Running Influencer Campaigns

Pick the Campaign Type That Fits the Goal

Campaign types are not interchangeable — each one does a specific job. A product seed (send product, hope for organic posts) is cheap and good for volume and first reviews. A sponsored post is a paid, briefed deliverable you can count on. A takeover or collab buys a creator’s voice on your channel. An affiliate program turns creators into a tracked sales channel over time. An ambassador program is a longer relationship that trades one-off spikes for ongoing presence.

Choose the type from the outcome. Need proof and user content fast? Seed broadly. Need a reliable launch moment? Buy sponsored posts with firm dates. Want creators selling for months? Build affiliate or ambassador relationships. Running the wrong type for your goal is the most common and most expensive execution mistake.

• Product seeding — free product for organic posts; volume and authentic reviews
• Sponsored posts — paid, briefed, dated deliverables you can plan a launch around
• Takeovers and collabs — a creator’s voice on your owned channels for a window
• Affiliate and ambassador — ongoing, tracked relationships instead of one-off spikes

The Contract Clauses That Actually Matter

Handshake deals fall apart exactly when there’s money or a dispute on the line. Every paid deal needs a written agreement, and a few clauses do most of the protecting. Spell out the deliverables and timeline so “the post” can’t quietly shrink. Lock the FTC disclosure as a contractual requirement, not a suggestion. Define exclusivity — can they post for a competitor the same week? — and set approval rights and a revision window so you’re not stuck with an off-brand first draft.

Two clauses save the most grief: usage rights (covered below) and a kill or non-performance clause that says what happens if the post never goes up or breaks the rules. Keep the contract plain-English and short enough that a creator reads it. A contract nobody understands is a contract nobody follows.

• Deliverables and dates — format, count, placement, and go-live, in writing
• Disclosure — FTC compliance required by contract, with the creator responsible
• Exclusivity — whether and how long they stay off competitor content
• Approval and revisions — your review window and how many rounds you get

Brief, Don’t Script

The reason you hired a creator is that their audience trusts their voice — so don’t replace it with yours. Hand them the message, the must-includes, and the guardrails, then let them write the caption and shoot it their way. A word-for-word script produces a read that feels like an ad because it is one, and their audience tunes it out. The creator knows what their people respond to better than your brand deck does.

The one exception is the claim and the disclosure. Mandatory product claims and the FTC disclosure need exact language or clear rules, because those carry legal risk. Everything else — hook, pacing, jokes, format — is theirs. Treat the creative review as a check for accuracy and brand safety, not an invitation to rewrite their personality out of the post.

Lock Usage Rights Before Anything Goes Live

The single biggest leverage point in a campaign is the right to reuse the content. A creator post reaches their audience once; the same content run as a paid ad, on your website, and in email reaches your audience for months. But if you didn’t negotiate usage rights up front, you own none of that — and asking after the post performs means paying a premium under pressure.

Negotiate rights as part of the original deal: what you can use (organic repost, paid ads, website, email), where, and for how long. Whitelisting — running ads through the creator’s own handle — is especially powerful and must be agreed in advance. The best creator content is your best ad creative; make sure you’re allowed to use it that way before you pay for it.

Ask for the raw files while you’re at it. A finished post is one edit; the source footage lets you cut a dozen new ads from the same shoot as you learn what hooks convert. Rights plus raw files turn a single sponsored post into a creative library that keeps earning long after the campaign ends.

• Scope — organic reshare, paid social, website, email, retail — name each channel
• Term — how long you can run it; perpetual costs more and is often unnecessary
• Whitelisting — permission to run paid ads through the creator’s handle, agreed up front
• Raw files — ask for the source footage so you can recut it into new ads later