s b

8 hours ago Apr 5, 2019 Apr 4, 2019

RECENT

How Mike McNamara avoids Closing the ‘voice gap’ in To jump-start America, invest (a
mediocrity America’s workforce lot) in science

 

IDEAS MADE TO MATTER | MARKETING

How to be authentic in the perfectly curated world

of Instagram
by Meredith Somers | Dec 14, 2018

Why It Matters

Star power works, but it’s also expensive. Fortunately, your brand
doesn’t need it as much as you think it does.

Share
+
On any given day, more than 200 million users will visit one of Instagram’s 25 million business

profiles worldwide, the company reports.

s b

Here’s how three brands are cutting through the noise without relying too heavily on the

expensive and obvious strategy of celebrity endorsements.

Share

According to
Instagram, 200
million users visit
at least one
business profile
daily.

Your best brand ambassador may be yourself

Celebrities are featured on the Jennifer Fisher Jewelry Instagram account, but it’s Jennifer

Fisher’s own story that consumers are engaging with.  In the 12 years since Fisher started her

jewelry line, customers have gotten to know her and her family through social media, Fisher said

during a panel discussion this month at the MIT Sloan Retail and Consumer Goods Conference.

She personally handles the social media outreach for her line, which includes more than 300,000
+
Instagram followers.
The company even switched from using models on its website to photographing Fisher herself to
s
show off the jewelry. Customers want to engage more with her, she said, rather than a celebrity
b
they don’t know.

“That’s where the company has seen growth,” Fisher said. “Getting people to know me; buying

into me. I really can’t fake who I am. I don’t try to make it glossier than what it is. Sometimes the

photos look a little better than I do in person, but it’s the same [person].”

Collaborate with people and brands that share your values

Keds president Gillian Meek also sees how authenticity can take you further than celebrity.

“Consumers are smart,” Meek, who has helmed the century-old shoe brand since 2016, said. “They

don’t just want the stuff — they want value that’s inherent in that stuff.” The company has had

celebrity endorsements, including from Taylor Swift, but as a strategy, celebrity is not in the

budget.

“A lot of money is being spent on influencers and it does work, but it’s a lot of money and we’re

not the kind of brand that has that kind of money — nor do we want to spend it in that way,”

Meek said. Keds has close to 400,000 Instagram followers, and Meek said most of the company’s

marketing budget is focused on social media.

The brand strategy is focused on cultivating partnerships with people who share the company’s

values and style, which emphasize creative women. For example, Keds started a small-scale

partnership with a woman who illustrates for her own stationery company.

“We work with entrepreneurs, fashion designers on a small scale, artists, all who have the same

kind of belief set that we do,” Meek said.

Fans first, but seek a celebrity fan

Spindrift Beverage Company is also learning to balance endorsements and authentic content.

Actress Kristen Bell is a spokeswoman for the sparking water brand, but she was a fan first, +
said

Caroline Kibler, a senior vice president of marketing.

 “Her voice, her brand, what people know about her is very consistent with the personality we’re
s
trying to sketch out for Spindrift. But we didn’t want the brand to be her,” Kibler said. “It’s been
b
sort of a gut feeling on how much weight we put behind that kind of content versus other more

product-centric content.”

Kibler said that sort of “megaphone” for the brand’s message was needed to help maintain

awareness around the company’s rapid growth. But Spindrift will continue to market directly to

its fan base and new customers that help comprise the company’s 55,000 Instagram followers.

For example, Spindrift will sometimes offer new flavors to fans before the retailers get it.

“Word of mouth is not only incredibly efficient from a cost standpoint, we love to have an

endorsement from someone who just discovered us from somewhere and started drinking us, and

doesn’t really know much about us, and starts to tell their friends about us,” Kibler said. “Our

most loyal fan base came about just that way. It wasn’t from seeing any advertising.”

FOR MORE INFO

Meredith Somers
News Writer

msomers@mit.edu


RELATED ARTICLES

+

 
 IDEAS MADE TO MATTER
3 ways to win the online ratings
battle sButterball
Why the b Turkey Talk
Line works
IDEAS MADE TO MATTER

Why AirAsia boosts marketing

during a crisis

 

FIND US

MIT Sloan School of Management

100 Main Street
Cambridge, MA 02142

617-253-1000

LINKS

Press

Diversity

Careers

Licensing

Privacy

f t y i l

©2019 MIT SLOAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT