16 Successful Influencer Marketing Campaigns For Inspiration

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Consider you’re a content creator on YouTube and just received an email from a well-known brand. They want you to promote their products in an upcoming video. This opportunity could help you go viral, attract more subscribers, and get even more sponsorships. But then you remember, you have no idea how to get sponsored on YouTube! If this scenario sounds familiar, you're not alone. Many creators struggle with the ins and outs of influencer marketing and figuring out how to get started with brands to achieve their goals.

This guide will explore how to run successful influencer marketing campaigns. You'll gain valuable insights into reaching your objectives through influencer marketing services, such as going viral.

Aha Creator has a solution to help you reach your goals: brand partnership deals. These agreements allow you to promote a company’s products in exchange for money or free products. Starting with these deals can make understanding how to land more significant sponsorships and get sponsored on YouTube easier.

Benefits of Influencer Marketing for Brands

Successful Influencer Marketing Campaigns

Raising Your Brand’s Profile through Greater Visibility

Influencer marketing boosts brand visibility. Influencers have large online and media followings, making them influencers. Partnering with one can give you access to the influencer’s audiences and raise awareness of your brand.

Increasing Your Brand’s Trustworthiness

Working with influencers can increase your brand’s credibility. Influencers can endorse your brand implicitly (e.g., by tagging you in a social media post) or explicitly (e.g., by writing a positive review of a product or service). Both increase your brand’s trust with their audiences.

Targeting Your Ideal Customer

Brand partnerships can help businesses target particular audience segments. Suppose you want to target young women with ankle injuries (say, to sell anti-inflammatory collagen supplements or a line of stylish ankle braces). In that case, you might partner with a female-identified skateboarder or soccer player with a solid social media presence.

Delivering Impressive Marketing ROI

Studies show that the average return on investment (ROI) for influencer marketing campaigns is close to $6 for every dollar spent, and some companies report earning as much as $18 per dollar spent.

Driving Online Sales Directly

Influencer endorsement can motivate a purchase—one recent survey found that 56% of millennials and 58% of Gen Z purchased a product based on a social media influencer or a content creator’s recommendation.

Influencer Marketing Automation

Platforms That Pay Content Creators

Social Media Influencer Partnerships

How Much Do Digital Creators Make

Influencer Brand Partnerships

5 Niches Commonly Used by Influencers

Influencer Engagement

How Do Brand Deals Work

How to Reach Out to Brands as an Influencer

Benefits of Digital Collaboration

8 Tips For Running Successful Influencer Marketing Campaigns

1. Explore Aha Creator for Your Influencer Campaign

Aha Creator simplifies brand partnerships for influencers. We handle the heavy lifting of brand deal negotiations, ensuring you get fair value for your influence. Our matching system helps pair creators with relevant brands, maximizing the potential for successful collaborations. Sign up for our waitlist today, and we’ll work to connect you with partnership opportunities that align with your content and values.

2. Define Your Goals, Strategy, and Metrics

Before browsing influencer profiles and sending emails, you must define your strategy. Your influencer marketing strategy should help you identify your goals and the actions required. In short, it’s your recipe for success, and without a clear plan to guide your decisions, you’ll struggle to stay on track when you launch your campaign.

Decide Your Goals

Ask yourself what you want to achieve at the end of your influencer campaign. You may choose to focus on one goal or decide to have several. The more specific you can be about your goals, the better you can design your influencer campaign to deliver results. Your campaign goals may focus on brand awareness, engagement, conversions, or boosting loyalty.

Choose Your KPIs

Once you’ve set your goals, choosing key performance indicators (KPIs) will help determine your achievements. For each aim, assign a key performance indicator, i.e., a data point you can measure during and after the campaign to determine your success. KPIs for awareness might include impressions or views, whereas KPIs for conversions will include the number of sales, clicks, or subscriptions.

Plan Your Strategy

With your goals and KPIs in mind, you can decide how working with influencers will help you grow your brand. To build a framework for your campaign, you should determine your target audience, your chosen social media channels, and what type of influencers you should work with.

3. Choosing Your Campaign Type

The next decision to make is what type of campaign to run. You must consider content formats, social media channels, and influencer compensation. Your campaign type should be directly tied to helping you achieve your goals. For example, if you want to drive online sales of my limited edition hand cream, I could run a promo code campaign, offering influencers 10% of their profits.

Some of the most common types of campaigns include:

Sponsored influencer posts

Unboxing and product gifting

Giveaway competitions

Affiliate marketing

Product collaborations

Seasonal campaigns

Brand ambassador campaigns

4. Selecting and Reaching Out to Influencers

With your strategy set, now the action can begin! You can start identifying creators for your campaign by using your brand’s target audience demographics and analyzing creator performance metrics to choose the influencers best suited to your needs.

It’s essential to use the right tools to run your influencer campaigns. You’ll save valuable time and resources by investing in the right software and integrations to get the most from your campaign. Find influencers at scale with Upfluence’s influencer search tool. Identify creators from a database using 20+ advanced search filters. Alternatively, you can identify influential people within your brand network by using Upfluence’s influencer matching tool to analyze the social reach of your customers, subscribers, or followers.

Once you have a shortlist of suitable influencers, outreach can begin! Introduce your brand and products, put forward a convincing value proposition, and share details of your compensation offer. Get outreach tips and influencer email templates to help kickstart your campaign.

5. Briefs and Contracts

The next step in running an influencer marketing campaign is to onboard your chosen influencers by sharing your campaign brief, negotiating compensation, and signing a contract. You should create a brief for every new campaign that shares important details about content production and message tone, dos and don’ts, and a timeline. A successful brief is informative while getting the influencer excited to work with your business.

Negotiation is an essential part of any partnership. Aim for mutually beneficial partnerships that balance the effort the influencer needs with the compensation they’ll receive. There’s no official rate for influencer content, so try to understand influencers’ costs when making your offer. Consider factors like location, industry, brand affinity, and campaign variables such as length and equipment required when deciding how much to pay.

The final stage of onboarding is creating an influencer contract. Nowadays, most influencers, like freelancers, expect a contract. So don’t be intimidated—a good contract will help establish terms, reduce risks, and set the foundation for a transparent, professional partnership. By setting and agreeing to expectations, you make sure both parties are on the same page.

6. Content Production

Once you’ve ironed out the final details of your campaign planning and contract, it’s time for your influencers to implement their creativity! For marketers running the campaign, you’ll need to make sure your influencers have everything they need to start creating content. This means shipping product samples, sharing campaign guidelines, and generating promo codes or affiliate links if required.

7. Amplifying Your Influencer Campaign

Your campaign is live! You can maximize its success by amplifying influencer-generated content during and after the campaign. By using your brand’s owned channels, such as social media, website, and newsletters, to reshare campaign content and promote your collaboration, you’ll get the content in front of even more people.

You may also promote your best influencer content through paid media campaigns. Buying additional media space should be a key consideration when planning your initial campaign budget. Repurposing content on paid channels is a great way to get extra value from the influencer content you have already paid for; just remember to include content ownership or whitelisting permissions in the contract!

8. Measuring and Reporting on Campaign Performance

At the end of your influencer marketing campaign, you’ll need to measure your KPIs (chosen at the start) to analyze your campaign’s performance. Track the KPIs corresponding to your campaign goals and evaluate whether your campaign has successfully reached your goals.

However, campaign measurement shouldn’t happen only at the end of the campaign. Using a tool such as Upfluence to run your campaigns means you have access to campaign analytics in real-time, so you can easily make adjustments if needed to keep the campaign on track.

Tracking results is essential to help you calculate return on investment and earned media value. This will show the direct results of your investment in influencer marketing and whether it’s worth repeating.

Analyzing individual influencers’ performance will help you decide which influencers to partner with again. You should nurture long-term partnerships with your best-performing influencers to ensure your ROI remains high across future influencer marketing campaigns.

If you’re running a revenue-share campaign, measuring the number and value of sales will help you accurately calculate and pay your influencers.

16 Successful Influencer Marketing Campaigns For Inspiration

1. Daniel Wellington x Influencers: Micro-Influencers Take the Lead

Daniel Wellington, a watch brand, pioneered using micro-influencers to market its products on Instagram. The brand’s simple approach of gifting watches to influencers who posted photos of them wearing the timepieces and using unique discount codes for their followers helped generate awareness and sales of its products. Tracking was also highly effective in leveraging influencer code.

2. Fenty Beauty x Rihanna: An Inclusive Launch

Fenty Beauty’s launch was unlike any other in the cosmetics industry. The line debuted with a diverse range of products, and the influencer campaign behind it included makeup artists, beauty influencers, and celebrities. Influencers posted their looks using Fenty’s products, showing how the line caters to all skin tones. The influencer-led campaign helped the brand become a global sensation.

3. Nike x Colin Kaepernick: A Controversial Partnership

Nike’s collaboration with Colin Kaepernick sparked conversation with its controversial ad campaign, “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.” The campaign received attention from sports, politics, and pop culture influencers. Despite the backlash, it successfully aligned Nike with social causes and resonated with younger audiences.

4. Glossier x Instagram Influencers: The Cult of Glossier

Glossier has built a cult following through influencer marketing by giving product samples to beauty influencers and encouraging them to share their honest reviews. Their user-generated content strategy has helped amplify the brand’s voice and position it as a skincare and beauty authority, growing their fan base significantly.

5. Revolve x Influencers: The Ultimate Influencer Trips

Revolve, an online clothing retailer, became famous for sending influencers to exotic locations to host events. The influencers shared their experiences and Revolve’s products with their audiences. The brand’s influencer-driven events helped Revolve scale quickly, becoming a major force in fashion retail.

6. Coca-Cola x #ShareACoke: A Personal Campaign

Coca-Cola’s #ShareACoke campaign invited people to find bottles with their names on them and share a picture with the hashtag. Influencers promoted the bottles on social media. The campaign was a viral success, encouraging people to engage with the brand and share their personalized Coke moments.

Airbnb leveraged influencers to showcase their unique properties. Influencers shared their travel experiences and stayed in offbeat homes, promoting the brand's ability to offer authentic travel experiences. These honest and aspirational travel stories helped Airbnb become synonymous with unique stays.

8. L’Oreal x #WorthSaying: Building Confidence

L’Oréal used the hashtag #WorthSaying in an influencer campaign to encourage women to share their beauty stories and embrace self-confidence. By partnering with beauty influencers and social advocates, the brand created a movement about celebrating individuality that resonated strongly with its audience.

9. Gymshark x Fitness Influencers: A Fitness Empire

Through its influencer marketing strategy, Gymshark grew from a small gym apparel brand to a multi-million-dollar company. Gymshark works with a wide array of fitness influencers to promote its activewear. The brand’s campaigns highlight fitness journeys, making Gymshark products synonymous with performance and style.

10. H&M x Selena Gomez: A Star-Studded Collaboration

H&M’s collaboration with Selena Gomez for the "Selena x H&M" collection included the singer wearing and promoting the line on her social media platforms. The campaign resulted in significant engagement from her millions of followers, creating excitement around the collection and driving sales.

11. Sephora x Beauty Influencers: Boosting Product Launches

Sephora frequently collaborates with beauty influencers to promote new product launches. One notable campaign was the promotion of Fenty Beauty's launch, where influencers created content using the products. This partnership led to an immediate spike in visibility and consumer demand.

12. ASOS x Fashion Bloggers: Influencers for Authenticity

ASOS has long partnered with fashion influencers to showcase their latest collections. By collaborating with a diverse range of influencers, from micro to macro, ASOS’s marketing efforts have led to increased product visibility and more robust engagement with younger audiences.

Bumble, the dating app, collaborated with influencers for campaigns that allowed women. Influencers shared their experiences using the app, focusing on themes like female allowment and healthy relationships. This helped Bumble differentiate itself in a crowded dating app market.

14. T-Mobile x Kim Kardashian: A Star-Studded Promotion

Kim Kardashian promoted T-Mobile's "Un-carrier" service with an influencer campaign that reached millions of her followers. She posted about her positive experiences with the service, which helped drive awareness for the brand's new offerings and build a connection with her vast audience.

15. Morphe x James Charles: A YouTube Sensation

Morphe’s collaboration with beauty influencer James Charles created a collection of makeup products that sold out almost immediately. Charles’s strong presence on YouTube and Instagram helped drive interest and excitement, and the campaign generated huge engagement from his followers.

16. The Honest Company x Jessica Alba: A Personal Connection

Jessica Alba co-founded The Honest Company, focusing on non-toxic household and personal care products. The brand used her influence to promote its products across social media platforms, leveraging her celebrity status to build trust and authenticity around the company’s values. Alba’s connection to the brand helped establish it as a leader in eco-friendly products.

Aha Creator: Streamlining Brand Partnerships for Creators

Aha Creator streamline brand partnerships for creators. We handle the heavy lifting of brand deal negotiations, ensuring you get fair value for your influence. Our matching system helps pair creators with relevant brands, maximizing the potential for successful collaborations. Sign up for our waitlist today, and we'll work to connect you with partnership opportunities that align with your content and values.

Mistakes to Avoid for a Successful Influencer Marketing Campaign

Don't Rush into Influencer Marketing Without a Goal

Increase sales and brand awareness. However, influencer marketing is more than just a one-size-fits-all solution. There are many different types of influencers, and each can help you achieve various goals. For example, a micro-influencer can help you reach niche audiences and authentically promote your products.

A celebrity, on the other hand, can help you achieve a massive audience quickly. But their posts are often less personal and can even be noticed. Before you start engaging with influencers, map out a plan for your campaign. Define your goals and how you plan to achieve them. Then, use this roadmap to find the right type of influencer for your needs.

Picking the Wrong Influencer for Your Brand

Choosing an influencer simply because they have a large following is a mistake. Sure, audience size is essential. However, several other factors influence picking the right influencer for your campaign. First, consider brand relevance. Does it make sense for this specific influencer to promote your products? Picking someone who aligns with your brand can go a long way in helping you achieve your influencer marketing goals. We’re talking about increased trust, engagement, and a better overall experience for the audience.

On the other hand, picking a non-relevant influencer can have quite the opposite effect. People know that when an influencer simply shills a brand for the paycheck, they tend to ignore (or even heckle) these messages. They give prospective users a poor first engagement with your brand and waste money. Next, look at audience engagement. Does the influencer have a strong relationship with their audience? How many comments and reactions do their posts get? If an influencer has an audience of 20K followers but only gets one or two comments, chances are that your posts will be similarly received.

Generally, if an influencer has a strong relationship with their audience, they can expect a 2% click-through rate on any shared message. They can then expect a 2.5% conversion rate from those clicks. The better relationship an influencer has with their audience, the stronger the performance of these numbers. Finally, consider the type of influencer you want to work with. Top influencer marketing campaigns utilize a broad mix of different influencers to help drive ROI and success.

We’ve found 3 different types of influencers:

Celebrities: Individuals with a following of 100K+

Micro-influencers: Individuals who have a following of 10K to 100K

Everyday Fans: The “average” social media user with a following up to 10k Celebrities helps build awareness and broadcast your messaging to a large group of people with a single post, whereas Micro-Influencers and Everyday Fans tend to drive more robust engagement and have a deeper connection with their audience.

Not Providing the Influencer with Direction and Support

Influencers are content creators. They’re the kings and queens of their domains. They do a great job marketing themselves – but don’t expect them to be experts at marketing YOUR product. That’s your job. Successful brands provide their influencers with clear content direction and creative support.

While you don’t have to (nor should you) write the influencer’s piece verbatim, you should provide clear instructions on what you want their post to be about. Is the post going to point toward your brand’s social platforms? Promote a specific product? Or be associated with a particular lifestyle? Let your influencers know the angle you want them to take, and then provide them with the tools they need to fulfill that angle. Don’t be stingy with product imagery, samples, or promos.

Opting for One-Off Blasts Instead of Longer-Term Campaigns

If you think your sales will rocket from a single post from an influencer, you will be disappointed. It may work for Kylie Jenner and Oprah, but most brands aren’t media moguls with millions of followers. Regardless of who’s sharing it, a single post won’t move a customer from initial awareness to purchase in a single go.

The best-performing influencer marketing campaigns are the ones built on long-term arrangements. Brands identify the influencers they want to work with and lock them into a multi-post deal. This arrangement not only allows you to spread your work with an influencer over multiple weeks or months but also enables your influencer to forge a stronger connection between their audience and your brand.

Not Staying Compliant

Some brands are still surprised that the FTC has guidelines for working with influencers. Generally, if an influencer receives compensation for promoting your brand on their social channels, they must disclose that in the post. We wrote a great blog post on the ins and outs of these guidelines here. Successful brands ensure that their influencers follow these guidelines and encourage them to be fully transparent in their dealings with a brand. Again, people are smart. Even if an influencer doesn’t say anything, it’ll still be evident to many that a brand is compensating them. Be proud of your partnerships with your influencers and encourage them to be fully transparent about your brand.

Not Using the Right Platform to Manage Your Influencers

Successful influencer marketing campaigns aren’t managed from spreadsheets. Brands need the right tool to help engage with influencers, distribute content, and calculate the ROI and impact of their influencer marketing efforts. The SocialToaster platform automatically tracks the earned media value (EMV) generated by your influencer marketing campaign; it also organizes your brand’s Everyday Fans and Micro-Influencers to mobilize them when you want them to share content optimally. A single Everyday Fan doesn’t have near the reach of a celebrity, but get 1,000 of them together through an advocacy marketing program and watch their combined reach eclipse even the most celebrities.

Not Measuring Results

One of the most common mistakes businesses make with influencer marketing is failing to track and measure their results. Without tracking and measuring your results, you won’t be able to determine whether or not your campaign was successful. Be sure to set up a system for tracking key metrics like reach, engagement, and conversions so you can make informed decisions about your influencer marketing strategy moving forward. Work with your influencer to determine the optimum method to track results. Is it through provided URLs, affiliate codes, or landing page visits? There are several options to consider. You’ll also want to align your overarching goals.

Only Selecting One Influencer

While it can be tempting for brands new to influencer marketing to dip their toe in the influencer water by only working with one influencer initially, this isn’t always the best approach to evaluating influencer marketing. If you only work with one influencer (and the campaign doesn’t work), your brand won’t definitively be able to say what the issue was. Did you choose the wrong influencer? The wrong messaging? The wrong media? Instead of answering these questions, most brands will look at the underperforming campaign and throw their hands up that influencer marketing “doesn’t work for them.”

While testing influencer marketing as a potential channel is essential, your test must include multiple influencers. This way, you can clearly understand the channel’s effectiveness. Using multiple influencers also allows you to benefit from compounding your efforts. In other words, if your target audience suddenly hears multiple influencers talking about your brand or product, it’ll have more of an impact on their buying decision than if only one influencer was toting your brand.

Relying on a Single Platform

Regarding influencer marketing, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Don’t just focus on Instagram influencers, for example. While Instagram is undoubtedly one of the most popular platforms for influencer marketing, other platforms can be just as effective – if not more so. Depending on your goals and target audience, you might want to consider working with influencers on YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter, or even TikTok.

The key is to experiment and see what works best for you. Avoiding these common mistakes will help you launch a successful influencer marketing campaign that achieves your objectives and generates the results you’re looking for. If you need help getting started, our experts can assist you with every step of your campaign.