, seeing the harm that the economic and political system has done to the non-wealthy. To shift away from a “buy more stuff” message, opt instead to lean into the experiences associated with the product you’re selling.

The eco-friendly features of your products don’t necessarily have to only serve as an added value over traditional benefits. Look to mesh sustainability features into content to enhance the product’s benefits. This might include a product’s safety, ethical sourcing, fair-labor production, sustainable packaging, or eco-friendly disposal.

Use relevant keywords and hashtags

Take some time to research relevant and trending keywords, long tail keywords, and hashtags to include in your influencer marketing campaign. You’ll also want to use some of these relevant terms organically in your content—including videos, which can be translated and transcribed to add additional SEO for increased visibility.

Need some examples? On TikTok, trending hashtags related to eco-friendly decor include:

#ZeroWaste

#SaveThePlanet

#SustainableDecor

#EcoFriendlyProducts

#SustainableLiving

#GreenTech

#EnvironmentalEducation

#Conservation

#PlasticFree

#SustainableHome

Offer incentives for your target audience

Offering your influencers’ followers something of value—whether it’s a discount code for blinds, a helpful guide to carpet stain removal, or a tool to determine which sofa fabric best suits their needs—can incentivize consumers who may be on the fence about making a purchase. 

While promo codes can help reduce the financial risk of trying your new product, value-added information items can also demonstrate your brand’s expertise in an otherwise saturated industry. Additionally, sending consumers to your website provides an opportunity to share more information, such as reviews, which 98% of shoppers say are essential when making purchase decisions, according to Power Reviews.

Eager to get started with your eco-friendly home influencer campaigns but aren’t sure where to begin? Reach out to our team to see how we can craft a compelling campaign that emphasizes sustainability.