In 2017, Bitdefender was looking to position themselves as the leader in smart home protection - combating and protecting individuals from cyber security threats. With this goal, Bitdefender launched two new versions of their hardware and software cyber security products, Bitdefender BOX and Bitdefender 2018.
In order to generate the most online buzz and drive traffic to Bitdefender product pages, we set out to create a large-scale influencer program raising awareness and driving purchase consideration for these releases.
Our objective was to educate consumers on the reality of threats, while simultaneously teeing up Bitdefender as the solution for trustworthy protection. The majority of our influencer content ended up utilizing these findings as proof points to convey the need for a solution like Bitdefender and driving traffic to Bitdefender product pages.
We introduced U.S. consumers to the Bitdefender 2018 software security line and Bitdefender BOX smart home security device in a way that aimed to pique consumers' attention for an otherwise ignored and more often the case, misunderstood, topic - cybersecurity. We successfully designed a program that engaged audiences through the use of multifaceted digital assets and highly-vetted social influencers to amplify our key messages from a brand with historically low awareness in the U.S.
First, we approached our program by deploying a survey to 1,000 Americans to gauge current sentiment around cybersecurity knowledge and behavior. The results were alarming – including facts such as 75% of Americans believe cyber attacks will increase over the next year, yet only 44% of Americans think it's unlikely they'll experience a cyber attack. It was evident that American consumers did not believe a cyber attack was likely to happen to them even though they understood the prevalence of the issue.
Armed with this knowledge, we partnered with 16 high-reaching, consumer tech-inclined influencers to educate consumers about these very real threats, while also asking the influencers to share actionable tips consumers could apply in their own lives, including consideration to purchase Bitdefender products. Influencers included: Austin Evans, Amber Mac, Carley Knobloch, and Judner Aura.
The influencers carefully delivered videos and blog posts that included personal stories of them previously being hacked (if so), statistics from our cybersecurity survey, as well as the key features and benefits of Bitdefender products. They also created additional blog posts and social posts to contribute to the overall social buzz and SEO around the Bitdefender brand and products.
A key factor leading to the success of our program was how influencers resonated with the products in their own authentic ways. Tech influencers spoke about their growing number of smart devices and gadgets set up in their smart homes, leading to more potential gateways for hackers, while tech-inclined parenting and lifestyle influencers related to the desire to keep their family's smart homes and sensitive data safe, such as digital photos, banking information, SSNs, and more.
As a final yet critical element of our program, the influencer content linked fans to a customized landing page experience personalized to each influencer. These landing pages maximized the relationship between the trusted influencer and brand, which led fans to exclusive Bitdefender product deals and offers. This generated a lift in sales through the integration of the Bitdefender in-house analytics team - the cherry on top to an otherwise successful awareness-building and educational program.
Our influencer campaign generated powerful results that both elevated Bitdefender's presence as a leader in smart home security solutions, in addition to flooding social streams and influencer platforms with robust conversations around cyber security solutions and awareness.
When we began this campaign we projected generating 19MM total organic impressions, 2 influencer videos, 10 blog posts and 150 social posts. However, we ended up securing 19.4MM organic impressions, 5 videos, 14 blog posts and 983 Social Posts including RTs. Overall, social conversations generated over 71.4K total engagements via likes, shares, retweets and comments. This campaign also generated 16.7K clicks to Bitdefender's site, 8.8K visits to the Bitdefender site and ultimately led to sales of Bitdefender product.
This comprehensive campaign led to success from the client's perspective as far as driving online traffic, increasing online buzz and even directly impacting product sales to success from the influencers perspective as far as being able to share engaging, relevant and insightful content.
