Shirtless, smiling man with a tattooed arm looks down at a phone beside a staircase, with a "STEP ONE" logo across it
Submitted by Viral Talent

Step One Instagram Nano-Influencer Gifting Campaign

Influencer Marketing

Viral Talent ran paid Instagram collaborations and nano-influencer gifting for Australia-based brand Step One in England, and reports reach of over 147K from the campaign.

400Sticker Taps

Case in 60 seconds

Step One, an Australia-based brand, came to Viral Talent to expand its audience in England, and having already secured Gaz Beadle as brand ambassador, it wanted to invest further in influencers of all sizes.

The campaign turns on credibility through range rather than through one famous face, because Step One heavily values authenticity, so the page treats creator freedom and nano-influencer pages as the route to content audiences would trust.

Viral Talent built a mixed roster beneath the existing ambassador, pairing paid Instagram collaborations with product gifting to nano-influencers, so the brand reached audiences in England through influencers of all sizes rather than one.

Viral Talent ran paid collaborations across Instagram and gifted the product to 25 nano-influencers in exchange for content on their own pages, while giving every creator total freedom over content ideas rather than a brand script.

Viral Talent reports that the campaign generated reach of over 147,000 with 400 sticker taps, while the page publishes no engagement rate, sales figure or split between paid and gifted creators.

Strategy Breakdown

Audiences in England, where the Australia-based brand Step One was looking to expand its audience.
Step One acts as a backer of influencers of all sizes rather than as the author of their content, with Gaz Beadle as brand ambassador and nano-influencers given the product and total creative freedom.
Step One heavily values authenticity, so the page presents creator freedom over content ideas as the condition for posts that audiences in England would take as the creator's own rather than as advertising.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • Instagram

Partners

  • Viral Talent

Creator role

  • Gaz Beadle

Results & Evidence

MetricValue
Sticker Taps400 sticker taps
Nano-Influencers Gifted25 nano-influencers

Why Viral Talent's strategy worked

  1. 1

    Gifting product to nano-influencers in exchange for content lets a brand add many smaller voices alongside paid collaborations, so reach builds across influencers of all sizes rather than resting on a single ambassador.

  2. 2

    Where a brand values authenticity, handing creators total freedom over content ideas trades message control for posts that belong to the creator's own page rather than to a brand brief, which is the trade Step One made here.

  3. 3

    An existing ambassador relationship can anchor a wider influencer push into a new market, because the agency extends a partnership already in place rather than introducing the brand to England from nothing.

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