Whether an educational resource or an aesthetically pleasing image, content is the linchpin that connects brands with their target audiences. It serves many purposes, from increasing brand awareness to engaging audiences to leading them to take the next step, such as subscribing, following, downloading, or purchasing. A company's content should be true to its mission and vision. It must be optimized for maximum visibility, and be trustworthy, authentic and informative to maintain the company's reputation. The content must be adjusted for the different phases of the customer journey to help potential customers and prospects move through the funnel. Both content marketing and content campaigns rely on creating and sharing quality visual and textual content. While content marketing is typically done by brands, content campaigns may also involve external influencers to increase their impact.
So, let’s investigate the differences between these two marketing strategies and explore successful content campaign examples between brands and influencers.
What Is a Content Campaign?
A content campaign is a type of influencer marketing campaign between a brand and a content creator, where influential individuals create high-quality content associated with the brand and share it with their audience. Essentially, a content campaign involves providing an outstanding visual experience through related photos and videos or becoming an authoritative source within a specific niche through instructive articles and other supporting materials, such as infographics and downloadables. But wait a second, this sounds much like content marketing! Actually, there are some differences between the two.
What is the difference between content campaigns and content marketing?
Content is at the core of both marketing tactics, but they should not be confused with each other.
1. Same goals, but different strategies
Content marketing relies on the use of continuous, high-quality, relevant, and fresh content to retain existing customers and attract new ones. Even if the ultimate goal is to increase conversions, which can be acquiring new customers, increasing sales, or generating leads, content marketing is the first step of a complex marketing strategy in which businesses aim to build a relationship with the audience and establish authority in a particular industry, thereby fostering trust in people. The process can be slow and challenging, especially if the company is trying to break into a saturated market or rebrand. As a long-term marketing strategy, content marketing requires a holistic approach on behalf of the brand.
Influencers give companies a huge advantage in terms of authority and credibility, as they already have a loyal following built on trust and credibility. When influencers are involved, companies build their authority and gain customers' trust more quickly. Aside from achieving long-term goals, such as building awareness, trust, and authority, influencer content campaigns can also be used for short-term goals, such as creating buzz around events or introducing new products.
2. The influencer’s role and content creation
Content is produced and distributed across several channels by the business itself - or more precisely, by its marketing team. And it is vital to share content across multiple platforms to drive the level of engagement and awareness expected. Content can be presented in many forms, such as blog articles and e-books, podcasts, interviews and case studies, webinars and courses, video and social media posts, infographics, and landing pages. Businesses may boost quality articles and posts through paid advertising and SEO.
Content campaigns combine the competence and creativity of influencers with brand guidelines and aesthetics. Publications created by these influential figures will be seen as more authentic and relatable. Visuals and imagery created by influencers will attract many people and ultimately be associated with the brand.
3. Reach and distribution options
It's important to remember that with content marketing, the advertising and publication may be limited to specific channels, like the brand's LinkedIn and Facebook accounts, business websites, or email campaigns. As an example, a brand creates an in-depth whitepaper on a survey and promotes it in an email campaign. The content team can summarize the main elements of the paper in a blog post and create an illustrative infographic from the key points to share with their social media followers. This approach can still produce remarkable results because they utilize multiple channels to promote their content; however, the chances are that their blog readers, social media followers, and email subscribers all have overlapping audiences and they won't be able to reach new audiences with their value. Experts in the industry can analyze the survey in a podcast or key opinion leaders can discuss it in a video post.
The use of influencers, or more precisely specialists in a particular topic, can help businesses reach super-interested audiences. Those who are considered thought leaders have already gained a lot of knowledge in a field and are considered to be credible voices. With their take on the topic, the brand can reach audiences they wouldn't normally reach with their usual tactics, growing their client base and following.
Content Campaign Examples
Photo and video posts
Instagram is the ideal platform for brands to introduce their products’ value through remarkable imagery. From travel agencies and camera brands to outdoor and recreational companies, these businesses have worked together with multiple influencers and have developed one of the most spectacular photo collections.
Nikon USA has an ongoing brand ambassador partnership with Deanne Fitzmaurice, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer. 
Besides that, it frequently teams up with diverse photographers, such as Michelle Dawkins (@islandpawsphotography), a pet photographer.
User-generated content campaigns are another great way to share outstanding visual content. The #optoutside hashtag campaign from REI has already gathered over 19 million video and photo posts from people around the world taking time to enjoy the outdoors.
Stunning image collection under optoutside
To increase awareness of their products and services, art and graphic software brands frequently collaborate with art content creators. Huion, a Chinese manufacturer of graphic tablets and display pens regularly collaborates with creators. Their feed is filled with the works of artists and graphic designers.
cher.ryrm reviews Huion's tablet
A successful influencer's content that generates high engagement or is especially useful to the public might be shared by the brand itself on its official channel.
Shein shared a collection of photos by Aneeqa Farid
Asos published a video by beauty influencer @squrashi.98
YouTube videos
Aside from publishing content on its blog, HubSpot has built up a massive social media following across seven platforms. (OK, its TikTok following is small compared to the others, but the rest is still over 5 million.) Its annual INBOUND Summit brings together sales and marketing professionals and business owners to learn and connect with each other. Although, the conference is an in-person experience it is live-streamed on HubSpot’s YouTube channel and remains accessible even after many years. The key speakers are all notable industry icons, founders of successful businesses, and sales and marketing authors.
Podcast
The Business Of Advice Podcast, hosted by Cody Foster, co-founder of Advisors Excel discusses topics like leadership, various sales and marketing tactics how to build your brand, and how to improve customer service with business owners and industry insiders.
Conclusion
The quality of content alone is an important factor in how a company differentiates itself from its competitors. Influencer content gives a business a leg up. A person with a great deal of influence and knowledge can establish a brand’s reputation either by sharing industry tricks and trends or by discussing their services. Or businesses can hire creators and artists who contribute to the promotion of their products by showing and utilizing their skills.
