Creative education influencer marketing to showcase Collins revision guides
Since September 2023 BookMachine has been working alongside the Collins team to promote their best-selling GCSE revision guides to students on TikTok. In this case study we share some of the results, along with our approach to making this work.
“It has been a pleasure to work with BookMachine over the last year. I was really impressed by how Gemma and Emily took our brief, interpreted exactly what we were setting out to achieve and put a plan in place that would deliver our objectives to budget. From the outset, the implementation of the plan has been to a very high standard. The team have been brilliant at keeping us informed of the campaign details and progress, reacting to results throughout so that activity can be adapted to support the best possible outcome. As well as delivering all activity to deadline, BookMachine are also flexible and agile in their approach. It has been great to know that the delivery of our revision TikTok activity has been in such safe hands.”
Rebecca Jones, Marketing & PR Director, Home Learning and Reference at HarperCollins Publishers
Our Approach
Research stage
Our overarching goal was to position Collins as the place to buy revision guides. With this in mind, it was crucial to work with well-respected influencers with trusted voices within the GCSE revision community and hone this demographic within the research phase.
Briefing stage
It was important for each influencer to feature the revision resources most relevant to their audiences, so we asked them to select the books they would like to feature. Our brief was concise and allowed the influencers to create content that would resonate with GCSE students, tutors or parents searching for resources during crucial revision periods.
Securing influencers
At the start of the process we identified key influencers that we could work with throughout the school year. This allowed us to go back to top performing influencers ahead of the next phase. We also worked with a select number of student content creators to position specific books more closely within the target audience.
Spark ads
Throughout the year, we ran bursts of TikTok Spark ads during key revision periods – for example, during the Easter holidays. We selected several creatives based on initial performance and overall suitability for ads. Due to the ads being spread throughout the year in targeted phases, we were able to review what worked best in each phase and optimise the next batch accordingly. The Spark ads boosted momentum during the key periods of the campaign and pushed the content out to a wider audience of students, teachers and parents.
The Results
Strong content – The briefs allowed influencers to retain creative freedom whilst hitting key selling points for Collins revision materials. The videos created were varied and relatable – from helpful demonstrations to humorous student-targeted content.
Viral videos – Content from one influencer performed exceptionally well organically, going viral with 279,200 video plays, 20,000 likes and 3,743 saves. Another influencer received over 17,500 likes on their video.
TikTok ads – The TikTok ads performed exceptionally well, generating strong TikTok Shop conversions and a very low CPC. The longer timeframe of the campaign allowed us to be reactive and develop our strategy to generate the optimal results for Collins.
Influencer testimonial:
“Overall this was the best experience I’ve had as an influencer working with brands in terms of simplicity/efficiency/good vibes.” – @humzd
What’s next?
If you’d like to become one of our future success stories, just get in touch and we’ll work with you to make it happen!
You can book an intro call with us at a time that works for you via our online calendar, or send us a message and we’ll aim to respond within 48 hours.
