Viral video earns influencer sponsored State Fair trip

Sierra Nicole Reece recorded the six-second TikTok right before bed, when she was already cozy in her bonnet, glasses on, at her dad’s home in New Jersey.

“Forget Coachella. I’m trying to go to the Minnesota State Fair. They got brand deals for that?”

This was in mid-April, when corporate partnerships with influencers at the California music festival dominated online discourse. Reece was on the job hunt after getting her MBA abroad and had been experimenting with content creation to build up her portfolio in digital and marketing strategies.

She thought nothing of the video and fell asleep.

Then overnight it blew up. On Instagram, the video drew over 4 million views — and attention from Minnesota organizations.

“I’m listening 👀,” reads the top-liked comment from the Minnesota State Fair account.

A Twin Cities-based influencer manager ended up reaching out to Reece. Together, they brainstormed and pitched a brand trip to the Minnesota State Fair and area tourism agencies, which ultimately agreed to sponsor her.

For Reece, a food culture aficionado who had long envisioned visiting the Minnesota State Fair, it was an exciting opportunity. She had enjoyed the Twin Cities during work trips but never had the chance to attend.

“Minnesota State Fair season, every year, I’m locked in. I’m like, ‘Oh my God, what’s everybody eating? What are we doing, guys?’ Like that is one of my favorite times of year,” Reece said in an interview with MPR News.

“I’ve known about Sweet Martha’s forever. I probably watched a YouTube video on it a long, long, long time ago,” she added. “That bucket of cookies has just lived rent free in my head for my entire adolescence.”

Growing influencer partnerships in Minnesota

The Minnesota State Fair has gotten more national attention with the growth of social media, according to Maria Hayden, who oversees the enterprise’s social media and marketing.

Over the years, there’s been an explosion of local and out-of-state influencers producing videos on the fair. The food is a major draw.

While the State Fair isn’t necessarily looking to boost its attendance numbers — about 2 million people visit each year, making for big crowds and long lines at times — Hayden’s team has jumped on the social media train, turning to influencer collaborations to reach new audiences and showcase different perspectives.

“There’s so many different things you can do and explore at the fair. We want to make sure that we’re helping contribute to amplifying a diverse range of things people are interested in,” Hayden said.

Explore Minnesota spokesperson Ben Johnson said the Reece collaboration is part of a larger marketing campaign around the Minnesota State Fair.

“It’s really one of those flagship, quintessential Minnesotan events that really touches on so many parts of what makes our state great, and it really speaks to our mission, which is to promote Minnesota as a great place to visit,” he said.

The state tourism agency is charged with economic development: getting people to visit, then stay and create businesses in Minnesota. Johnson said Explore Minnesota has been working with content creators for a decade to drive traffic to the state.

One partnership with a content creator who has a broader Midwestern audience allowed Explore Minnesota to double their average views on a video and garner about fives times their average for interactions, according to Johnson.

“These are new audiences who may not have considered Minnesota as a travel destination, and so we just think that’s important and a tremendous return on investment,” he said.

For Reece’s trip, the Minnesota State Fair provided admission tickets and assisted with planning. Visit Saint Paul is covering lodging, food and a stipend, and Explore Minnesota is covering work time, deliverables and expenses.

Johnson said the state agency receives hundreds of pitches a year and is selective about who it works with. Reece not only had a viral moment that the state could capitalize on, but she has an affinity for Minnesota and is based in Atlanta, a major flight market for the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Visit Saint Paul senior marketing manager Ava Diaz called the partnership “a huge win” that benefits the whole state, particularly after the federal immigration enforcement surge over the winter.

“People really value and can see our sense of community here, which is incredible,” Diaz said. “And not only that, like how much our communities uplift and support and advocate for everyone in it and the diversity that we have here.”

Reece plans to partner with local content creators

Two local content creators will be Reece’s guides to the State Fair and collaborators on the project: Sade Young and Mezan Ghebre, who respectively run the accounts “Sade in the Cities” and “FeedMeez.”

“This is going to be three Black women covering a state fair from our perspective, which is like unheard of,” Reece said. She hopes their videos will help support local businesses and be helpful to area residents, too.

“It’s the Great Minnesota Get-Together. It’s rooted in this idea of community and community building for Minnesotans, and that was at the core of what we’re trying to do,” she said.