Instagram Influencers Double the Reach of Los Angeles' Latest Campaign

DiscoverLA recently wrapped up a campaign that highlights celebrities' and locals' experience and love for the city.

But when looking to spread the word on the #LAStory campaign and collect new submissions, the tourism board ditched traditional media buys for a new kind of influencer.

DiscoverLA started reaching out to Instagram influencers whose followings can make a single post more valuable than an entire magazine ad, but the cost of a single photo can start at $1,000 in this growing underground economy.

Instead DiscoverLA's vice president of digital marketing, Bill Karz, tried to trade a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a few Instagram posts. Karz reached out to the Getty Center with the goal of getting the influencers’ photos off a smartphone and into the city’s most renowned cultural institution. The plan worked.

During one of the Getty Center’s summer concert series Saturdays Off the 405, the influencers' photos tagged with #LAStory were projected onto the actual Getty Center throughout the event.

DiscoverLA worked with 15 Instagram influencers including Rosewood Creative co-founder Matt Bauer and photographers Jessica Zollman, Dan Marker-Moore, Lauren Randolph, and Pete Halvorsen, to spread awareness of the campaign.

Their individual followings range from 38,000 to more than 234,000 people.

In total, the #LAStory campaign resulted in 25 million organic social media impressions over three months, half of which were said to be a direct result of the influencers’ involvement.

Below are some examples of the influencers' #LAStory posts: