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- how to structure an influencer program
happy friday, folks! we’re out of mercury retrograde so I hope all the craziness that has ensued for the last 25 days is coming to an end. between the foxtrot and tiktok news, it seems like april really had to go out with a bang.
anyway, since we last spoke, i might have decided to randomly move? looking at streeteasy “for fun” is quite dangerous. the worst part? i don’t find out if i got the apartment until next week. send all your good vibes!!!
i also co-hosted my first dinner with archive and it was such a blast! if you live in NYC or LA and work on the brand-side when it comes to influencer, social, or are a founder, please let me know so I can let you know as the come around. you can just hit “reply”.
that brings me into today’s topic, which is all about influencer marketing (again): how should you work with a creator? what’s the best structure? what platforms help track your efforts?
note: all of this will be from my own experience and the products i have gotten to gratefully work on so if you have individual questions, just shoot them over!
BUT BEFORE WE GET INTO THE NITTY GRITTY…
I’m am so excited to say that this newsletter is sponsored by my friends, Andy and Anders, over at SUPERFILIATE!!!!!!!!!
If you’re a brand looking to:
have a trusty platform that allows you to run end-to-end affiliate, influencer and referral programs (reporting, data, payouts, etc.)
increase your conversion rate and work more closely with the creators on your roster
Superfiliate could and might be be your solution.
I’ve been a proud user of Superfiliate since the beginning of 2024, specifically it’s what I use to manage Graza’s thriving ambassador program and to track our efforts with any paid creator partnerships.
As a matter of fact, one of the best partnerships with a creator that I managed went live last week where I had his audience head to a custom co-branded landing page, which is why Superfiliate stands apart from others, in my opinion.
You can watch the ad read here and then click over to the co-branded landing page directly here for ease, but you’ll see that it is in the description of the video itself, making it super smooth and accessible.
These cobranded landing pages create a personalized experience for your next potential customer as every page has its own unique content, curated products based on what your creator love, reviews from the creator, and more, which can help drive higher conversion rates — and this one crushed.
Imagine being able to login and see that a creator was profitable AND had more than a 2-4x return on your spend? Love to see it.
The kicker? Their teams builds these out FOR you with no extra effort on your end as if I needed another reason to love them.
If you just want to chat with the team, tell them I sent you right HERE and just for you, they are giving y’all 1 MONTH FOR FREE (!!!!!!!), which is something they really do not do so get it while it’s hot.
Now, let’s get to work…
FIRST OFF, HOW DOES YOUR BRAND (OR HOW SHOULD IT) WORK WITH CREATORS?
In my eyes, there are 4 general ways that you should be leveraging creators.
Brand Awareness → Dependent on size, they all have a purpose, but they all help bring awareness to the company. That’s why creator FOMO is a thing. When everyone has it, they all want it and then everyone knows about it.
Build Community → Influencers help expand the brand into new niches and get eyes on us with one press of a button while also leveraging tools like in-feed collaborative posts on IG.
User Generated Content (UGC) → The reason we seed and invite is to ideally also get content. We can use creators to help organic brand content efforts, whitelist through them to help on the paid media side, etc.
Conversion → Naturally, it is harder to know the attribution from creators when they are making videos in a retailer (for example), but online, we can do this through a post-purchase survey or code usage by using tool. Not all creators will convert and that’s just a fact, but it doesn’t mean they can’t.
But also, if you’re looking at every influencer relationship as a transaction, you’re already getting in your own way.
BRAND AWARENESS + COMMUNITY BUILDING: AN “ALWAYS ON” APPROACH
When it comes to building brand awareness and community building, I always like clients having an “always on” approach if it makes sense for them and if they can set aside enough inventory. Now, if you’re selling high-end cookware ($199+ for a pan) vs. a $37 dollar product, your volume is probably going to look a bit different and your approach.
So, here’s advice whether you’re on both sides.
I am a fan of seeding programs for the obvious reasons.
They help kick off potential long term relationships with creators in your environment.
They allow you to start building a FOMO effect, which usually leads to more inbound and an easier outbound experience for you when reaching out.
It allows you to earn recognition and validation from well-respected folks that your audience may follow. A sign-off of enjoyment can go a long way.
It allows you to expand into new communities that you want to explore and get new messages and announcements out (launching in a retailer, new product, etc.)
Of course, paid activations with creators can help do both as well, but if you’re getting scrappy, this is where I would start.
I would ideally have two flows:
→ a seeding that is more evergreen to help with general community expansion → a seeding that is specific to the brand that specific month (wanting to explore a new community and driving it hard there, creators located around new retailers you’re in, a product launch).
From here, over time, you can then help guide the creators who post the most, have some essence of attribution (follower bump, community interest, etc) into an affiliate/ambassador program to get them hooked up with a code and link to track things more closely.
But note, not all brands need an online ambassador program if you know your DTC business isn’t the goal at the end of the day or if you sell a product that is hard to get people to buy online (ex. anything cold chain such as ice cream).
NaturalIy, I already made a newsletter about ambassador programs here.
IF YOU HAVE SOME $ TO SPEND…
There are a few ways that I would leverage any spend to work across brand all four buckets.
For example, some might separate their content budget vs. creator budget, but these days, there is a meeting place thanks for features from Instagram such as the collaborative feature button, which you can see I am a big fan of here (Graza) and here (Little Sesame).
If you have a product where you can collaborate with creators in your space to help community exchange, engagement, etc., then I am surely a fan. The food space is definitely blessed in this regards as there is SO much you can do. If you doing an actual collaboration or making an idea come to life with another brand, you can even go three-way on a collaborative post and include the brand, creator, your account.
I would personally be aiming for around 2-3 paid activations per month once the brand as reached a point where it makes sense across Instagram + Tiktok and Youtube. I would then also look to secure around 4-6 pieces of creative per month through creators that your brand can use.
When it comes to your goals as a brand, it could be two things:
You want brand awareness, reach, and potential conversion through the creator and walk away with creative that you can test for your paid media efforts.
You just need content that you can leverage for for paid and don’t mind if the creators post it or not.
But, what’s the best deliverables to ask for? This is a question that I kept getting over the last few weeks so here’s how I at least look at it.
When it comes to ideal Instagram Partnership: Instagram Story Sequence, IG Reel, and Whitelisting/Boosting (30-90 Days) with Affiliate Link and/or Code
When it comes to ideal Tiktok Partnership: I would be just asking for a Tiktok Video, but ideally I would want to work with a creator for content syndication (aka posting the Reel on Tiktok) across Instagram and Tiktok to maximize it and use the content for Spark Ads.
When it comes to the ideal Youtube partnership, I would be asking for a 30 sec-1 min. ad integration that is featured within the first 25-30% of the video with their affiliate link and code listed in the video and above their description notes.
→ Example of Graza’s Ad Integration
To be able to track the return on the investment, I would make sure these folks are primarily pushing to your website and that you’re giving them a commission (which can help in your negotiations) alongside a trackable link/code and/or co-branded landing page. This is where I just use Superfiliate to do it all.
As always, let me know if was helpful! If you just want to learn about the basics of influencer marketing (outreach concepts, etc) then you can read all about it here.
BRAND OF THE WEEK: MASA
BOTW is when I pick a brand that I love on social, can’t stop eating, or both.
In this case, it’s MASA. I literally can’t stop eating them, it’s a problem. I definitely just crushed a whole bag while writing this alongside some Grillo’s Pickle De Gallo (underrated condiment!!!).
The lime and the original are my favorite. I first saw them during the good ol’ flip days and now my pantry is usually filled with them.
They are SO crushy, SO salty, traditionally prepared, and are made with organic corn and grass-fed tallow (no seed oils, if you’re into that).
If you need a good snack for the spring and summer or all year round, just put yourself on subscription and thank me later.
LOGGIN’ OFF
That’s it, folks.
As a reminder, don’t forget to get a head start on your social reporting (template here - make a copy!) for the month!
Next week, I plan on sharing my thoughts around the tiktok ban + a small case study on the rollout of the kinda confusing 818 x Chamberlain Coffee launch, which I took to twitter about within like .19732 seconds of it launching.
If you have any other questions or topics you want broken down, PLEASE hit the REPLY button!!
As always, if you have a friend or co-worker that you think would love this newsletter, please share the link with them to subscribe. We are working our way up to 1K so it means a lot 🙂https://kendalldickieson.beehiiv.com/subscribe
luuuuv u guyssss
peace, love, and kpi’s,
KD
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