The SBS influencer move
Spotted on the gram, SBS teaming up with an influencer to promote an Australian series!!! I was stoked to see this level of support behind a local production and want to applaud SBS for actively getting in front of their intended demographic. Bravo SBS!
BUT. And yes there’s a BUT. The concept is sadly all wrong and with only 2 comments I’d argue the team are pretty disappointed with the results. There are two key aspects to leveraging your integration with an influencer and you have to remember, like all marketing, it’s never a guaranteed success.
Chose the right influencer for your product, in this case Swift Street. Victoria Devine is a popular Financial Planner with an audience of young Australian females. It felt like a stretch to have someone in finance promote a series because the storyline features debt. Although they tried to find an angle, this is very obviously not an organic integration. If it doesn’t seem like a completely natural fit, audiences can see right through it and it essentially becomes an advert, not a recommendation.
The concept is key. You need a solid concept and an even better script when going down the influencer path. Do I believe Victoria’s team are sitting in the office watching Swift Street while they work? Not a bloody chance. Did this inspire people to go pop the telly on at work? I doubt it because that would be weird. You need to either entertain the audience, inform them or solve a problem. This post is missing the WHY. Why watch this series? Could they have convinced people to host a girls night in binge watching the series as a cost effective socialising option because the storyline had them absolutely hooked and they smashed through the series because they just HAD TO KNOW WHO DID IT? Plus [insert amazing character here] was absolutely brilliant and they are low key obsessed with him? Where is the emotion?
I really hope this doesn’t deter SBS or any other network or streamer wanting to engage influencers because this is the future and we MUST be using this as a strategy to build our audiences. It all comes back to the execution and the digital marketing strategy.
