In influencer marketing, there is nothing worse than a confusing campaign with no clear guidelines and directions. We’ve seen it too many times: brands don’t communicate what they’re looking for, influencers are lost because they don’t know what’s expected, campaigns are delayed because everyone is confused, sifting through threads and threads of emails. That’s why you need to create a clear influencer brief to share with your creators! With an influencer brief template, plus tons of best practices, this blog will equip you with everything you need to know to kick-start your influencer collaboration with a killer brief!
Why do I need an Influencer Brief Template?
What is an influencer brief?
An influencer campaign brief is a critical document that helps your influencers understand what you need from them in order to deliver results. The brief sets clear guidelines and expectations for everyone involved. It contains specific campaign information such as product details, key dates, as well as content and messaging guidelines. More on this later!
It’s useful for brands to have an influencer brief template because it is a document that can be edited and personalized for each influencer marketing campaign. Once you have a template that contains specific information that’s relevant for every campaign (such as your contact details, branding guidelines, brand values etc) you’ll save time by simply editing certain sections to provide more details about each specific creator campaign.
When do I use an influencer brief?
Most brands and agencies include the brief in the first or second email exchange with their preferred influencers. You can choose to send the brief in your first outreach email to set clear expectations from the get-go or choose to wait until the influencers respond with their interest.
How do I create an influencer brief?
The simple answer is to use an influencer brief template that can be easily edited for each campaign. Remember, an influencer brief doesn’t have to be lengthy. But there are several elements that determine how you construct it:
- Your overall expectation and goals
- The campaign’s structure and elements
- Your brand’s style and messaging
However, there are a few important elements that your influencer brief MUST include, and we will outline them for you below. You can also use our Influencer Brief Template to help you put together a thorough influencer brief.
Looking to save time on your influencer campaigns? Check out more of Upfluence’s influencer marketing templates to help you get your next campaign running as soon as possible!
What should my influencer brief contain – 6 must-haves!
1. Your company bio
The influencer needs to know who they are working with, so show who you are as a company! A good company bio doesn’t only let influencers know more about your company, but also your brand and voice. What are your values? What does your company bring to the public? How are you different from everyone else?
If you want customers to fall in love with your brand, make sure the influencers fall in love with you first! Don’t forget to include links to your website, social media accounts, and any other photos or creatives to give a better visual of your brand.
2. Your campaign summary
Before you can jump into the nitty-gritty details of your campaign, help to ease the influencer in with a clear and concise overview. What is the product (or services, events, etc.) that this campaign is for? Is it a new launch? Is this a holiday campaign? Or a monthly influencer campaign?
Use this section as a prelude to the campaign, try to summarise it into a sentence or two. For example: “This Instagram giveaway contest is our Holiday influencer campaign, where you and your followers can get to know our brand better through a minigame and free gifts.”
3. Details of content execution
Now that the influencers have a brief understanding of the campaign, let’s jump into the nitty-gritty elements! Here all the details you should include:
- Social Media Platform: Where will this campaign take place? Instagram? Youtube? If it’s an event, you can switch this to a location.
- Content-type: Will influencers create blog posts? Instagram photos or stories? Youtube videos?
- Description of content: Will the photo show the influencer using the product? Or will it be an unboxing video? Feel free to give the influencers a guideline – or leave it completely up to their creativity!
- Voice/tone: If there is a specific tone you’d like the influencer to lean towards, make sure to include it!
- Hashtags and brand handle to include: Make sure the influencers tag your brand, and/or include a unique hashtag for your campaign. Don’t forget #ad in order to comply with FTC’s influencer marketing guidelines!
- Call to Action: Is there a link to your website or product page that influencers can include? Or do they have a unique affiliate code? Or simply encourage their followers to follow your brand’s Instagram? Don’t forget to include a CTA!
- Date or time of publications: This is optional and can be as simple as “Within 14 days of receiving products”, or as specific as “On the 02/02/2020 at 9 p.m. your local time.”
- Other campaign information: Giveaway rules, event dress code, or any other information relevant to your campaign type.
4. Messaging points, Inspiration, Mood board
We’ve included these aspects as additional means of conveying your objectives and goals to the influencer. Adding these features to your brief will play an important role in how the influencer creates content that is in line with your brand’s voice, and aesthetics and how they pull important product messaging points to the foreground. Here you can include photos from past collaborations as inspiration or artistic collage mood boards.
Hint: Mood boards are a great way to introduce influencers to your brand’s visual representation.
5. Goals
It’s important to establish goals so everyone is on the same page. You don’t have to explicitly state the exact amount of engagement, clicks, or code usage, but your “ideal” vision is important when forming expectations and objectives.
We recommend a clear objective: “The campaign goal is to increase our brand’s awareness, with particular attention given to our actions and determination in producing/using environmentally-conscious products.”
6. Payment terms
If your campaign involves payment of any type, remember to include all terms and conditions so influencers know what to expect. (Make sure you also check out our Ultimate Guide for Influencer Marketing Budgeting to see what type of costs and fees to be mindful of!) The payment section of your brief should include:
- Compensation type (Flat amount, commissions, others, etc.)
- Payment method
- Payment date
- Payment terms and conditions
Give your brief a touch of magic!
There’s definitely an art to creating a brief. After all, a brief is where an influencer learns all about your company and campaign, so they should not only be fully informed but should also be excited to be a part of your campaign! For that reason, you should…
- Get visual: Include a lot of photos of your brand, products, and past collaboration. Don’t be afraid to construct the brief in a way that screams your brand!
- Allow creativity: Having clear guidelines and expectations is good, but remember to leave space for the influencers to be creative. At the end of the day, influencers are content creators who communicate with their audience extremely well.
- Show appreciation: If you want influencers to be excited to work with you, always remember to show your excitement first! Let them know you appreciate having them in the campaign, and that this should be the beginning of a great relationship.
As promised, here’s your free Influencer Brief Template to construct your very own campaign!
Go one step further with Upfluence’s influencer marketing templates for outreach emails, agreements and contracts!
