Researchers expect nearly 80% of marketers to use influencer marketing as a strategy by the end of 2022—a 14% increase from just two years ago. With so many new players eager to cash in using online creators, many will overlook some of the key steps that produce winning campaigns.
Finding creators and implementing them into your social media strategy is one thing. Keeping them organized and on a winning path is something that many marketers have to learn the hard way.
Providing your creators with campaign briefs is the best way to set them up for success. In this blog, we’ll show you everything you need to know about creating clear briefs so you can stay ahead of the competition and get the most out of your influencer partnerships, including links to our influencer brief examples and templates.
Why do I need campaign briefs for my creators?
Influencer campaign briefs are your roadmap to successful campaigns. They lay out clear guidelines and expectations for the brand and creator, so everyone knows exactly what to expect and when to expect it. Influencer marketing campaigns end in disaster when brands don’t communicate what they need and confuse influencers who have to try to figure it out on their own.
Simply put, campaign briefs ensure everyone on your influencer marketing team is paddling in the right direction toward your campaign goals.
What should an influencer campaign brief look like?
Campaign briefs should be simple and to the point. Your creators need to know what they need to deliver and what they get in return without being bogged down with information overload. Give them the essentials, but keep an open conversation with them if you need to tweak your approach.
An influencer campaign brief should include:
- Campaign overview. Include the campaign title, budget, dates it will run, and campaign type (evergreen, seasonal, etc.). Leave a little space for a few sentences about your main goals for the campaign.
- Compensation. Will you pay your influencers in cash, commission, product, or a combination? Provide any information on the payment method and product delivery, and be sure to include any discount codes or affiliate links used in the campaign.
- Campaign tasks. Let your creators know what you need them to post. Include the channel you want them to post on, any hashtags to use, and a broad description of what you expect from the post.
- Brand assets. Include any branding needed to complete the task, i.e., inspiration posts, important product messaging, or photos of successful post collaborations.
- Content rights. Draft content rights to specify how you will repurpose the content created for this campaign. It should include, but is not limited to, where you will repurpose the content and how long the brand has the rights to the creator’s content. Attach this information to the brief in a separate document.
Influencer Brief Example Download:
Popular influencer campaign types
Giveaway
These campaigns allow you to leverage your creators to promote a product giveaway among your target audience.
Benefits to giveaway campaigns include:
- High engagement. Audiences have a compelling reason to interact with the brand online, allowing it to accumulate likes, shares, comments, and tags on branded content.
- Predictable budgets. Brands only need to account for influencer compensation and the cost of products or services included in the giveaway.
- Platform independence. Brands can run the same campaign across all social media channels.
Before launching your giveaway campaign, make sure to:
- Provide transparent contest entry rules and outline how you’ll select the winners.
- Choose a prize that excites your target audience.
- Check with local laws and social media platform rules to ensure your campaign doesn’t violate any regulations.
Influencer Brief Example Download:
Gifting and unboxing
Gifting and unboxing campaigns feature your creators opening a package of products you’ve sent them. As they “unbox” the gift, the creator explains to their audience what’s inside.
Benefits to gifting and unboxing campaigns include:
- Relationship building with creators. Sending free products to your creators makes them feel valued and appreciated.
- An element of surprise. Brands should fill the boxes with fun products but keep specifics a secret from the creator. That way, creators and their audience discover the contents together and provide genuine reactions to the products.
- Product feedback. Creator posts help gauge audience reactions to your product and generate helpful feedback.
- Product hype. Giving creators early access to products helps spread the word and gets audiences excited about a new release.
- Tutorials. Creators should demonstrate how a product works after they unbox it, so their followers know how to use it when they’re ready to buy one of their own.
Influencer Brief Example Download:
Community building
Community-building campaigns require a network of micro influencers that meet your buyer persona. With a creator community, brands can target specific audiences like niche groups, people located in particular regions, or communities with shared, firmly held values.
Benefits of community-building campaigns include:
- Cost-effective. Micro influencers are generally cheaper to employ than their larger counterparts but often generate higher engagement rates within a more targeted audience.
- Co-authored content. Creator communities make it simple to produce co-authored content. Plus, encouraging collaborations nurtures friendships and makes for a more tightly knit creator community.
- Strong consumer relationships. If your creators feel like members of a genuine community, their audiences will too. This sense of community leads to higher brand affinity and trust with your consumers.
Influencer Brief Example Download:
Evergreen
Evergreen campaigns don’t have a start or end date. Use trusted creators to establish parameters for these ongoing campaigns to achieve targeted UGC, affiliate sales, and brand awareness.
Benefits to evergreen campaigns include:
- Always timely. No need to worry about your calendar. Just choose your best creators and execute your campaign.
- Best for new influencer marketers. Because there is no start or end date, marketers can take their time building evergreen campaigns and finding their most trusted creators.
- Constant communication. Evergreen campaigns always give you an excuse to engage your audience, even during down seasons.
- Automation. Once you find success with an evergreen campaign, you can easily automate it and promote the new launch without spending additional time and resources.
Influencer Brief Example Download:
The life cycle of a creator campaign
Define and create your campaign
Determine campaign goals, objectives, and KPIs you hope to achieve with your campaign. Doing so keeps you on the same page with your marketing team and creators, so everyone knows their responsibilities. Plus, comparing results to your goals and objectives is the only way to know for sure if your campaign was effective and worth running again.
Identify and recruit influencers
Not all creators are right for your campaign, so be selective about the ones you choose. Ensure the creators involved with your campaign align with your brand’s mission and values, engage well with their followers, and communicate well with the campaign manager.
Launch campaign
After you’ve chosen the right creators to help you achieve your campaign goals, it’s time to let them work their marketing magic. Make sure you’ve given your creators clear guidance on deliverables and campaign expectations, but allow them enough creative freedom to do what they do best.
Evaluate results
Allow your campaign to run for at least 3-5 weeks, then compare results against your initial goals and measure the performance of each creator. Doing so will help you decide if you need to reassess your campaign approach or if any of your creators simply aren’t living up to expectations.
Invest in winners
You don’t need to keep all your creators on board after a campaign. In fact, it’s better if you don’t. Consider inviting your best performers into long-term partnerships. Communicate your reasoning with any influencers you let go and let them know what they can do to improve if other collaboration opportunities arise in the future.
Tips to keep influencer campaigns fresh
Be in it for the long haul
Lasting influencer relationships rely on shared values and styles. The time you invest in those relationships impacts the performance of your creator campaigns. But more importantly, they affect the authenticity of their content. Remember, you are building a community of creators that knows your brand story inside and out and communicates it to their audience. The longer the partnership, the more successful they will be.
Let the creativity flow
Your influencers are experts at social media, and they know how to talk to their fans. Instead of providing hard-set rules for your campaigns that might constrict their creativity, present guidelines for images and styles that have been successful for your brand. If your creators know the campaign goals and have an idea of what has worked in the past, they will execute.
Always be evaluating
Evaluate what worked after completing your campaigns. Pay attention to colors, styles, and calls to action that resonate best with audiences. Identify the influencers that performed well in content, engagement, revenue, etc., so they can share their thoughts on future campaigns. Asking your influencers what they want from the next campaign leads to fresh ideas and stronger relationships.
Make it an event
Your campaigns should include a variety of media (photo, video, audio, reviews, etc.) and offer audiences multiple ways to engage with your brand and creators. From hosting a contest to producing a live stream event with an influencer, the more opportunities you provide an audience to get to know you, the more impactful your message will be.
Shake up your content game
Get outside your comfort zone and experiment with different platforms or different mediums. If you primarily post photos, try live streams, blogs, or Stories. If you are only on Instagram, try TikTok. Tapping into new social channels offers a broader selection of influencers and can provide you with some valuable, authentic content to repurpose.
The influencer takeover
Takeover campaigns are a fun way to generate excitement from your influencers’ audiences. These campaigns are great ways to launch new products, publicize important information, or just “mix it up” with your influencer content.
Automate whenever possible
Eventually, you’ll grow your influencer marketing program to the point that you need automation software to free up time for your team. The right software allows you to set your tracking and deliverables, send products to creators, track conversions, and measure campaign success, all with the click of a button. Having automation in place allows your team to spend less time doing busy work and more time building relationships and focusing on big-picture goals.
Conclusion
Brands have to set their creators up for success to produce winning influencer marketing campaigns. Creator briefs accomplish this goal by outlining clear deliverables and expectations that keep everyone organized throughout the entire collaboration. Not only will briefs help you crush your next project, they’ll show your best creators that your brand has what it takes to become long-term partners.
Learn more about influencer marketing: Influencer Marketing 101
![A Crash Course on Briefing Creators [+ Influencer Brief Examples] 1](jpg/how-to-recruit-influencers-with-instagram-dms.jpg)
