Consumers are concerned about their social and environmental responsibility. In fact, 87% of customers would be willing to switch brands based on association with a good cause. For nonprofits, this shift in demand means it is now more important than ever to master social media to drive attention to your organization’s mission and network. In recent years, nonprofits have entered the influencer marketing space to set themselves apart from other companies, meet content demands and build an online brand presence. Brands interested in partnering with influencers for cause-based marketing should analyze previous successful campaigns to gain valuable insights on the benefits and challenges unique to nonprofit influencer marketing.
In this article, we examine how four brands are leveraging creators to raise awareness, spark conversations, and enact meaningful change.
How 4 brands are achieving real results with nonprofit influencer marketing
1. Huggies + Walgreens support the Diaper Network with parenthood creators
During the month of August, for every pack of Huggies purchased through Walgreens, Huggies donated a day’s worth of diapers to the National Diaper Bank Network—up to 1 million diapers. Partnering with Social Native, Huggies activated over 40 Instagram creators to spread awareness of their donation program. To initiate conversation and encourage audience interactions, each creator included the statistic “1 in 3 families in the US experience diaper need” within their post. By partnering with trusted mom creators and engaging parenthood influencers like Brandon (@dadinsf), Huggies was able to successfully connect with family-focused individuals. Collectively, the posts received over 1,000 comments and reached nearly half a million potential consumers!
2. Micro-influencers “Light the Night” with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s “Light The Night” event aims to bring light to the darkness of cancer by bringing communities together and fundraising for blood cancer cures. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society hoped to spread awareness of this event and encourage online fans to join upcoming virtual events. Partnering with Social Native and targeting Instagram users, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society worked with 30 creators to produce 10 on-brand videos and 25 photos in honor of the event. The Instagram videos alone achieved a 20% engagement rate and received over 19,000 in-feed engagements. Collectively the emotionally-moving creator content reached over 240,000 users on Instagram. By incorporating digital creators into their promotional strategy, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society was able to humanize the event’s messaging before even taking place! Further, including videos and photos in the campaign allowed the nonprofit to test different creator assets on different owned channels to learn which content format resonates most with their audience.
3. The National Kidney Foundation enlists Instagram influencers to ask, “Are you the 33%?”
Partnering with influencers is a great way to promote your organization’s mission and build brand loyalty. This is a particularly effective tactic for brands supporting sustainability initiatives or nonprofits advocating for the under-represented. The National Kidney Foundation aimed to bring awareness to the 33% of adults in the US at risk for kidney disease. Because most people are unaware of the disease’s corresponding risk factors, the non-profit opted to partner with Social Native creators to share kidney education and invite followers to take a quick “kidney quiz.” With the help of 45 creators, the campaign was able to reach over a million users on Instagram, producing over 675 comments, 20,000 in-feed engagements and 15,000+ likes! Just six creators who participated in the campaign were able to boost the overall campaign’s potential audience reach by 350,000!
4. Nature’s Bounty teams up with female creators to #ShineBrighterForTheCure
For the month of October, Nature’s Bounty opted to donate a portion of their top-selling product proceeds to the Susan G. Komen for the cure foundation to fund breast cancer research. Nature’s Bounty sought Social Native’s help to find the perfect group of diverse female creators, bloggers and influencers in fashion, beauty and lifestyle. The campaign produced 25 high-quality photos capturing creators donning branded campaign t-shirts and Nature’s Bounty product front and centered. The collective group of creators inspired over 200,000 Instagram users and generated nearly 500 comments!
Why micro-influencers work so well for nonprofit influencer marketing
People tend to care about what their friends and family care about.
Unlike macro-influencers, micro-influencers typically have smaller but more engaged followings. They dedicate time to developing individual relationships with their followers and they are perceived as friends instead of influencers. This helps them establish trustworthiness, credibility, and brand loyalty when conversing about shared interests or promoting a brand. It’s an ideal way for brands to spread the word through “word of mouth” style messaging that is authentic and reliable.
Here are some key benefits of micro-influencers for nonprofit organizations:
- Relatable: Micro-influencers can appear as a friend with a common interest and less of an “influencer”.
- High level of expertise in shared interest: Creators who already have expertise or trust in a topic will naturally align with messaging, furthering the value of the content.
- Focused interest: Micro-influencers are likely to say yes to a partnership (with smaller compensation expectations) due to a genuine passion to further the social cause/ goal.
- Niche audience: Similar-minded audiences offer more opportunity for your brand to reach people who are already listening and aligned in social values.
- Sparking conversations: Micro-influencers are focused on growing 1:1 relationships with followers by initiating and participating in organic two-way conversations.
Social Native is committed to amplifying worldwide social initiatives and sustainability practices. In an ongoing partnership, Social Native has activated over 30 pro-bono creator campaigns to support causes surrounding global literacy, cancer research, LGBTQIA+, human and animal rights, youth health & safety, environmental initiatives, donor & transplant campaigns, and many more.
Social Native created this social good initiative to give creators additional opportunities to show off their skill set, while lending their creative voice for a prominent social cause. Motivated by positive change, over 2,500 creators have participated in the Social Native-powered campaigns to date, reaching over 40 million users!
Further, Social Native donates $5 for each piece of content created to amplify the initiative. By activating creators for the greater good, Social Native is inspiring the community and the next generation of creators to create positive change and improve lives.
Visit our sustainability page to learn more about our promise to create positive change.
