As the lines between public relations and influencer marketing continue to blur, leveraging content creators to drive earned media coverage is proving more and more effective. While traditionally seen as strictly a paid media channel, influencer partnerships, when approached thoughtfully, can deliver high-impact earned media exposure without the structure of formal contracts. Unlike paid influencer campaigns, these partnerships often rely on mutual value, or offering microinfluencers (creators with an audience between 10,000 and 100,000) a compelling experience in exchange for organic coverage. 

For our clients, this approach offers a unique combination of credibility, reach and efficiency. Content creators bring built-in audiences that trust their recommendations, making coverage feel more authentic. 

Building Game-Day Buzz Through Trust: A Case Study

A recent campaign for a restaurant client illustrates the success of using the right influencers for earned promotion. The Office Bar, an establishment offering elevated bar food in the lobby of 1105 West Peachtree’s office building, launched a new menu of tailgate classics for football season. Along with traditional media pitching, our team wanted to find new avenues to amplify the excitement around these game-day offerings amongst target audiences.

We began by researching microinfluencers local to the Atlanta area, who post content related to lifestyle or dining and who fit The Office Bar’s typical “young professional” clientele. Once we built a solid list of vetted local content creators, we began outreach and organized a curated experience at The Office Bar for them.

Following the tasting event, the content shared by the influencers was a hit. They each played into their roles and dressed up in sports attire for the occasion, turning it into a fun, team spirit-driven occasion where they captured quality, close-up content of the food and drink items. The influencers we worked with agreed to post at least two stories and an in-feed post about the game-day menu per our requests in the original pitch, and while they were not bound by a contract, each creator took the time to ensure they posted quality content that accurately depicted the event. The posts organically reached around 126,000 total social media followers on Instagram and TikTok, and received nearly 2,000 engagements.

The takeaway: Influencer partnerships don’t always need to be paid to be powerful. When approached as an additional PR tool to traditional media relations tactics, they can become a convenient and accessible way to generate meaningful, earned coverage that extends far beyond the digital news story.