Product seeding is one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways for brands that sell tangible goods to establish or scale an influencer marketing program that increases brand awareness and sales.
Product seeding, also known as influencer gifting, is another effective strategy to increase brand loyalty among influencers by allowing them to learn about your company, test your product, and become lovers of both.
Understanding Product Seeding (Influencer Gifting)
When brands send free products to a carefully selected set of influencers, this is known as product seeding or influencer gifting. Influencers post about the product and offer photographs and views to their audience in exchange.
Product seeding is based on the premise that getting your product into the hands of an influencer who is likely to use and appreciate it will result in authentic, relatable content that the influencer’s audience will find engaging and memorable.
Ecommerce Brands’ Product Seeding Examples
To build their influencer programs, today’s leading brands use product seeding. Brands can provide items in exchange for high-quality content and foster connections with their favorite producers after recognizing personalities that align with their fundamental values, which typically leads to long-term partnerships.
1. MVMT Watches
Product seeding was employed by MVMT Watches, a sleek, modern watch company, to develop a thriving influencer marketing programme and foster true creative relationships. Influencer gifting was crucial in establishing MVMT’s influencer marketing efforts and turning it into one of the most successful influencer programs today, according to Ethan Frame, the brand’s former influencer marketing manager.
“We spent a lot of time on Instagram, and we started noticing people getting followings there and were like ‘Hey, I wonder if we can send these people some watches and a promo code they can share with their fans and see what happens.’”
— Ethan Frame, former influencer marketing manager at MVMT Watches
Ethan found the perfect influencers by looking for creators who shared the MVMT brand. He then developed a personal relationship with each creative, mailed them a watch, and asked them to post a photo of themselves wearing the gift with their fans. The MVMT influencer programme was able to scale and become a powerful marketing tool because of its product seeding strategy.
2. GoPro
GoPro’s compact, attachable lenses are ideal for the travel and extreme sports content creators that the tech company often targets for product seeding campaigns. The company encourages its creator partners to utilize its “action cams” to create beautiful material to share with their audiences.
The Natural Selection Tour in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, was sponsored by the brand in January. Four of the tour’s 24 elite riders competed for the GoPro Snow team, and each was outfitted with lots of GoPro gear to capture every moment of the daring trek.
3. ZAFUL
ZAFUL is a fashion brand that offers trendy looks for men and women at accessible pricing. The eCommerce business is a web-based marketplace where buyers and sellers can connect. The firm, which was founded in 2014, used product seeding to increase its Instagram following to over 5.2 million people.
“ZAFUL Hauls,” where influencers can choose an outfit from the store and post a photo of themselves wearing it on Instagram, is one of its most successful initiatives. The brand also offers a discount code for the creator’s fans to use when making purchases.
Product Seeding’s Benefits
Influencer marketing has exploded in popularity in recent years for a reason: it works. In fact, for every dollar spent on social media creators, influencer marketers get a $5-6.50 return. Product seeding is one of the most important aspects of building a strong influencer programme, and it may help firms swiftly expand their influencer marketing efforts.
How Influencer gifting helps brands:
1. Guarantee alignment with creators
Brands should collaborate with artists who utilize and like the items they create. Ideally, creators who share a brand’s goal and values are already using—or at least familiar with—its merchandise. If it isn’t possible, product seeding is the next best option. Creators are more likely to build genuine brand loyalty and transmit that love on to their followers if you allow them to peruse your inventory and choose a product they will use in real life.
2. Partner with authentic influencers
According to research, there are up to 37.8 million influencers on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok combined. So, how can you identify those who will serve as genuine, long-term ambassadors?
The goal is to create an influencer programme centered on collaboration rather than transactions.
A transactional relationship is desired by creators who are simply interested in making money and gaining as many followers as possible. This strategy will fail for both parties and will not result in the quality, long-term connections required to scale an influencer marketing programme.
Influencers who are successful aim to cultivate brand relationships that benefit their audience. This is why product seeding is so important. It allows the influencer to assess whether or not your product is something they would naturally recommend, and it allows for discussion about how producers truly feel about a product.
3. Implement a cost-effective strategy
Product seeding is very cost-effective for most brands. Unless a brand sells a very pricey product, exchanging goods for user-generated content (UGC) is by far the most cost-effective strategy to raise brand awareness and ultimately drive sales.
For any marketer, getting professional-grade content for the price of a product is a no-brainer. Choose influencers that are currently creating content that your audience enjoys so that you may reuse and repurpose content through sponsored ads, email marketing, and other methods.
4. Build brand love
Sending a product to influencers without expecting a quick response fosters the kind of trust that leads to brand loyalty. Taking the time to slow down and create a genuine relationship with an influencer is more likely to transform them into “true believers.” As a result, you’ll have the support of fans who sincerely believe in the purpose of that influencer.
5. Insert effective product placement
Product placement is effective. According to a recent survey, 80 percent of customers prefer product placement to other typical paid commercials since it feels more natural.
When a brand teams up with a high-profile social media influencer who uses or wears its product, organic and successful product placement occurs. Even if the influencer does not tag the business at the beginning of their articles, they will almost certainly snap a positive photo with the product that will show in their content. This results in a natural brand-influencer alignment that will be noticed by the creator’s followers.
6. Acquire future customers
By getting items out to the public, you are continually creating opportunities to convert new customers. Even if the goal isn’t to recruit a new influencer to represent your company, a free product can help you build loyal customers who will buy from you again.
Even if the influencer relationship doesn’t work out, Ethan Frame of MVMT believes that product gifting has value.
“Hey, if it’s another watch on someone’s wrist, it’s still advertising for me,” he said.
7. Increase brand awareness
Many people follow influencers on social media because they like their aesthetics, and they notice when their favorite creative wears or uses something they haven’t seen before. Influencer gifting ensures that more people are aware of your company, whether through influencer content, shout-outs, or word of mouth.
Working on Product Seeding
Though it may seem straightforward in theory, having a clear plan and processes in place is critical for a successful product seeding effort. To get the most out of product seeding, follow these guidelines:
- Find the right influencer
- Get the know the influencer
- Connect authentically
- Send a gift
- Don’t ask for a return right away
- Build the relationship
- Ask for content
- Create a partnership
Let’s look at these eight phases in more detail now.
Find the right influencers
As previously stated, marketers must approach the appropriate influencers for collaboration. Finding consumers who would naturally utilize your brand’s product in their daily lives is the key. By taking the effort to find the ideal creators, you can be sure that the influencer will like your product and consider endorsing it.
Get to know the influencer
Don’t merely look at an influencer’s most recent content and immediately send a free product. First, spend some time getting to know them. Investigate various articles, blogs, comments, and online activities to learn more about the influencer and the best things to gift them.
It also increases your chances of reaching out to an influencer by giving information that demonstrates that you know who they are. Warm outreach works best when you add something personal about their previous content and why your brand thinks they’d like the product.
Tip: Remember to keep an eye out for red flags. Take your time looking over the influencer’s accounts to make sure they haven’t previously posted anything offensive, inflammatory, or racist.
Connect authentically
Authentic influencers don’t want to hear a sales pitch, and they certainly don’t want to be hounded by brands who have no idea who they are.
Brands should show that they’ve done their research and are interested in the influencer’s material. Allowing the influencer to know you checked them out is the quickest way to change your outreach from frigid to warm. Mention a specific piece of content they contributed or a caption they made to demonstrate that they aren’t just being spammed.
Send a gift
Although you may believe that anyone would like your product for free, it is courteous to inquire first. Consider the product to send a creator based on their personality and interests, and make the present as personalized as feasible.
Don’t ask for a return right away
Requesting a return on the free products you sent to an influencer should not be pressed. Allowing spontaneous connections to form allows creators to fall in love with your brand and merchandise, resulting in genuine, organic promotions.
Build the influencer relationship
Don’t just deliver a gift and forget about it; maintain contact with the influencer afterward. After some time has gone, follow up. Inquire about how the product is working and if they have any questions. Create a genuine, positive exchange by being yourself. Maintain the flow of dialogue!
Ask for content
It’s time to ask for content quietly when the relationship has shown signs of progress and you’ve created a genuine connection. There’s no need to request tags or mentions right away. Any image of a product in use or being worn is valuable to a brand. The influencer will be ready and willing to give you their best suggestions, tags, or mentions without being asked if you take the time to foster the relationship.
Create a partnership
The brand should establish a cadence with the influencer and begin collaboration for recurring content after the influencer posts about the product. This is when product seeding may turn into a full-fledged influencer partnership, complete with affiliate links, swipe-ups, and brand mentions, among other things.
Conclusion
A well-thought-out product seeding approach will help you scale your influencer programme while also raising brand recognition.
One of the most effective and cost-effective strategies to scale your influencer marketing strategy is to use product seeding. Your brand may get its products in front of an engaged audience willing to take product recommendations from their favorite creators by collaborating with the appropriate influencers. Furthermore, the continuing relationship you develop with your top influencer partners ensures that your clients are loyal and long-term.