Black Friday Marketing Strategy: The Complete Influencer Playbook for Brands

Timing Your Black Friday Influencer Campaign 

Pre-Black Friday: Tease and Educate 

Three to four weeks out from Black Friday is the time to start dropping groundwork content. Your creators might hint at the scale of the deals on the way, share their wish lists, express their excitement, or demonstrate the value of your products.

With a baseload of understanding and excitement established, your audience will be warmed up and ready to convert quickly when the sales officially drop.

Main Event: Black Friday Week Push 

This is the high-impact, conversion-driven phase which usually starts the Monday before Thanksgiving. 

Urgency is key – think short form content like Reels and Stories showcasing specific, limited-time deals and direct links, as well as influencers unboxing and enjoying key products to spark hype and FOMO.

Post-Black Friday: Cyber Monday & Retargeting 

Black Friday is more of a week-long (or even longer) affair these days, but there’s a surprising amount of fuel left in the sales tank by the back end of the window. Cyber Monday and even the following day are a key time to extend the urgency, allowing you to pick up buyers who are still building to a decision or waiting to see who has the best deal. 

Nudge them over the line by emphasizing your final-call offers and inventory scarcity, as well as redeploying your highest-performing influencer generated content from earlier in the week to power retargeting ads.

High-Converting Content Formats & Tactics for Black Friday Marketing

Short-form video 

Short-form Reels and TikTok videos are non-negotiable. Not only are they the main vector for influencer creativity on key platforms like Instagram and TikTok, but their dynamic nature and fast production times allow you to move quickly, releasing new deals, highlighting different products according to real-time sales performance, and pivoting through the pre-sale, mid-sale and end-sale phases and their respective content strategies. 

At our Raised on Social Event, ‘Desperately Seeking Substance‘, we heard from Creator and Influencer Wisdom Kaye on the power of short form creative direction, navigating short-form content in increasingly saturated feeds, and the importance in producing high-quality content.

Read our event takeouts

Shoppable and interactive content 

Removing purchase friction is key, otherwise you might find perfectly primed conversions slipping through your fingers at the last hurdle.

The proliferation of native social commerce tools makes achieving this a dream, so don’t neglect them. Minimise steps taken by buyers with in-app product tagging and Live Shopping events.

Paid amplification and retargeting 

Organic influencer content will illuminate the landscape of your potential buyers, showing you what content is driving the most interest and outlining the pools of interested users who haven’t yet converted.

This is where you can bring in paid tools to boost the best performing content, concentrating your efforts into laser-accurate engagement of high-potential consumers who haven’t pushed the button yet.

Strategic Hashtag Use

For every hashtag, there’s a community interested in that niche. For example, #BlackFridayDeals on Instagram is a community filled with users looking for content around the best discounts available during the Black Friday period.

Brands should use strategic hashtags on Black Friday to maximize their online visibility and engagement. Black Friday is a highly competitive shopping event, and relevant hashtags can help brands stand out in the digital crowd. They enable easy discoverability of products and promotions by potential customers actively searching for deals.

Well-selected hashtags can align with a brand’s messaging, fostering a sense of community and loyalty among consumers. Choosing and implementing the right hashtags at Black Friday can be crucial to the success of a Black Friday social media marketing campaign.

Giveaways

Black Friday specific giveaways are an excellent way to capitalize on the shopping frenzy and generate hype around selected products. Giveaways offer a powerful incentive for customer engagement and participation, driving traffic to websites and stores. They generate excitement and anticipation, attracting a broader audience and potential new customers. Hosting a Black Friday giveaway can also strengthen brand loyalty, increase social media visibility, and serve as a cost-effective marketing tactic to outshine competitors in the crowded retail landscape, ultimately boosting sales and brand recognition.

Hundreds of brands launch giveaway campaigns around Black Friday to garner attention, Regatta being one. Last November, the outdoors brand held a giveaway competition on their Instagram channel, announcing the winner via an influencer partnership with Josie Gibson – during the content she also went on to announce the brand’s Black Friday sale, driving hot traffic over to the brand’s website.

User-Generated Content & Hashtag Challenges

Brands should utilize user-generated content (UGC) during Black Friday to enhance authenticity and engagement. Real customer experiences and testimonials are a great way to create trust and drive purchases, making it a potent marketing tool. UGC  humanizes the brand, builds a sense of community, and extends reach through shared experiences, ultimately amplifying the impact of Black Friday campaigns.

One of the best ways for brands to encourage UGC is through brand specific hashtags and, even better, the hashtag challenge.

Hashtag challenges are a great way to encourage authentic audience engagement across platforms like Instagram and TikTok that congregate communities using hashtags. For its 2020 Black Friday campaign, Walmart took to TikTok to launch the #WalmartSyncAlong challenge. The campaign consisted of a trending TikTok audio, developed by JVKE, and a hashtag that users could submit their own lip-sync videos too, with the incentive of winning a $100 Walmart gift card. Walmart kicked the campaign off with a few creator partnerships to get the ball rolling, users then began to upload their own submissions. In total the campaign generated 3323 submissions, thus demonstrating the power of encouraging UGC.

Crafting Irresistible Offers 

Exclusive Creator Codes 

Creator codes let you attribute and measure every single conversion each of your individual influencers generate, but that’s not all they do.

By having a creator code unique to them, each creator will be further ‘validated’ as an active partner of your brand – and it’ll also act as a reward to users specifically for following that influencer. It’s personal. It’s exclusive.

It’ll also encourage users to take an active response to the influencer content in that moment, either using the code instantly or copying it for later.

Urgency and Scarcity Tactics 

Urgency and scarcity are the foundations of any effective sale. When your sale is coming to a close or stock is low, make sure your audience knows about it. 

Potential customers hate to miss out, so language like “last chance” and “selling out fast” are reliable methods for pushing fence-sitters into immediate action. 

Early & Exclusive Access

Brands often begin their Black Friday campaign activity before the final Friday in November, which provides them with an excellent opportunity to offer early access codes to consumers.

Providing exclusive access to discounts or products before the official sale begins creates a sense of privilege and urgency, encouraging early shoppers. This strategy not only cultivates brand loyalty but also generates early revenue, helping brands gauge demand and make inventory adjustments. Early access codes can also foster engagement on social media as customers share their exclusive shopping experiences, amplifying a brand’s presence during the Black Friday shopping frenzy.

Make it Feel Different from your Everyday Marketing

These sales are special, so by that token your marketing should be too. You need to convey the fact that this kind of sale doesn’t come around often, and communicate it as quickly as possible.

Partnering up with influencers, if you haven’t before, or adding other new and challenging creative angles to your marketing work, are all great ways to do this. Engaging with your influencers to see what creative flair they could bring to the table is almost always a direct route to new and exciting ideas.

Staying Consistent Across Platforms

Consistency is essential to a successful Black Friday campaign, especially when you’re activating across multiple social platforms. While content should be tailored to suit the format, audience, and strengths of each channel, the core message should remain consistent throughout. This helps reinforce your offer, creates a more cohesive customer experience, and ensures audiences receive the same key takeaway wherever they encounter your brand.

Aligning Stock and Messaging

It’s not often a concern for marketers, but when it comes to intense sales peaks like Black Friday weekend, you need to think further than the conversion.

There can be a hidden risk if you find runaway success with your influencer campaigns – oversell items that you don’t have stock for, or stock that you can’t deliver in a timely manner, and you’ll start gathering negative feedback and refund requests instead of positive momentum.

Line up with your stock management team and make sure your campaigns reflect changing stock or supply conditions.

Black Friday Influencer Marketing Campaigns to Learn From

Walmart x Mean Girls

Walmart tapped into the undying nostalgia power of Mean Girls for its 2023 Black Friday ad campaign. They reunited the original cast across TV commercials and social media clips, weaving Walmart deals into a sequel world where the main characters are adults. 

It was an instant hit that flawlessly blended pop culture treasure with mass-market retail, driving comments like “Don’t tease us with this, we need a sequel!” and “Why did this make me emotional??”

L’Occitane x Robin James 

L’Occitane partnered with lifestyle creator Robin James for their Black Friday push, letting him pick out and give a rundown of his personal top picks.

The tone was natural, and Robin’s natural expressiveness and overall ‘luxe’ vibe were the perfect match for these premium products. As an influencer dedicated to male grooming, hair and fragrance, the @manforhimself (131K followers) audience is almost purpose-built for L’Occitane deals, whether it’s as treats for themselves or gifts for others.

Gymshark Blackout Event

Gymshark has a deep, long-term partner network of fitness creators. It takes this year-round influencer community to the next level for its Black Friday campaigns, leveraging established relationships and influencer alignment for maximum effect.

The main channel and the site are home to a ‘blackout’ of concealed products and prices, paired with countdown timers, to build intense anticipation. Alongside that, creators build hype to fever pitch with days or weeks of teaser content in the run up, followed by a flood of creator-code content throughout the sale itself, where outfits and time-limited deals are shown off.

Edikted

Edikted’s Black Friday success shows the power of building demand before the sales period begins. Rather than relying solely on steep discounts, year-on year, the brand used its strong TikTok presence and network of creators to keep products visible and desirable amongst Gen Z shoppers year-round. For Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Edikted amplified creator-generated content through TikTok campaigns, helping drive significant traffic and sales during the shopping weekend.

The result was a brand that shoppers were actively seeking out, with both its online channels and physical stores attracting strong demand. It’s a reminder that the most effective Black Friday campaigns aren’t always the deepest discounts, they’re often the brands that have already won attention and influence before the sale even starts.

Sephora

Sephora’s Savings Event demonstrates how creators can make promotional periods feel like cultural moments rather than sales campaigns. By partnering with influential beauty personalities such as Patrick Starrr and creator collective The Goddess Boys, Sephora turned the event into a source of entertainment, product discovery, and community engagement. 

Instead of focusing purely on discounts, creators shared product recommendations, shopping inspiration, and beauty content that gave audiences a reason to participate in the event.

The campaign highlights how the right creators can generate excitement around a sale while keeping the focus on authentic product advocacy. By combining trusted voices with exclusive offers, Sephora was able to make its Savings Event feel more aspirational and engaging than a traditional promotional campaign.

ASOS

ASOS leans heavily into influencer marketing during Black Friday, partnering with creators across fashion, lifestyle, and menswear to showcase sale products in a way that feels useful rather than overly promotional. Creators such as Lydia Tomlinson, Sophie Moulds, and Callum Jones shared curated edits, outfit inspiration, and personal product recommendations while also providing exclusive discount codes to encourage purchases.

Rather than simply announcing a sale, ASOS uses creators to help shoppers navigate it. Whether it’s winter wardrobe inspiration, styling advice, or favourite sale picks, the content focuses on solving a shopping need while seamlessly integrating the Black Friday offer. This approach makes the sale feel more personalised and relatable, while the addition of creator-specific discount codes gives audiences an extra incentive to shop.

Emma Sleep

Emma Sleep’s Black Friday campaign demonstrates the value of combining micro and macro creators to reach different audiences. Micro creators focused on authentic, experience-led content, sharing bedroom updates, guest room makeovers, and genuine product reviews while highlighting sale offers and creator-specific discount codes. Their content showcased real-life use cases and helped build trust with niche, highly engaged communities.

Alongside this, larger creators such as Clean With Bea amplified the campaign through visually impactful bedroom transformations that delivered broader reach and awareness. Together, the mix of micro and macro influencers allowed Emma Sleep to balance credibility with scale, ensuring Black Friday promotions felt both relatable and highly visible across social platforms.

Selecting the Right Influencers for Your BFCM 

Audience relevance over follower count 

Black Friday isn’t about reach, it’s about conversion – but you knew that. We’re always advocates for audience shape over audience size, but here, it’s absolutely critical. 

Don’t waste money shouting into the largest void you can find. Talk to people who are relevant to your brand and its products, and you’ll sell.

Performance and conversion track record 

The Black Friday Sale is a short, once-a-year opportunity. You can’t afford to take chances on creators who might not deliver the results you need before the week is over.

Work with creators who you trust, and ideally ones with a proven history of measurable conversion in past sale events.

Diversity and representation 

While conversions are the ultimate goal, a narrow approach to influencer choice could leave entire sections of the market on the table – not to mention undermine the brand you’ve spent the rest of the year carefully curating.

A diverse influencer roster will reflect and engage with the equally diverse U.S. consumer landscape, and will likely benefit you long after the sale is over. 

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Ready to make Black Friday history for your brand? Chat to our team to discuss how we can enhance your Black Friday influencer campaign strategy with Goat.