The Case of Dunkin’ and Nano-Influencers

 

The Case of Dunkin’ and Nano-Influencers

America runs on Dunkin', but what does Dunkin' run on? The answer to that question is not a pumpkin spice latte, but nano-influencers.

Nano-influencers are social media users with followers ranging from 1K-10K. They have a smaller follower than mega-influencers who have over 1M followers, so why would firms partner up with them, specifically Dunkin'?

Dunkin’s recent campaign shows that working with nano-influencers can be beneficial in the following ways.

1. They feel authentic.
Since nano-influencers have a smaller number of followers, their followers feel a closer bond to the creators. Think of concert venues of smaller underground bands interacting with their audience as opposed to a Beyonce concert. The smaller crowd makes it easier for nano-influencers to interact with their followers and have higher engagement. In fact, nano-influencers that participated in the sponsored ad campaign had an engagement that was as high as 26.1.%. That’s an impressive number for a cup of latte to inspire.

2. Will work for coffee.
Oftentimes, the nano-influencers are college students or bloggers getting their feet wet in the digital world. So when a big company like Dunkin’ asks for ad participation, they are more likely to agree. The best part is that nano-influencers cost less than mega-influencers to work with. They can also be compensated in different means, and many cosmetic brands take advantage of this as well by sending products to nano-influencers hoping for a product share on their Instagram instead of directly paying them for advertisement. By focusing on nano-influencers, Dunkin’ was able to raise up to $300 million last year from targeting the digital-savvy generation.

3. Rebranding? No problem.
Dunkin’ changed its name from Dunkin’ Donuts, and that reflects its commitment to rebrand itself as the younger, modern brand that serves more than just donuts. Working with nano-influencers paved the way for this as the posts shared mostly focused on Dunkin’s new espresso drinks instead of the sweets they are mostly known for. It also helps to keep the image of Dunkin’ fresh and young by having millennials and gen z be the face of their new drink.

While companies mostly think mega-influencers are the ones to focus on, the Dunkin’ campaign shows that more can be done with less (followers).

Source: https://mediakix.com/blog/dunkin-donuts-nano-influencer-marketing-case-study-instagram/