How To Leverage Your Network
Case Study: Influencer TakeOver
The Conception
The L3 Agency prides itself on creating meaningful relationships.
As a mission-centric firm, we are always looking for new and innovative ways to increase community engagement and brand awareness. One of our social impact activation models is leveraging micro-influencers – offline and online. This past May, we launched influencer takeovers on our IG company page to introduce our audiences to resources and impactful information to help grow our advocacy efforts in minority groups like women, the LGBTQIA community, etc.
Starting in March, our team conducted content meetings to share and identify key influencers for consideration. Once we confirmed influencers/thought leaders, we created a detailed guide for our influencers. The guide included thought-provoking questions and various response options, such as story posts, videos, and Instagram reels. We also provided examples to help with post structure. Additionally, we suggested relevant hashtags and tags to use. Our team then created temporary passwords for account access during the takeover and we set a specific time frame for posting. To streamline the process, our creative team developed graphic templates for brand alignment and to build social excitement.
What is an influencer?
An influencer is a person who has established credibility in a particular field and can influence their audience. We don’t consider the number of followers as the determining factor since we believe that everyone has the potential to be an influencer.
We conducted three external takeovers in support of Mental Health Month, African American Music Appreciation Month, and Disability Pride Month, respectively.
Why Instagram?`
Instagram, like most social media platforms, offers tools to measure various metrics such as impressions, views, clicks, and other interactions with our content. As a team, we find it easy to interpret these metrics and the diverse range of data provided by Instagram beyond just views and likes.
How did we choose the thought leaders?
We carefully curated the right thought leaders who could take over our @TheL3agency IG page. Our process started within our close network of people that our CEO knows personally and trusted thought leaders. In an effort to broaden our outreach, we engaged influencers who were less known to us but were knowledgeable about the topics we wanted to feature.
We performed a trial run of the takeover using our founder Larvetta L Loftin in early May.
The Approach
Our founder had considerable freedom in her approach to the takeover. She primarily used the live feature to showcase her day-to-day activities instead of following a set structure. Larvetta was set to travel to the International Leadership Summit in Orlando so she provided her audience with live interaction at the conference and reels from the conference. Her approach was showcasing how she sharpened her skills to be an impact leader. Her goal was to empower business leaders on the importance of leadership development.
The Metrics
We monitored interactions with the videos and lives posted during Larvetta’s takeover for 48 hours. Within that time, the post garnered 664 views.
The First Take Over: Mental Health Month
In support of Mental Health Awareness Month, we conducted the first influencer takeover with Dr. Ritch Hall II Ph. a licensed clinical psychologist, the owner of PsychWorks Clinic LLC.
The Outreach:
Our team reached out to Dr. Hall two weeks before the proposed take-over date with this email message.
Our team then met with Dr. Hall to provide more context, and insight and answer any burning questions to ensure that we were all aligned. Although Dr. Hall had never participated in an influencer takeover, he was quite knowledgeable in creating video content as he is fairly active on Instagram and TikTok.
Our team requested that he share with us a typical day in the life of a psychologist, as well as some insightful information on mental health.
The Approach
Dr. Hall utilized our platform to release a series of reels and story posts and videos to take a long on his day. He even took the time to edit his morning routine to ensure a quality reel. Dr. Ritch also made sure to repost on his personal page and tagged our page as well.
The Metrics
Our team focused on two things accounts reached and accounts engaged. We allowed each post and reel to have a 24-hour cycle before gathering the results. For Dr. Ritchie’s takeover, the results were as follows.
Accounts Reached – 136
Accounts Engaged- 19
The Second Takeover: African American Music Appreciation Month
In support of African American Music Appreciation Month, this takeover was conducted by Christi Love Founder of With an Eye PR as a well-sought-after publicist for music entertainers, and key figures.
The Approach
Christi’s takeover followed a similar approach with slight differences from the first. She included more photos and significantly more story posts instead of reels. This is partly due to the theme of her takeover.
The Metrics
For Cristi Love’s takeover, the results were as follows:
Accounts Reached – 129
Accounts Engaged- 18
The Third Takeover: Disability Pride Month
In support of Disability Pride Month, this takeover was conducted in July 2023 by Dr. Evisha Ford, executive director of the iCan Dream Center, a therapeutic school in Illinois that serves neurodiverse learners and their families. We reached out to Dr.Ford a month in advance to provide more lead time for her to plan and test content.
The Approach
Dr. Ford entrusted her takeover to her marketing team and they repurposed past content along with some content from the day of her takeover. They posted a healthy mix of story photos, story videos, and reels.
The Metrics
Accounts Reached- 334
Accounts Engaged- 49
Conclusion
As we wrap up our takeovers for this quarter, we would like to share some lessons and best practices to keep in mind when conducting a takeover. It is important to understand your audience and be intentional and strategic when conducting IG influencer takeovers. When the goal is to educate to drive engagement, the chosen influencers # of followers should not be the main factor to consider.
If you would like an agency to help you boost engagement with your audience feel free to reach out or connect with us on our socials.
Instagram: @thel3agency | @blackbusinessesmatterpodcast
LinkedIn: @TheL3Agency
