With the growing popularity of influencers in recent years, the definition of the term “influencer” has also changed dramatically. Influencers can be anyone from a TikTok creator with millions of followers to a thought leader with a small following that specializes in a niche topic.
Despite this massive spectrum of influencers, the marketing tactics for executing an influencer campaign are viewed by many as a “one size fits all” approach that can be executed with quick turnarounds and minimal strategy.
But in reality, it’s quite the opposite. Whether you’re looking for a dancing TikTok’er or an expert in a niche field, influencer marketing campaigns require a significant amount of planning in order to be successful. In addition to understanding your client’s goals, budget, creative needs, and limitations, you also must ensure that your client, team, and influencers are set up for success well before anyone presses the shutter button on their camera or smartphone.
But with almost a decade spent shaping the creator economy, Viral Nation has gotten the process of executing an influencer campaign down to a science. These five tips can transform an influencer campaign from good to great, and they can also be implemented as preliminary action items before you or your influencers even begin creating content. With these strategies in place, you’ll be able to streamline your campaign and set the foundation for achieving impactful, measurable results.
1. Influencer Campaign Success Starts with a Strong Brief
You’ve likely heard the saying “The creative is only as good as the brief.”
Like many things in life, the most important part also happens to be the most boring and tedious part. With over a decade of experience in an industry we helped pioneer, we quickly learned that the same mindset applies when planning a creator-led campaign.
Your creative brief should be a one-stop shop for creators to constantly refer back to at every stage of their content creation process. At a minimum, your brief should include:
- Brand background and key information
- Campaign goals and objectives
- 3-4 key messages and a primary call-to-action
- Creative requirements (these can include file size, format, dimensions, royalty-free music requirements, character limits, campaign hashtags, required brand tags, etc.)
- Brand-specific dos and don’ts
- Key dates, including a recap of deliverables
- The deadline
A well-crafted brief sets the stage for a smooth and successful influencer campaign, ensuring alignment between your brand and creators from the outset. Keeping the brief clear, concise, and comprehensive lets you empower creators to execute with confidence and creativity.
2. Build an Emergency Budget Into Every Influencer Campaign
Similar to many other aspects of marketing, influencer campaigns do not always stay perfectly on-budget. While it is always recommended to plan for both your ideal offer and maximum offer within a campaign budget, we have found that setting aside some extra funds to account for anything that may have gotten missed during onboarding often ends up being instrumental in the success of a campaign.
These emergency budgets do not always need to be used for a math-related oversight – they can also be used for costs and expenses that often get overlooked in the planning process, such as:
- Additional creative revisions requested by the client outside of the agreed-upon contract terms
- Reimbursing creators for purchasing the products they are featuring in their content
- Compensation for the extension of usage rights should there be changes to the campaign timeline
- Compensation for additional influencer exclusivity required if timing changes
In the happy event that you do not need to use your emergency budget, you can reallocate the funds as you see fit to boost the success of the campaign. This can include increasing your paid media amplification budget, or negotiating additional deliverables from a top-performing creator.
3. Managing Creative Control in Influencer Collaborations
When planning an influencer campaign, your own preparations are not the only factor to consider. There are many instances where clients may understand the importance of influencer marketing, but lack experience in executing the campaigns.
In these cases, clients may expect full creative control over how the content comes to life. While this may be ideal from an approvals standpoint, often the sponsored content that performs best is the content that feels authentic to the influencer rather than the brand.
It is important to keep in mind that the influencers selected for the program are being hired as experts in their field. They know what performs best with their audience and how to naturally integrate a sponsorship to ensure their audience views it as a true recommendation, rather than a scripted ad for some extra cash.
The creative approach of the influencer is what will differentiate the content from being viewed as a true partnership vs. just another sponsored post. By allowing influencers creative freedom, you give them the space to authentically integrate your brand into content their audience trusts, striking a balance between guidance and creative flexibility that is essential for driving impactful results.
4. Build Strong Relationships to Drive Successful Influencer Campaigns
We know from experience that maintaining positive relationships in the influencer industry can make or break a campaign. When it comes to the planning process, take a moment to refresh your memory about any influencers you are reaching out to. Have you worked with them before? Have you worked with the agent before with a different creator?
Sharing your past positive experiences with the team early on sets a collaborative tone and helps establish a strong rapport. This foundation makes it easier to navigate negotiations and creative reviews smoothly as the project progresses.
Here are a couple of examples of what this can look like:
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- It was great collaborating on [insert campaign]! We’d love to partner with you again on [insert new campaign details].
- We worked together on [insert campaign] and it was such a great experience! Would you happen to have any creators on your roster that could be a good fit for [insert campaign details]?
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5. Refine Your Influencer Campaign with a ‘Test and Learn’ Approach
Last but certainly not least, influencer campaigns are a great vehicle to test and prove different theories.
For example, if your client has been inquiring about the difference between TikTok’s static carousel feature and traditional video assets, your next influencer campaign is an ideal opportunity to experiment with creative formats and benchmark the results to share with your client.
But this needs to be done in the planning process to ensure that your campaign contract allows flexibility with deliverables and results based on these theories. It will also impact your negotiations with influencers, which is why it’s best to use your client kick-off call to understand what they are trying to achieve and what they are trying to learn.
The “test and learn” approach can significantly enhance your campaign reporting. Instead of presenting static data on a slide, you could show how your team contracted the same creator to post both a video and a static carousel on TikTok, then highlight the key performance differences between the two. This proactive analysis helps identify trends and informs strategic recommendations for future campaigns, showcasing the importance of detailed influencer campaign analytics.
Lastly, be sure to keep your influencers in the loop with these experiments as well. Not only will it contribute to a more collaborative approach across all parties, it will also equip them with helpful information to share in their next brand deal opportunity and support a positive relationship moving forward.
How to Execute a Winning Influencer Campaign With Viral Nation
As influencer marketing continues to gain momentum, keep in mind that not every client or cross-functional team has a full understanding of what executing a successful influencer campaign truly entails. Implementing the above tactics will not only increase your likelihood of a successful campaign but will reassure your clients that your team is well-equipped to own and execute a campaign with minimal oversight.
Viral Nation has perfected the art of building powerful influencer partnerships that drive results. With years of experience and deep expertise in the creator economy, we help brands connect authentically with their audience, delivering impactful, measurable outcomes. Let us help you navigate the complexities of influencer marketing and turn your next campaign into a success story.
