8 Stats From Volvo Show Why Instagram Influencers Can Drive Great Branding

During Volvo’s June campaign with music and fashion influencer Aimee Song, each one of her Instagram followers was worth more than $1 in media exposure for Volvo, Adweek has learned. The social media star, who is also a New York Times Best Seller, evidently generated $5 million worth of media exposure for the carmaker by sharing three posts and a story with her 4.6 million followers on the popular mobile app.

“We partnered with Aimee because she is one of the leading fashion and lifestyle influencers in the world,” said John Militello, director of marketing at Volvo Car USA. “She is an interior architect by trade, which is why she was drawn to the luxurious and human-centric design of our cars. Aimee’s background in interior design also lends authority to her passion for and endorsement of Volvo, and she only works with products she truly believes in.”

The two-week campaign promoted the Volvo XC90 and was timed to recent changes to Instagram’s paid content policy and transparency rules, as per Federal Trade Commission guidelines, where “paid partnership with” appears in the location field of the post. Song added the #XC90 hashtag to three posts and Instagram Stories, demonstrating how the SUV fits in her everyday LA life.

Influencer marketing has been a contentious industry topic in recent months as some brands think it works while others aren’t so sure. Volvo likes what it saw while working with Brand Architects, which had Song post three times on Instagram and received not only $5 million worth of media, but also the following seven bits of data:

1. Average Instagram Stories views: 400,000
2. Total likes: 113,500
3. Total comments: 728
4. Total number of people who saved Song’s posts: 1,009
5. Total impressions: 2.14 million
6. Total reach: 1.7 million
7. Total engagement: 115,200

“Volvo believes there is a very specific way to work with influencers,” Militello explained. “When you put in the time and effort to build relationships with influencers and align strategically and build trust, we can see great success.”

Karen Robinovitz, Digital Brand Architects’ co-founder and CCO, added, “When Instagram targeted Aimee Song as one of the creators to launch their paid sponsorship feature, we brought the opportunity to Volvo as it is not only the car she has been wanting to purchase and a brand she genuinely loves, but we knew it also fit with their social marketing strategy and focus on Instagram. It is always more interesting to partner brands with talent in unexpected ways than literal ones; a car brand and car influencer is obvious, but when you see the car in the everyday world of an aspirational and inspirational fashion, design, travel personality, it brings Volvo to life in a refreshing way.”

Below are Song’s trio of Instagram posts:

Christopher Heine

@Chris_Heine

Christopher Heine is a New York-based editor and writer.