Coding instructional videos tend to share a very formulaic B2B approach – neutral narrator, generic music bed, stock shot imagery intercut with lots of product screen closeups. Even highly motivated folks who want to learn financially valuable cloud coding skills can find these presentations more necessary than fun. Amazon’s AWS Skill Builder was ready to cut through this clutter to spread the word about their online learning platform. Raising awareness requires reaching multiple product audiences: individuals seeking certifications, newbies seeking basic skills, and teams seeking comprehensive skill training.
The team’s strategic objective was to reach a new audience that might be interested in learning more about how to become a cloud expert, but hadn’t yet been exposed to the AWS messaging.
We defined a two-part influencer and target audience strategy to reach both individuals seeking specific skills, and leaders looking to level up their teams. Our primary goal was to simplify AWS Training and Certification’s comprehensive options (a bevy of available and evolving courses; free, individual subscription, and team subscription plans; an AWS exam and certification option; free trials; and more) to their multiple audience targets.
To do that, we needed the right influencer partners who had the perfect mix of expertise, targeted followers, and creative flair. We chose partners like Forrest Knight , Kyle Tobener, and Elif Codes, and segmented them into two groups: Our New To Cloud influencers were a mix of career coaches and early-career techies, and they spoke to beginners looking to make a career change. Our Builder & Leader influencers were more advanced developers, engineers, or product leaders who shared the advantages of upskilling with Skill Builder’s free trial and subscription plans, advanced courses, and certification exam prep.
We used a mixture of long-term partners and short-term partners to ensure we were able to create cohesive story lines, and address each of the many messaging components in a digestible way. We also grouped content into individual themes (like general awareness, platform features/courses, or National Coding Week), but provided each influencer with their own unique brief with short, easy-to-communicate key points, and call-to-action, developed in tandem with each creator, so they could tailor messages to their individual audience.
Influencers posted to TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts, sharing a trackable URL that drove users to the Skill Builder main page or a specific course. Because this was truly a co-created campaign with influencers, creators shared their TikTok boosting codes to enable AWS to create targeted, paid social ads. This allowed us to drive additional reach and site traffic for each unique audience.
In a category that can feel dry and uncompelling, this campaign drove exceptionally high engagement rates (averaging 46% overall). We also learned what works - Instagram was one of the most effective in actually driving users to the site, so our longterm strategy allowed us to take that, as well as other learnings, into account for future briefs and campaigns.
