Working with influencers.

Why a business should work with influencers

Advertising with a creator does not work like an ad in an ad account. An ad addresses a stranger; a creator addresses their own audience, which came to them voluntarily and is used to trusting them. A recommendation inside that contact is perceived closer to advice from a friend than to advertising.

Hence two benefits for a business. The first is access to an audience that is hard to assemble with targeting: an enthusiastic community around a specific topic. The second is explaining the product. The creator shows the item in use, answers questions in the comments and removes objections for which there is no room in a banner.

There is a limitation too. Advertising with a creator works poorly as a source of instant sales: more often it builds awareness and interest that turn into a purchase later. Do not plan it as a replacement for search advertising - those are different jobs.

Let’s go through the process: how to choose a creator, how to set a goal, what to agree on and how to tell whether the placement paid off.

How to find the right creator

There is one main criterion: the creator’s audience must match yours. Not by formal attributes like gender and age, but by the interests and problems those people are solving.

The easiest place to start the search is from within. Ask your current clients who they read and watch on your topic - that is the most accurate list. The second source is searching topical queries and hashtags on the platforms where you operate. The third is creators your competitors have already placed with.

Audience size is not the first criterion. A creator with a small but narrow community often gets a higher response than a million-follower account with a diffuse audience, and the placement costs several times less. For niche products such creators are usually more effective.

Pay attention to tone as well. If the creator’s manner diverges from how your brand speaks, the audience will sense the mismatch before you do. The ad will work, but the impression will feel foreign.

How to verify the audience before placing

Before paying, it is worth spending time on verification - it is cheaper than a post-mortem on a failed placement.

• Comments. Lively discussions on the topic are a good sign. Identical short replies and emoji without substance are a reason to be wary.
• Response relative to reach. Look not at absolute figures but at the ratio of reactions to views, and how consistent it is from post to post. Sharp spikes for no reason are a sign of fake engagement.
• Statistics from the creator. Ask for screenshots from the platform’s dashboard: geography, age, sources of views. A refusal to show statistics is an answer in itself.
• Advertising history. Look at past integrations. If there are too many and they run back to back, the audience is already tired of advertising.
• Feedback from advertisers. Ask those who have placed before: were deadlines and content agreements honoured?

How to read engagement metrics and why they cannot be assessed in isolation from reach is covered in our piece on social media engagement.

How to set a goal for the collaboration

The wording of the goal determines the choice of creator, the format and the method of assessment. “We want people to know about us” is not a goal - you cannot pick a metric or a budget for it.

There are usually three workable options. Awareness - introduce the audience to a product it has not encountered before; reach and the quality of the explanation matter here. Enquiries - get leads or click-throughs; you need a clear call to action and a dedicated link. Trust - remove objections by demonstrating the product in real use; here the creator’s honesty is valuable, not their enthusiasm.

Goals can be mixed in one placement, but there must be a single priority. A post that simultaneously tells the brand story, explains the product and demands a click on a discount link usually achieves none of these.

The platform is chosen to fit the goal too: long video suits a complex product, a short clip an impulse purchase, a text post topics where details matter.

What to agree at the outset

Verbal agreements with creators fall apart especially quickly - the work is creative, and the parties’ idea of “it turned out well” differs. So put it in writing.

1. Format and volume: how many posts, of what length, in which sections.
2. Date and time of publication, and how long the material stays available.
3. What must be said and what must not be said.
4. The approval process: how many rounds of edits are included in the price and within what timeframe.
5. A link or promo code for tracking, and who provides them.
6. Labelling the post as advertising and submitting data to the online advertising register - a duty that must be allocated in advance.
7. The right to use the material in your own channels, and for how long.

The creator’s freedom deserves a separate agreement. Text written entirely on their behalf usually sounds false and lowers the response. A sensible framework: you provide the key messages and restrictions, the wording stays with the creator.

How to assess the result

A collaboration should be assessed by the same rules as any other channel: a metric chosen in advance, a separate way of tracking, a reasonable observation period.

The minimum toolkit is a unique tagged link for each creator and a separate promo code. Without them it is impossible to separate the effect of several placements, and any conclusions will be contestable.

Look beyond direct click-throughs. Some of the audience does not click the link straight away but searches for you later by name - so during the placement period it is useful to watch the number of direct visits and branded queries.

The full assessment period is longer than it seems. The first wave comes in the first few days, the second over several weeks while the material is still being watched. Drawing conclusions a day after publication is premature. The method for calculating return on investment is covered in a separate article.

Common mistakes

Choosing by follower count. A large audience without matching interests delivers reach and no buyers.

One placement instead of a series. A single mention rarely produces a lasting effect: the audience remembers what it has seen several times from different creators.

A rigid script. Text written by the marketing department and read out by the creator word for word is recognised by the audience instantly.

No preparation on your own side. If after the post people arrive at a website that has no answer to the promised question, the budget is wasted.

Ignoring the comments. Questions about the product always appear under an advertising post. This is the best moment for the brand to reply - and it is the one most often missed. How to handle audience reaction, including negative, is described in our piece on reviews and reputation.

Where to start

It is sensible to start with a small test: two or three creators with similar audiences, the same format, different tracking links. Such a launch produces comparable data and does not cost much.

The results will show which type of creator works for your product, which format gets a response and how much an enquiry from this channel costs. After that you can scale what worked rather than guess.

If the product shows well in action, plan a video format from the outset - why it gets a bigger response is covered in our article on video marketing. And we handle creator selection, approvals and placement assessment as part of our reputation management and PR service.