Best Fiends Put All of Its Ad Budget into Influencer Marketing: Here's Why It Worked

At first glance, the idea of paying an influencer to advertise your product or business might seem too off-brand for your current marketing strategies. On the contrary, influencers are individuals who hold a sizable, captivated audience, dominating your industry. This is where influencer marketing enters the scene.

When it comes to influencers, the types of people touting your wares are not all high-fashion celebrities on Instagram (though they are certainly that, too). In fact, an “influencer” is anyone in your field who has both the reach and sway over your desired customer base. If you can find such a person, chances are good they can help you with your advertising needs.

An Influencer Marketing Platform at The Highest Level

In 2019, the media franchise Best Fiends reported 100 million downloads of its? tile-matching mobile game. The company's bold, multi-year advertising campaign was a huge part of the secret to the game’s success.?

Three years earlier, in 2016, the company put all of its marketing budget toward YouTube influencers. They hired PewDiePie, a Swedish Youtuber and content creator to sponsor their brand. PewDiePie’s pre-existing fanbase was huge and exactly the right audience (mainly teens) for Best Fiends. They utilized a powerful influencer marketing platform to yield strong results.

Why it Worked

Though PewDiePie was not single-handedly responsible for rocketing Best Fiends to the top of the mobile game app charts, he was certainly influential. So much so that Best Fiends’ developer, Seriously Digital Entertainment, went on to commission 1,300 YouTube videos in 2016 and another 800 in 2017. These video advertisements starred many of the right influencers, including PewDiePie. The results were staggering, allowing Seriously Digital Entertainment to expand its games and solidify its brand in consumer consciousness.

Using A Unique Influencer Marketing Strategy To Boost Your Business

In a way, the example of Best Fiends is an anomaly.?

Seriously Digital Entertainment spent its entire marketing budget on its high-profile influencer marketing strategy. Not every business can take such a risk. But those that have the capital to hire the exact right influencers with massive audiences can see overwhelming results. For everyone else with grounded (or perhaps localized) goals, the idea of such market domination can be daunting. More often than not, it’s best to think realistically first.

How is your brand and/or business unique? What do you offer your customers that no one else can? And how can a like-minded influencer deliver that message for you??

Social Media Influencer Marketing

In every industry, influential people exist. Usually, they aren’t difficult to find. They have large followings on Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and everywhere else on the web. The amount of content influencers produce is high, posting on social media once a day (or more!). Whether they post videos, write blogs, or share pictures and well-edited images, their audience is always watching.?

Influencers are considered to be experts in their field. This is largely in part to a fan base that’s interested in what they have to say (however they choose to say it). Their coveted sponsorships can yield businesses unprecedented rewards otherwise undiscovered through “traditional” advertising routes.

Engaging Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing strategies aren’t for everyone. Every business must consider its own needs and wants carefully when dipping into the influencers’ waters. When starting out, it can be enticing to seek out individuals with an obscene number of followers. However, large audiences aren’t always the answer. It’s better to consider how audiences engage with prospective influencers, rather than to be swayed by their size.

If you are considering bringing on influencers to advertise, but are unsure how to do it, the dedicated team at Web Content Development can help! Let us know how you want to grow your business. We’ll work together to achieve your goals!