As recently as two months ago, your marketing budget was set for the year. If you’re targeting millennials and Gen Z, influencers were likely a key component of your strategy. Your micro-influencers were ready to go for SXSW, Coachella, and more. You may have even signed a major travel influencer to get amazing shots of your products around the world.

So what happens when your plans change in ways that you could have never anticipated?

Pre-pandemic, brands prioritized influencer partnerships to align with their cool factor and gain relevancy with their dedicated followers. But now, we are seeing brands quickly shift gears and invest in relationships with their own loyal customers.

This week, Business of Fashion published an article titled quite literally, “What Brands Are Doing Instead of Influencer Campaigns". Here’s what they found:

• With 30% of their influencer budget cancelled, Bonobos is fueling their email strategy - tapping their team to produce a newsletter full of delightful content that does not push product too heavily
• Similarly, Rent the Runway is prioritizing their existing customers above all.

“We want to cultivate community with subscribers and have an opportunity to build a connection now,” said Gabby Etrog Cohen, senior vice president of communications and business development at Rent the Runway. “That’s how we’re thinking about marketing right now: connection with a brand. It’s very different from being transactional.”

• Farfetch is tapping a segment of their top brand advocates to create content in exchange for product rewards.
  
  The brand uses Zyper’s community software to find the top 1% of their super fans. Through the platform, they brief their fans, just like they would with influencers. As a result, they gain a constant stream of on-brand UGC while engaging their most loyal fans.

Farfetch’s Work From Home Brief in the Zyper Platform:

Farfetch’s Work From Home Content, Created by Fans:

When involved in a brand community, fans are eager to create content in line with brand guidelines for the opportunity to gain additional rewards or even to be featured on their Instagram feed. This completely eliminates the friction around creative control that often arises in influencer partnerships.

The ability for customers to co-create with a brand, especially at this time, is arguably the most effective (and delightful) way to build a lasting connection.

To learn more about Zyper's software and find the top 1% of your brand’s fans, reach out to sales@zyper.com.