5 Influencer Marketing Best Practices That All Family and Baby Brands Need To Know
Research shows that 72% of millennial parents use social media for product research, and 68% make purchases based on social media recommendations. In the last decade, influencers in this niche have become young parents’ go-to source for product recommendations, kid-friendly activity ideas, parenting tips, and more.
A growing number of brands are tapping into the power of these creators, especially as millennial and Gen Z parents gain more buying power in the children’s category. About 40% of millennials in the US identify as parents, totaling over 22 million. Additionally, 1 in 10 parents are now Gen Z, with many using TikTok to discover new products.
Are you leveraging influencer marketing yet?
In this 3-part series, we’re exploring influencer marketing strategies specifically for family and baby brands. In Part 1, we’re walking through 5 influencer marketing best practices for you to incorporate into your next campaign.
1. Highlight your brand values.
Millennial and Gen Z parents have an endless amount of options when it comes to family and baby products, whether it’s strollers or baby food. Because of this, they’re also spending more time researching products based on brand values, such as clean ingredients and sustainability.
To differentiate yourself from competing brands, build a campaign around your unique brand values, whether you prioritize comfort, safety, quality, or anything in between. Encourage influencers to highlight the “why” behind your products and showcase your brand values where they can.
Fashion retailer PatPat specializes in making matching outfits accessible for children and families across the globe. To highlight these values, PatPat’s creators often post try-on hauls showcasing their family’s matching outfits and promote the brand’s trendy styles, affordable prices, and more.
Additionally, remember to partner with influencers who align well with your brand’s mission, messaging, and the like. For example, if you’re selling 100% organic diapers, work with moms who always promote a non-toxic lifestyle. Because your brand values naturally align with what these creators typically stand for, their endorsement feels more authentic and trustworthy.
2. Leverage video content to drive your message forward.
Whether it’s a long-form YouTube video or a short TikTok, video content has quickly taken over as one of the most effective social media marketing tools. In fact, an astounding 87% of marketers can attribute sales back to their video marketing efforts.
And while this may be true for all industries, video works particularly well for family and baby brands because products in this category typically need product demonstrations and step-by-step tutorials to truly drive your brand messages forward.
For example, if you’re selling a stroller, it’s much more effective to have influencers show all the safety features that are built in, how easy it is to use, and how compact it folds up, than to just talk about these key traits.
So, partner with influencers to create valuable video content that can showcase your product values. Then, repurpose this content across all of your branded channels to stretch the impact of your influencer marketing efforts — but more on this later.
3. Lean into emotional storytelling.
Emotional storytelling is the make-or-break factor for family and baby brands. Because family and baby products often involve the health and well-being of children, the emotional weight behind a recommendation from another parent is substantial, making social proof an influential factor in the decision-making process.
The good news is that mommy influencers and family vloggers are expert storytellers, who consistently create content that gives other parents the confidence to trust the products they endorse. Creators in this niche often show the good, the bad, and the ugly of their lives, making their content very relatable for other parents.
For example, check out @nattiejopo’s post, in partnership with Pampers. In her video, she mentions how Pampers has helped her transform her daughter’s diaper changing sessions from a battle to a bonding experience.
Encourage influencers to share personal stories around how your products have helped them, whether it’s by making certain parts of parenthood easier or by improving their kid’s health in some way.
4. Build long-term partnerships with influencers.
It’s always a good idea to build long-term relationships with influencers who align well with your brand. It makes your job 10x easier when you already have history and a mutually beneficial relationship that you know generates high returns.
For family and baby brands, this couldn’t be more true. Because people like to see how families grow, influencers in this category have a very devoted audience. In most cases, they have audiences who have followed their lives through major milestones, such as their wedding or the birth of their children — their followers are almost like a part of the family!
With a longstanding relationship, creators can not only attest to the quality of your products over time, but also show off the range of items that your brand offers as their kids grow up.
For example, kids’ subscription box brand KiwiCo has worked with influencers like Sarah’s Day over a long period of time to showcase the various boxes the brand offers for kids of different ages. Over the course of their partnership, Sarah has shown the different types of toys included in the boxes as her kids have gotten older, from the newborn stage to the school-age level.
With this kind of long-term endorsement, creators can establish a reliable narrative around your brand time and time again. This repetition builds trust, enhances brand recall, and overall strengthens the effectiveness of your marketing strategy.
5. Repurpose UGC across your marketing channels.
Today’s young parents are hyper-aware of online advertising, making it harder for brands to grab consumers’ attention. To break through the noise, family and baby brands need to harness the power of user-generated content (UGC), including influencer-generated content (IGC), customer testimonials, and more.
UGC is a powerful tool for brands across all categories, but for family and baby brands, UGC can resonate even deeper with your target audience. Why? Social proof is incredibly important when it comes to kids products, as parents naturally prioritize safety, reliability, and quality for their children. And as mentioned above, influencers in this niche are experts at creating relatable content that pulls at your heartstrings. Stock images just don’t have the same effect.
To leverage their influence, you can repurpose IGC from your collaborations on all of your brand-owned channels, whether that be your own social media feed or your email newsletters. This way, your website, emails, paid ads, and all other marketing channels can be fueled by high-converting content and feel more cohesive.
