How to enhance a blogger’s integration with interactive content

We tell you how game mechanics work in influencer marketing, how to attract an audience to create UGC content, and why standard advertising inserts from bloggers are losing effectiveness.

Types of Blogger Integrations

Globally, all integrations can be divided into three types today:

1. Classic advertising inserts

When a blogger suddenly or not distracted from the topic of his video and talks about the product, after which, as if nothing had happened, he returns to his content.

There is certainly a link to the advertiser in the description of such videos, which allows you not only to get the desired traffic, but also to track it, thereby accurately assessing the effectiveness of cooperation. But users who are tired of advertising often skip through such inserts, and according to our statistics, these integrations have the lowest viewing rates, so you shouldn’t expect big numbers further down the funnel. You can save the campaign if: a) you choose the theme of the video carefully so that the mention of the product is as appropriate as possible; b) think through the script with high quality – use storytelling, add humor, create really interesting content (tell a case, add analytics).

2. Fully native format

This is when there are not even links in the description, there are no calls, direct promotion, but there is a personal recommendation, experience using the product, a review, naturally woven into the script.

In the Russian market, some companies use this approach. These are basically the same big players who realized the value of pure PR and building long-term communications with the consumer. They are willing to sacrifice traffic and the ability to accurately track the effectiveness of each individual action, but in the end they get something more – loyalty, trust, and sincere brand supporters. And this becomes their powerful competitive advantage.

3. Engaging integrations with interactive

The low effectiveness of explicit advertising from the mouth of influencers becomes obvious. At the same time, most Russian companies are not ready for the intangible effect of fully native integrations. They want to see specific numbers at the output – CTR, CPC, etc. In this case, interactive mechanics become the optimal solution: when the blogger, together with the customer’s brand, launches a challenge, contest, arranges a quiz, etc. Let’s talk about this format in more detail.

Formats of involving integrations with bloggers

When choosing a specific format, you need to rely on the specifics of the audience and the product.

• If the target audience is gamers, it can be a mini-game, a quest, and other game mechanics. They are advanced users who can be brought to applications, chatbots, landing pages, and engaged in long-term interaction.
• The creative audience (artists, photographers, writers) will be attracted by professional competitions where they can prove themselves: on the best idea, design of something, photo, etc. 
• An intelligent interactive approach is more suitable for a serious, thinking person: a quiz or a kind of puzzle, a cipher.
• If the campaign is aimed at a wide audience, it is better to choose something simple as a contest for the best comment or review as an engaging integration mechanism.
• Trending stories and challenges will appeal to young people and Generation Z. In this regard, it is not difficult to involve them in the creation of UGC content. They will make a video / photo on a given topic or for a specific track with interest and ease and post it with the desired hashtag.
• It will be more difficult to encourage millennials or boomers to UGC, so they need to be interested. It’s good if you can identify some their hobbies. Contests, creation of intellectual content, and quizzes are suitable in terms of format.

Examples of gamification in influencer marketing

Our team always tries to offer the customer either native integration or an engaging, interactive format. Together with bloggers, we held quizzes, held a contest for the best art project, a contest for the best ending for a comic book, and «sewed» topics and questions into the integration that stimulated discussions in the comments.

In one of the projects for HyperX, we conducted a quest with several bloggers. We conceived a short word, and each letter of it, one at a time, was hidden in the videos of influencers. Each of the bloggers talked about the terms of the campaign, and in the description they indicated links to other videos. After guessing the word and filling out a special form on the project’s landing page, the participant received a promo code for a discount. Thus, the target audience repeatedly contacted the brand, the bloggers’ audiences flowed into one another, and the discount received led to purchases. During the week, more than 4,000 people participated in the game, we received 25,000 clicks on the landing page, and more than 8,500 users switched to online stores. The conversion rate to the target action was 34%.

We had an interesting experience with Acer – we had to use the audience of an exhibition in which the brand did not participate to promote. One of the activities that we came up with was Easter eggs. We’ve recruited three computer-related bloggers. They visited the exhibition and made their reports, and in the videos they «hid» images of mices for PCs from Acer. Those who found all the Easter eggs could answer questions in a Google form and take part in a raffle for valuable prizes. Similar to the previous example, we combined the audiences of all influencers and created conditions for multiple interaction of the target audience with the brand. Taking into account other activities, the campaign generated 3 million views and 15,000 clicks to the Acer online store.

Another original gamification case involving bloggers is a virtual PC assembly tournament. The task was to support the product line during the renaming process, when Kingston introduced RAM and SSD drives to the Fury market. We developed a mini-game: the participants had to assemble a computer for a while, of course, with Fury components. And, of course, we were talking about good prizes. There was no limit to the number of attempts, so users had the opportunity to remember the new brand as well as their five fingers. And the bloggers in this project helped to give a powerful boost in attracting an audience. They not only talked about the action, but they themselves went through the assembly of the PC as part of the video, charging the audience with excitement. We engaged 12,600 users in the gameplay and received 11,000 store clicks.

How to evaluate the result

Unlike fully native integrations, projects with interactivity and gamification are good because they can track accurate indicators, as in the case of classic advertising inserts. We determine which ones at the start, based on the goals. These may include visits to the website, to the partner network’s stores, the number of promo code activations, CTR and CPC.

Intermediate figures are also important, such as the number of views, participants in the proposed activity – not all of them perform a conversion action, but all are in contact with the brand, it works for the future.

It is important to count the views of the integration, not of the video. It’s not the same thing.

We also evaluate the quality indicators: the tone of the comments under the integration video, the mentions of the customer’s products in them. If we make a landing page for a project, we also look analytics such as: scroll maps, clicks, traffic sources, bounces, time on the site.

If, in parallel with the integrations, there were no other special projects that break out of the usual PR and marketing activities of the brand, we look at the dynamics of search queries. We also try to get sales data from the customer, although this is not always possible, as it depends on their internal policy.

Which bloggers can be used to implement an interactive project?

It is not always possible to connect game mechanics and involve the blogger in the interactive process. This should be taken into account. For example, interviewers and journalists are now popular bloggers. You can make very organic integrations in their content, but the format is usually strict, and you won’t be able to offer something of your own. Nevertheless, this is an option for good, high-quality integration. They have consistently a lot of views, and this certainly attracts advertisers, even with certain format restrictions.

Micro and midi (medium–scale) bloggers are the most suitable for implementing original, non-standard integrations. They are usually very flexible and willing to experiment in terms of interactivity. Despite the fact that they have fewer views than macrobloggers, the effectiveness of micro and midi campaigns is good, the CTR is higher – because their subscribers are very loyal, better involved in interaction and trustfully accept the recommendations of their influencer.

As for the topics of the channels, there are no restrictions on the use of interactive content. The main thing is to choose a format that will suit the interests of the audience: play with gamers, offer science pop fans a quiz, to athletes – a sports challenge, etc. And the wider the target audience, the simpler the conditions for contests/interactivity should be.

We will be glad to become your reliable partner in organizing vivid and, most importantly, effective integrations with interactive mechanics in the Russian market!