Google Partners with Instagram Influencers – Case Study

Google Partners with Instagram Influencers – Case Study

Google has become one of the wealthiest powerhouse technology companies in the world. Google expanded into many technology-related ventures since it started in 1998 as a search engine. In fact, the word Google has become synonymous with searching for information on the internet. Today, it stands at the cutting-edge of the industry as a flag bearer of innovation in technology. Google’s expansion and marketing strategy is at the core of its top-of-the-mind brand recall among the people globally. In October 2017, Google launched a smartphone named Pixel 2 and a voice-controlled smart home device named Google Home Mini. The tech giant collaborated with Instagram Influencers to promote both products. We will take a closer look into the campaigns in the article. Let’s get started:

Promoting Pixel 2 with Instagram Influencers

Google enlisted 51 Instagram Influencers to promote the Google Pixel 2 and Google Pixel 2 XL. 14 of these influencers had more than 100K followers while others had less than 100K followers on Instagram. Using the tag @madebygoogle and #teampixel, the influencers created a total of 61 sponsored posts on Instagram. The sponsored nature of the collaboration was declared by the creators by using Instagram’s “Paid partnership” tag or #ad in the caption. Look at the following 2 examples:

Justin Main (@photofied) edits visually appealing photos into surreal works of art. In the above post, he has effectively managed to showcase the Google Pixel 2 set against a beautiful and dazzling cityscape. In the caption he writes, “OK Google, play my highway playlist” which is a nod to the Pixel 2’s voice-activated assistant while syncing well with the photo he created. This post has amassed close to 14000 likes and over 300 comments.

Xenia Tchoumi, a Russian-Swiss model, actress and entrepreneur is one of the most popular fashion influencers on Instagram. She mentions her attendance at the Google Pixel 2 launch event in her sponsored post. This collaboration helped Google position its Pixel 2 smartphone as a device worthy of attention and boosted its elite status. To date, this sponsored post has accumulated over 27000 likes and close to 300 comments.

Google’s collaboration with Instagram influencers promoting Pixel 2 has garnered close to 350,000 likes and almost 4000 comments in total.

Promoting Google Home Mini with Instagram Influencers

Google partnered with 17 Instagram Influencers to promote the voice-controlled smart home device, Google Home Mini. 11 of these influencers had less than 100K followers. A total of 17 sponsored posts were created for this campaign. The influencers used the @google, @madebygoogle and #googlehome in the caption while declaring the partnership with the Instagram’s tag or #ad. Look at the following two examples:

Tony Romo (@tony.romo), an NFL commentator and former professional football players shares humorous moments with his family on Instagram. In his sponsored post, keeping true to his style, he shares a moment from the Google YouTube video he starred in. In the caption, he encourages the followers to watch his video. As of today, the posts has garnered over 72K likes and over 800 comments.

Fitness and lifestyle influencer, Chloe Van Patten (@care.free.chlue) took a direct approach actually showcasing the Google Home Mini in her sponsored post and referring to the voice assistant feature in the caption. Her post has 606 likes and over 40 comments as of this writing. This campaign promoting Google Home Mini garnered over 175K likes and 2.2K comments.

Google’s blend of Instagram influencers chosen for both campaigns is a good example of how brands can collaborate with a mix of micro influencers and macro influencers instead of just leveraging one or the other. Also, Google managed to reach various niche audiences by collaborating with instagrammers from different domains.