The holiday season is less than three weeks away and represents a critical moment for consumer packaged goods brands. With CPG products accounting for over 60% of holiday shopping baskets in just the Food & Beverage industry alone, the opportunity is massive– but so is the competition. Between October and December, CPG brands face their most intense battle for consumer attention and wallet share. Let’s talk about how brands can win the holidays with CPG influencer content.
Traditional advertising approaches that once drove holiday sales are losing their edge. Consumers are tuning out polished ads and turning instead to the creators they trust for product recommendations. In fact, 49% of social commerce shoppers are swayed by influencer recommendations, making influencer partnerships a strategic imperative for CPG brands looking to capture holiday shoppers.
Leading CPG brands are reallocating budgets from traditional media to influencer collaborations – and seeing transformative results in awareness, engagement, and sales. Brands report 140% or higher conversion lift when influencer content appears on product pages and measurable brand awareness increases among hard-to-reach demographics like Gen Z. While only 20% of shoppers overall purchase holiday gifts through social media, that number jumps to 42% for Gen Z– more than double the average.
Why CPG and influencer marketing make a great partnership
Consumer packaged goods and influencer content form one of the most natural partnerships in modern marketing. Unlike aspirational luxury items, CPG products are everyday essentials that integrate seamlessly into authentic influencer content.
The nature of CPG products makes them ideal for influencer partnerships. These are consumable, replenishable staples– coffee for morning routines, snacks for kids’ lunches, skincare for bedtime rituals, cleaning products for weekend resets. Because CPG products are woven into daily life, they fit naturally into the content creators already produce: morning routines, meal prep videos, beauty tutorials, household management tips, and wellness practices.
The power in authenticity
Authenticity is critical and trust in products cannot be overlooked. For most consumers, CPG purchases are habitual and breaking through these patterns requires trusted recommendations. When influencers utilize their platforms to authentically showcase their own use of CPG products, it speaks to consumers much more effectively than if you were to place a perfected and polished ad in front of them. 83% of marketers account that influencer content converts at a higher rate as compared to brand content, and 9 out of 10 note that it outperforms in engagement as well.
Think about it– who are consumers to trust and relate to more– the company pushing a product or the niche influencer who they follow, take interest in, and trust actually using said product? There’s no one better to build trust around product to audiences than the influencers who lead engaged, tightknit communities and can create content in an exponentially faster turnaround as compared to an expensive, high production creative shoot. In the end, the result is a higher ROI with the lasting impact of trust from your target audience.
Cetaphil’s marketing win with Gen Z audiences
Working with Social Native, Cetpahil partnered with native TikTok creators to reach Gen Z audiences. The result was over 15 engaging videos which delivered a 5.4% lift in brand awareness and an 18.4% increase in ad recall– proof of the tangible impact of authentic CPG influencer content partnerships for brands.
How influencer content drives holiday success for CPG brands
CPG brands should leverage this holiday season as a unique opportunity to push sales of products that might not get their spotlight year-round. CPG influencer content solves this through authentic introduction at scale. When dozens of influencers across different niches feature your product, you multiply touchpoints across diverse, engaged audiences. A beverage brand working with 30 influencers doesn’t just reach 30 audiences– it creates a cultural moment where the product appears across feeds and sticks. There’s no better time to leverage authenticity than the holiday season– a time when people are most drawn to genuine and heartfelt moments.
Traditional versus Influencer-made content
Traditional ads show products in isolated settings whereas CPG influencer content shows products in real holiday contexts: a product used in Thanksgiving dinner prep, lipstick being applied during a “get ready for a holiday party” tutorial, cleaning products being used while making a “preparing your home for guests” video, or a snack in “stocking stuffer ideas” compilations.
Awareness gets you noticed and engagement creates connection. For CPG brands, generating excitement around everyday products presents a unique challenge– one that creators solve by transforming utility into aspiration.
A cleaning product becomes so much more than a utility when a home organization influencer shows how it enables the aesthetic kitchen that their viewers aspire to have. A beverage isn’t just a drink when an entertaining influencer positions it as the secret to impressive but effortless hosting. And a beauty product isn’t merely functional when a makeup artist demonstrates how it creates that special holiday look followers want to recreate.
A few ideas on CPG influencer content to drive engagement during the holidays
- Unboxing videos: Building anticipation for holiday gift sets or seasonal editions
- Recipe tutorials: Integrating food and beverage products into holiday meals
- Holiday hauls: Featuring CPG products alongside other seasonal purchases
- “Get ready with me”: Showcasing beauty products in holiday preparation
Nivea x Social Native: Impact on brand strategy
The possibilities are endless and the impact measurable. Nivea utilized Social Native to activate 13 micro-creators for TikTok content, the campaign generated 3.5 million likes and maintained a 6.5% engagement rate– dramatically higher than platform averages. The success led Nivea to expand their influencer strategy, eventually activating over 500 creators through Social Native.
Your holiday timeline: When to activate influencer campaigns this holiday season
So then the question comes: When should we be activating our CPG influencer campaigns? With the holiday season approaching in just 2 weeks, here are our expert recommendations on holiday campaign timelines.
Early Holiday (October – Early November)
Consumers are planning, list-making, and starting early shopping. This is the window to position products as holiday essentials before shopping lists are finalized.
Peak Shopping Season (Mid-November – Mid-December)
Active purchasing accelerates. Black Friday and Cyber Monday create urgency spikes, but shopping intensity remains high throughout.
Last-Minute & Post-Holiday (Late December – Early January)
Consumers are split between rushed last-minute shoppers, self-gifters, and those focused on New Year’s resolutions.
How Social Native empowers CPG holiday success
The timing is now. Holiday campaigns launched in the coming weeks will capture early shoppers and set the tone for the entire season. Thanksgiving and peak shopping days such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday are just days away. With Social Native, you can source influencers, launch campaigns quickly, and activate content everywhere your customers scroll and shop.
Ready to drive real impact this holiday season? Social Native makes it easy for CPG brands to harness the power of CPG influencer content. Let’s make this your most successful holiday season yet.
Get started with Social Native and Book a Demo.
