Tips to Plan Engaging Influencer Marketing Campaigns — With Examples

Here are four tips for collaborative success:

Define your goal and your audience

What do you want your influencer campaign to accomplish? And, even more importantly, how do you plan to measure it? Set a specific goal for your campaign and define a short list of KPIs that you’ll use to gauge success. 

With a goal in mind, you can define your audience. Remember, campaigns work best when they’re focused on a niche group. Don’t try to engage everyone, pick a narrow target.

Identify the right influencers for your campaign

Many, many influencers are willing to work with your brand, but you should be selective. Consider using an influencer marketing platform like The Creator Marketplace® to browse a filterable database of influencers and see profiles with engagement rates listed for each influencer. 

As you browse, you want an influencer who:

• Shares your brand’s values
• Connects with your target audience
• Engages with followers 
• Has a history of creating high-quality content
• Has worked with brands in the past
• Is willing to discuss and sign a contract before work begins

Produce creative influencer marketing campaigns with visual content 

What kind of content do you want an influencer to create? Visuals work best. On social media, you need a scroll-stopping picture or video to grab a follower’s attention. That’s not to say that written content, like a blog post, is ineffective, but you can promote text-based content with an intriguing visual on social. 

Let the influencer take the creative reins. Brands can provide direction, but the best campaigns rely on the creator’s audience knowledge. 

Measure your campaign results and include the influencer

When the campaign is complete, hop on a call with the influencer to talk about how the campaign went. Discuss the KPIs, brainstorm improvements, and leave the lines of communication open for future collaboration. 

Here are four tips for collaborative success:

Define your goal and your audience

What do you want your influencer campaign to accomplish? And, even more importantly, how do you plan to measure it? Set a specific goal for your campaign and define a short list of KPIs that you’ll use to gauge success. 

With a goal in mind, you can define your audience. Remember, campaigns work best when they’re focused on a niche group. Don’t try to engage everyone, pick a narrow target.

Identify the right influencers for your campaign

Many, many influencers are willing to work with your brand, but you should be selective. Consider using an influencer marketing platform like The Creator Marketplace® to browse a filterable database of influencers and see profiles with engagement rates listed for each influencer. 

As you browse, you want an influencer who:

• Shares your brand’s values
• Connects with your target audience
• Engages with followers 
• Has a history of creating high-quality content
• Has worked with brands in the past
• Is willing to discuss and sign a contract before work begins

Produce creative influencer marketing campaigns with visual content 

What kind of content do you want an influencer to create? Visuals work best. On social media, you need a scroll-stopping picture or video to grab a follower’s attention. That’s not to say that written content, like a blog post, is ineffective, but you can promote text-based content with an intriguing visual on social. 

Let the influencer take the creative reins. Brands can provide direction, but the best campaigns rely on the creator’s audience knowledge. 

Measure your campaign results and include the influencer

When the campaign is complete, hop on a call with the influencer to talk about how the campaign went. Discuss the KPIs, brainstorm improvements, and leave the lines of communication open for future collaboration. 

Influencer campaign ideas

Need a little guidance? To help spark your creative juices, here are some examples of influencer marketing campaigns:

Create an Instagram challenge

An Instagram challenge is a good way to drive engagement. Think of it as a contest, where you ask people to submit content based on a brand-specific theme. A beauty brand might challenge its audience to share before and after pictures of their morning makeup routine, for example. 

The challenge should include your product and have branded hashtags too. 

In addition to asking your regular followers to participate, ask a handful of influencers to join too. 

Give the best submissions a prize, like a free product bundle or a gift card. 

Example: Trivago asks travelers for photos

Interested in influencer ideas for Instagram that focus on a challenge? Trivago asked followers to share their favorite vacation snap on Insta with the hashtag #TrivagoFaves for a chance to win $500 to use toward travel.

Launch an exclusive product and ask an influencer to give it away

Want to generate buzz around a new product? If so, add an influencer-hosted giveaway to the launch party. 

Ask an influencer to promote the giveaway on his or her channel, or let a creator host a social media takeover and give away products throughout the day. 

Some brands have teamed up with top influencers to create branded products. Clutch Game Gear, a company that sells gaming accessories, teamed up with celebrity gaming influencer PewDiePie to create a line of gaming chairs. If you’re planning a long-term partnership, this product innovation can benefit both the brand and the influencer.

Example: PewDiePie hosts a giveaway for Clutch

Clutch launched gaming gear designed by iconic gamer and influencer PewDiePie. As part of the product launch, the influencer hosted a giveaway for the brand. 

Host a Q&A series with influencers

Give your audience a chance to interact with your best brand advocates. Consider hosting a Q&A session live on Facebook where fans can get their questions answered live or do a written Q&A in the form of a blog post.  

The entire session doesn’t have to be about a specific product, but influencers can naturally weave your brand into the conversation. With a natural feel to it, consumers are drawn to Q&As and see them as a personalized way to engage with a brand. 

Example: Baby brand Orbit Baby shares Q&A with new mom

A new mom and influencer, Amanda Dews, answered a list of questions about her favorite piece of baby gear from Orbit Baby. The brand shared the Q&A on its site, and Amanda shared it on social.

Effective influencer marketing campaigns take time, effort, and planning. The Creator Marketplace is a great place to kick off your campaign efforts. Visit the site to learn more. 

Influencers:

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Marketers:

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