Anaheim Tourism

Influencer marketing

ANAHEI’M FIRST’s Dine, Drink & Shop program was created in response to the immeasurable impact of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 in Anaheim, California. When tourism substantially slowed during the pandemic, Anaheim businesses found themselves in a frightening situation, many fearing that they wouldn’t make it through 2021. An online program, ANAHEI’M FIRST was created to extend offers and deals from neighborhood businesses to local residents in order to drive customers to businesses facing massive hardship throughout the pandemic. The program provided discounts to Anaheim residents along with residents in surrounding cities while encouraging support of neighboring businesses that depend on out-of-state tourism for the majority of their income. Prim + Co was retained to create awareness, positive perception and registrations for the program using a strategic influencer marketing campaign for the city.

Planning

Prim + Co worked to create a web of influencers in Southern California with audiences who resided in key markets and would benefit from the offers provided through ANAHEI’M FIRST. The individuals in these audiences needed to live in an area that was easily drivable to Anaheim with an interest in food, entertainment and shopping. To grow brand accounts and encourage program sign-ups, each influencer partnership was guided by locally focused messaging and centered around giveaways aimed at increasing engagement across channels. Partners were selected after conducting follower location research, engagement audits and personal messaging, ensuring cohesion between the influencer’s brand and the campaign messaging and goals.

Strategies

  • Use recent research to inform the campaign messaging and materials to be most effective.
  • Hire Instagram, TikTok and Facebook influencers with substantial following in the Anaheim area to encourage use of the program.
  • Leverage the power of love for small business and support of the local economy.
  • Develop a creative campaign to catch the attention of social-media-savvy audiences who would be likely to share the use of the program on their own accounts.
  • Repurpose user-generated content on the program’s own social media accounts.
  • Measure effectiveness and engagement in real time to provide feedback to influencer and leverage the most effective influencers for paid partnerships.

Execution

We executed the following influencer engagement tactics to generate awareness for the ANAHEI’M FIRST Dine, Drink, Shop program.

  • Identified earned food, entertainment and Disneyland tourism influencers who are well-followed in the area and would be open to posting about the program in exchange for trade.
  • Using the list of local food and lifestyle influencers curated specifically for ANAHEIM FIRST, Prim executed 10 paid partnerships in 2021, through three targeted campaigns.
  • Handled all facets of the partnerships from outreach and negotiation to contracts, execution and reporting.
  • Collaborated with the ANAHEI’M FIRST social team to amplify the excitement generated by the influencers to showcase the program and participating businesses.

Results

All influencer objectives far exceeded expectations, giving a boost of energy to the campaign, along with creating recognition for the program.

  • ANAHEI’M FIRST’s 10 paid partners provided 71 posts in promotion of the program across campaigns.
  • The 71 posts garnered a total reach of 166,338 and 1,736,938 impressions, an estimated media value of $109,748.
  • Prim + Co’s influencer campaign, alongside ANAHEI’M FIRST’s marketing efforts, gained over 2,500 followers and over 3,000,000 impressions on ANAHEI’M FIRST social media channels.
  • The ANAHEI’M FIRST Dine, Drink, Shop program surpassed its program registration goal by 20% with over 6,000 new users since the launch of influencer marketing.
  • Prim received the PRSA Gold Pick Award for “Best Influencer Marketing Campaign” in the tourism category.

The subjective impact of this campaign also cannot be overstated. The ANAHEI’M FIRST influencer partners found purpose in this work, as most of them saw what the pandemic did to their beloved city. In post-campaign correspondence, we learned that many of them felt like they had a real impact on small business recoveries with their participation in the campaign.