Influencer Marketing

Creators share a message with their own audience. After this module you can describe the main creator types and sponsored-post model, so you choose partners by fit and trust instead of follower counts alone.

• Types: nano, micro, mid, large by audience size.
• Pay: product, fee, commission or a mix.
• Trust and fit matter more than size.
• Rules on disclosure.
• Write a one-line promise for the campaign, such as 'ten new sign-ups from creators with under 20,000 followers in four weeks', and test every later decision against that sentence.
• List three channels where your audience already spends time, then check each for ten minutes to see whether creators there post about products like yours.
• Read how three real campaigns were described and note which felt honest.
• Write three questions you will ask every creator before agreeing.

Activity. Compare three creator types on five points.

Standard to meet. Complete the table.

Common mistake. Choosing by follower count.

Check yourself. What matters more than size?

Start with what you want. You will turn a vague wish into one measurable campaign goal with a budget and deadline, which lets you judge every later choice against it.

• Awareness, visits, sales, sign-ups.
• One main goal and a number.
• Budget in your currency.
• Timeframe.
• Turn each goal into a number and a date, for example 200 link clicks and 15 sales by day 30, so you can judge success without arguing about feelings afterwards.
• Pick one main goal only; if you chase awareness, sales and sign-ups together, the brief becomes vague and no creator can tell what you actually want.
• Ask each creator for audience age, place and top interests, not just follower totals.
• Set a rule for what is off-limits: health claims, other brands, unsafe use.

Activity. Write goal, budget and measure.

Standard to meet. Write a specific, numeric goal.

Common mistake. Vague goals.

Check yourself. What is your target?

Check fit and honesty. You will be able to screen creators for real engagement and matching audiences, which protects your budget from inflated accounts and mismatched followers.

• Content fit with your values.
• Audience match: place, age, interest.
• Engagement quality: real comments.
• Past partnerships and disclosure habits.
• Review at least twelve recent posts per creator and count how many comments are genuine sentences; a sudden jump in followers with few real replies is a warning sign of bought followers.
• Ask each shortlisted creator for a screenshot of their audience ages and countries from the last 30 days and compare it with your target customer.
• Agree who owns the content and for how long it may be reused.
• Put the agreed label wording in the brief in plain words.

Activity. Vet five creators with a checklist.

Standard to meet. Give evidence for each.

Common mistake. Ignoring fake engagement.

Check yourself. How did you vet?

Be clear but leave room. You will write a one-page brief that sets clear boundaries yet leaves creative room, so the resulting posts sound natural to the creator's audience.

• Message, must-haves, must-avoids.
• Deliverables and dates.
• Disclosure wording.
• Review and approval steps.
• Keep the brief to one page: goal, audience, three must-say points, two things to avoid, deadline, and how to label the post as sponsored.
• Share one example of content you like and one you dislike, since creators understand a concrete sample faster than an abstract description of tone.
• Use calendars so posts do not land the same day.
• Prepare answers to questions the audience is likely to ask.

Activity. Write a one-page brief.

Standard to meet. Include all items.

Common mistake. Over-controlling the creator.

Check yourself. What is flexible?

Protect both sides. You will draft a written agreement covering deliverables, dates, content rights and payment steps, so both you and the creator know what happens when plans change.

• Fee, payment dates, usage rights.
• What if content is late or off-brief?
• Exclusivity (whether the creator may promote rivals).
• Data and privacy.
• Put the deliverables in writing with counts and dates, for example one video and two stories by 14 March, and state how many revisions are included before work starts.
• Agree the payment schedule in advance, such as half on posting and half after seven days, and record who owns the content and for how long it may be reused.
• Monitor comments for 48 hours after each post and answer politely.
• Report complaints to the creator at once, not at month end.

Activity. Draft an agreement outline.

Standard to meet. Check that the terms are fair.

Common mistake. No written terms.

Check yourself. What did you agree?

Coordinate and watch. You will launch with tracked links, check each live post against the agreement and fix problems quickly, keeping the campaign accurate and the creators properly disclosed.

• Calendar and approvals.
• Track links and codes per creator.
• Reply to comments.
• Fix issues quickly.
• Give each creator a unique link or discount code so every click and sale can be matched to the right person, and test the link yourself before the first post goes live.
• Check the live post within 24 hours for the sponsored label, the correct link and the agreed wording, and message the creator politely the same day if anything is off.
• Compare cost per result across creators in a table.
• Thank creators publicly when the campaign works.

Activity. Run the campaign.

Standard to meet. Test that links and codes work.

Common mistake. Forgetting tracking.

Check yourself. What is your code?

Numbers and notes. You will calculate cost per result for each creator and read the numbers after a fair waiting period, so your next campaign rests on evidence, not impressions.

• Reach, engagement rate, clicks, sales.
• Cost per result = spend / results.
• Quality of comments.
• Lessons.
• Compare cost per result across creators by dividing what you paid by the sales or sign-ups each one produced, then rank them rather than relying on likes alone.
• Wait at least seven days after posting before judging results, because many viewers act late, and record the final numbers in a simple table you can reuse.
• Keep contact details securely and only for the campaign.
• Never ask creators for personal data on their followers.

Activity. Report results.

Standard to meet. Check that the calculations are correct.

Common mistake. Judging on views alone.

Check yourself. What is yours?

If you are the creator, protect your trust. You will assemble a media kit and a disclosure habit for your own channel, which keeps your audience's trust while you accept paid partnerships.

• Accept only fitting offers.
• Disclose always.
• Keep honest tone.
• Track your own results.
• Build a one-page media kit with your best three posts, audience facts, and the types of partnership you accept, and keep the numbers updated every month.
• Add a clear disclosure line to every sponsored post you make, and keep a log of each agreement so you can prove what was promised if a question arises.
• Write down three changes for the next campaign.
• If you are the creator, publish your own disclosure and rules page.

Activity. Write your own creator rules.

Standard to meet. Include disclosure in the rules.

Common mistake. Accepting every offer as a creator.

Check yourself. What will you decline?

A creator posts a claim not in the brief.

Question: Response?

Model answer: Ask for a correction, use the contract and keep records.

A creator does not label a paid post.

Question: What do you do?

Model answer: Request an immediate label, pause payment and review the process.

On the slide: L1 Basic · Basics of sharing

Notes: Describe what a creator does and why people trust them. Notes: pick a creator you follow and list three things they do to earn trust. Standard: three examples.

On the slide: L2 Awareness · Awareness

Notes: Describe a campaign brief, disclosure of paid posts and fair pay. Notes: read a public disclosure rule. Standard: a sample disclosure line and a fair-pay point.

On the slide: L3 Foundation · Foundation

Notes: Write a one-page brief for a creator: aim, audience, message, dates and measures. Notes: practice brand. Standard: a creator can follow it without calling you.

On the slide: L4 Practitioner · Practitioner

Notes: Run a one-week mini campaign with one creator or your own channel and record reach and replies. Notes: practice budget. Standard: results recorded against the measures in the brief.

On the slide: L5 Specialist · Specialist

Notes: Plan and run a small creator campaign, or run your own creator channel, for four weeks with brief, disclosure and results report. Notes: report cost per result. Standard: disclosure on every paid post and a report that states what did not work.

On the slide: L6 Advanced · Advanced

Notes: Run several campaigns with a creator pool, contracts and an ethics review. Notes: add a fake-follower check and a pay audit. Standard: contracts signed before posting and the audit is dated.

On the slide: L7 Super expert · Super expert

Notes: Set the brief, disclosure and fair-pay method for influencer campaigns and teach the managers who use it. Notes: hold an ethics review of posts, disclosures and complaints each year.