How to Write Influencer Briefs for Better Marketing Campaigns

Influencer marketing is a powerful tool for brands to reach their target audience, and it's one of the most effective ways to generate sales.

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A study by Tomoson, an influencer marketplace, shows that every $1 spent on influencer marketing produces an average $6.50 in returned revenue.

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Plus, the customers gained are of better quality towards their business and sharing their products even more.

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However, it's not just about getting influencers to promote your products or services. It's about creating an impactful campaign that resonates with your audience.

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This is where a well-crafted campaign brief comes in.

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This guide will explain what an influencer brief is, why it's essential for your influencer marketing campaign, and how to create one to work with social media influencers more efficiently.

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What is an influencer marketing campaign brief?

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A campaign brief is a one-page document that outlines the goals, objectives, and target audience for an influencer marketing campaign. It also includes a brief description of the product or service being promoted and any promotional activities that will take place during the campaign window.

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You can think of it as a high-level overview of the campaign. It is a reference point for you and your influencers throughout the project. It ensures you have the right influencer and everyone is on the same page.

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As people prefer influencer-generated content over brand content, ensuring that your influencer marketing campaign brief is well written and detailed is crucial. The more information you can provide, the better an influencer will be equipped to create content that resonates with their audience.

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Key elements of a well-written campaign brief

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1. Company background

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• Name of the company
• Address and contact details
• Brief description of the company's business, products, and/or services

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2. Goals

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• What are you trying to achieve with this campaign? (e.g., increase website traffic, increase sales)

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3. Campaign summary

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• What do you want your influencers to achieve? (e.g., get people talking about your product, get people interested in your product)

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4. Campaign details

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• How many posts will they be creating?
• What will they be posting about?
• When should they post it?
• How often should they post it?
• Who is the target audience for this content?
• What kind of language should they use in their posts?
• Who will approve the content before it is posted?

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5. Core KPIs

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• Number of impressions generated by each post
• How many clicks on each link within each post.
• Number of people repost or share each post.

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6. Content approval process

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• How do you want posts submitted to you, and how often should they be submitted?
• How do you expect influencers to engage with your content (e.g., tagging pages or other influencers)?

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7. Content rights

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• Who owns the rights for the content created under this contract, and if you will involve any exclusivity?

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8. Moodboards and content you want your influencer to create

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• Product photos
• Lifestyle photos
• Videos
• Gifs
• Hashtags
• Keywords

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9. Do's and Don'ts

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• Any do's and don'ts you want your influencer to follow when creating content for your campaign.

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10. Contact details

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• Your email address can be used to contact you regarding the campaign.

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11. Call to action

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• A call-to-action button directs people to your website to learn more.

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Why should you create an influencer campaign brief?

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Creating an influencer campaign brief is essential to your influencer marketing strategy. An influencer marketing brief is beneficial in multiple ways for any successful campaign. 

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Prevents misunderstandings

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Creating a brief will prevent misunderstandings between you and the influencer. Both of you must be on the same page about what you want to achieve with your campaign and how to measure success.

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Helps build trust

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An influencer brief can help build trust by showing your influencers that you care about their opinion and want to work collaboratively with them. It's a great way to ensure they know what you want from them.

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Helps with planning

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The influencer marketing brief will help you plan your campaign. It will give you all the information you need about how long it will take and how much it will cost, which means you don't have to worry about anything when it comes to making decisions or changes later on.

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Reduces back and forth

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The more information you can give your influencers, the less likely they'll have questions during the campaign.

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Makes it easy to define and measure campaign success

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A brief is an essential tool for measuring the success of your influencer campaign. It will give you all the information you need to measure what worked, what didn't, and why, so you can better understand how to plan future campaigns.

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The outcome of a well-defined campaign brief is to increase your chance of reaching your desired audience and achieving your goals.

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Steps to writing a campaign brief for influencers

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A step-by-step process to help you write a successful influencer marketing campaign brief.

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1. Start with your company bio

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With any influencer marketing campaign, it's essential to start by introducing yourself and your brand. This helps the influencer get a sense of who you are and why you're connecting with them in the first place.

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Start with a paragraph about your business or organization—what you do, how long you've been doing it, and why you do it. Then, provide a little more detail about what makes your company unique and what sets it apart from others in the same industry.

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Here's an example:

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"We're a small family-owned business that has been around for more than 50 years. We started out as a one-man operation, and over the years, we've grown into an international organization with offices in New York City, London, Paris, and Tokyo. Our main focus is on creating luxury watches that will stand the test of time. Our motto is 'never settle for less than the best,' and we take that seriously. Our products only use high-quality materials, which is why they're durable."

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Tips for writing your company bio

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• Make it concise. Your company bio should be between 100 and 200 words long, but don't try to squeeze in more information than that.
• Focus on how your business helps customers solve their problems.
• Keep the focus on what you do, not who you are.
• Don't try to brag about your company or your accomplishments.
• Focus on the customer, not yourself.

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2. Add campaign goal and summary

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One of the biggest challenges of influencer marketing is that it's hard to know what to ask for and how to get it. Before you start your campaign brief, you need to have a good idea about what you're looking for and why.

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Start with the goal of your campaign

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• What do you want this influencer to do?
• What do they need to do?
• Are there any specific metrics or benchmarks that will help you measure their success?
• What are the best ways for them to accomplish this goal?

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Examples of campaign goals

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• Increase brand awareness by [X]% in the next month.
• Generate [X] number of social media impressions (i.e., people seeing their post on Instagram) within two weeks of posting.
• Reach an audience of [X] women between 18 and 35 with a household income of $60K+ in the next week.

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Decide on one goal you want to accomplish and write it down in the campaign summary section of the brief. It is always possible to add more goals if this one does not work or is too difficult.

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Setting a goal will help you stay on track and measure your success at the end of the campaign. It will also help you hire influencers who are a good fit for your campaign.

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If you want the most bang for your buck, set specific and measurable goals, i.e., SMART goals. This way, when evaluating campaigns at the end of each month, you can see whether or not they accomplished what they set out to do.

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The next step is to write a campaign summary. This should be between 400-500 words, which you will use to pitch your campaign idea to potential influencers. Use this opportunity to explain why the product or service is unique, what problem it solves for consumers and how people can get involved with the campaign. This is where you'll write the basic details of your campaign. 

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Information to include in a campaign summary

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• Who is it for?
• Why are they important?
• How will this help them?

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Keep in mind that you want to keep this section short and sweet. You'll have the opportunity to share the details in the next step, but for now, keep it simple so that you can pitch your campaign idea effectively.

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3. Specify deliverables, deadline, and KPIs

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After writing your campaign goal and summary, it's time to start writing the rest of your brief. This is where you will specify your campaign's deliverables, deadline, and KPIs.

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A good way to organize this section is by writing down these three topics in separate sections:

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Deliverables

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• What do you want from your influencer?
• Do they need to create original content or promote something else on their channels?
• What kind of content do you want them to produce?
• What format will it be in (text, video, photo series)?
• How many pieces of content are you expecting from them?

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Try to define the deliverables as precisely as possible.

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For example:

• 1x blog post 500 words long
• 2x Instagram posts (at least one photo and one video)
• 1x YouTube video

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Do not be afraid to ask for more content if you feel like your influencers will be able to produce it. While they may not be able to fulfill all of your requests, they should be able to provide a ballpark figure so that you can adjust accordingly.

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Deadline

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Influencer marketing campaigns can take a few weeks to several months to complete—depending on how much time you want them to devote to the project. It is essential to set a deadline for the campaign so that your influencers have something specific to work towards. This way, you can stay on top of progress and ensure that each piece goes live at the appropriate time.

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You can ask yourself:

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• When do you need each piece of content?
• How many days should they have to complete it?
• How often should they post? How many pieces of content will you need in total?

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Remember that it's better to overestimate the number of pieces needed than to underestimate it. This way, you won't run out of content halfway through your campaign and be stuck scrambling for something new. You can also give them a deadline for each piece of content, which will help ensure they stay on track.

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KPIs

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Once you have a general timeline for your campaign, clearly mention how you will measure the goals. You should identify at least one primary KPI (key performance indicator) that will help measure the success of your campaign. This can vary depending on what type of content you're creating, but it could include things like;

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• Number of new followers acquired.
• Engagement with your influencer's posts (likes, comments, shares).
• Sales related to the campaign (i.e., sales generated from click-throughs on links shared in your content).

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Ensure that your influencer knows what they should measure to provide these metrics at the end of each campaign.

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Give campaign details (technical + creative)

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Now that you have defined deliverables, deadlines, and KPIs, add the campaign's creative and technical details to your brief.

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Creative details: The most crucial part of an influencer creative brief is to give your influencers a clear idea of what you want from them. This includes the message, tone, and style you want them to convey and how you want them to portray it.

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It's important to be specific about how you want the influencers to portray your brand, especially if you are working with multiple influencers in one campaign.

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Examples of creative details

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• What are the key takeaways of your brand?
• How do you want to portray those takeaways?
• What is the tone and style of your brand?
• Do you have any specific hashtags you want your influencers to use in their posts?
• Do you want them to include other brands in their posts (and if so, which ones)?
• Do you want them to include any visuals, such as photos or videos? What are the images that you want them to use?
• What are the demographics of your target audience, and what do they like to see in influencer content?

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While these questions are essential to consider when building your influencer campaign, you should also remember that each influencer will have different needs and wants. Some may want to include a specific brand in their posts or additional brands/products; others may not be comfortable with this idea. Hence, you should be flexible and open to different influencer suggestions.

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Give them the creative freedom to create relevant content for your brand and target audience. Provide them with the brand guidelines, but allow them the flexibility to tailor their posts according to what works best for their audience.

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After all, they know their audience better than you do, so it's important to let them use their creativity and style.

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Technical details: It's important to remember the technical details when working with influencers. You must ensure they have the equipment required for creating high-quality content.

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Examples of technical details

• How should an image or video look?
• How long should it be?
• How many words should be used in a post?
• What kind of font should be used?
• What type of equipment do they need to create it?

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These details may seem minor, but they can make all the difference between a post that looks professional and one that doesn't.

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If you're working with multiple influencers and want to create a cohesive campaign, ensure all posts share a similar look and feel. You can create a branded hashtag for your campaign or provide each influencer with branded assets, like logo graphics and photos of models in your clothing.

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Provide inspiration, examples, or mood boards

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If you have other examples for a similar campaign, such as what has worked or not worked for you in the past, it is best to include them in your brief. 

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For example, if the influencer's content theme has been strong, but their engagement is low compared to other influencers who have worked with your brand before, this would be helpful information to share. This will help the influencer understand what kind of content and style your audience likes.

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If you have a specific event, campaign, or product launch that you want to promote, then include this in your brief.

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Benefits of sharing post examples, inspiration, and mood boards with influencers

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• Creates a shared vision between you and the influencer.
• Ensures that both parties agree regarding what type of content is expected and needed.
• Helps to eliminate any guesswork around what you're looking for.
• Allows influencers to see how their work fits into the bigger picture of your brand and how they can be a part of it.
• Helps to create a more collaborative relationship between you and the influencer, as they feel more involved and valued.

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This way, you can ensure that your influencers' content is relevant and on-brand, which will help to increase engagement and conversions.

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Share content approval process

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If your company already has an established process for approving content created by outside vendors (like photographers or graphic designers), use that same process when working with influencers. This will ensure that the campaign materials are consistent with your brand and messaging. It's also a good idea for influencers to work with content approval personnel to ensure everything looks good before it goes live.

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Tips to have a strong content approval process

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• Establish a clear process with your team, and ensure it's communicated to influencers.
• Make sure you have enough time to review all the content created by the influencer.

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Having a review process that includes key team members is a good idea. If you don't have the time or resources to review all the content created by an influencer, it might be better to work with someone with more experience.

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Define payment amount, frequency, and method

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While sharing your campaign brief with influencers, it's necessary to state the payment amount, frequency, and method. You'll likely want to pay influencers on a per-post basis rather than a lump sum. This way, they get paid more for their efforts as they continue with your campaign over time. You can also offer an additional 'boost' when they reach a certain number of posts or impressions.

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No matter what you decide, it's essential that you clearly state the payment terms in your brief.

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In addition to how much you will pay an influencer, you should also specify the frequency of payments. For example, if you only want them to post once weekly or monthly, ensure this is clear in your brief.

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Specify whether you will pay influencers via PayPal or another payment method. The more specific you are, the better.

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For example, if you decide to pay influencers a fixed cost of $300/post twice a month via PayPal, you can say something like:

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"You will be paid $300/post via PayPal on the 1st and 16th of each month. Please submit your posts to us by the 10th of each month so we can review them before paying you."

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Mention do's and don'ts

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Add a section in your campaign briefs that tells influencers what they should and shouldn't say, write, or do while posting about your brand.

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This is a great way to help ensure they represent your brand in the best light possible. It also enables you to avoid backlash should your influencers slip up and say or do something that isn't in line with your brand's image.

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The key is ensuring that your influencers say good things about your brand. If you want them to say something specific, like how comfortable a pair of shoes are or how much they love the color scheme on a bag, be sure to include this in your brief!

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Add a CTA and contact person details

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After adding all the details related to your campaign, you can add a call-to-action (CTA) for the influencers. This will help them know what to do next. It will also help you understand whether the influencers got your campaign brief or not.

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CTA examples

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• "If our campaign is a good match for you, we'd love to have you on board! Please email us at [email] with the following information: personal details (name, place of residence) and links to examples of previous work.”
• "If you are interested in this campaign, please email us at [email] with your details and experience."
• "If you are interested in this campaign, please email us at [email]. We'll get back to you within a few days."

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Along with the CTA, you should also add the contact person's details and email address so the recipient can get in touch with you. If you have a website or social media page, include links to both places.

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Format and proofread it properly

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The last step is to format and proofread your email. Make sure that there are no spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, or formatting issues in the message. If you are using any abbreviations or industry-specific jargon, be sure to explain to them so that your recipients don't get confused by them. 

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You should also include some personal touches such as "thank you for reading this" and "I look forward to hearing from you soon" at the end of your message. 

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When you're done, send it to all your contacts who are likely to be interested.

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A good campaign brief can help you save time and money on your influencer marketing campaign. It not only helps you in getting the right influencers, but it also helps them to understand what they are expected to do.

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Influencer marketing campaign brief template with an example

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It’s time to bring it all together with an influencer brief template and an example that you can use to fill in your own content requirements for a creative brief.

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Influencer marketing brief template

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Follow this template as a general guideline to create the perfect influencer brief.

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Company: [Company name]

Campaign Name: [Campaign name]

Campaign Summary: [Campaign summary]

Campaign Details: [Content, budget, and target audience details]

Core KPIs: [A list of metrics you want to track in this campaign.]

Moodboard: [A sample image with color and font choices for social media posts.]

Payments: [Payment terms/delivery method/payment schedule]

Content Approval Process: [How you will approve content before sending it out to influencers.]

Content Rights: [What rights do you give to the influencers for their work?]

Do's and Don'ts: [Things you want the influencer to do and not do during the campaign.]

Contact Person Details [Name, email address, and phone number.]

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Influencer campaign brief example

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Using the above template, here is an example of an influencer marketing campaign brief.

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Company: Alore Products

Campaign Name: Awareness Campaign

Goal: Create awareness of Alore Products in the golf industry.

Target Audience: Golfers, fans of golfing lifestyle.

Campaign Summary: Alore Products is a golf-related apparel brand. We want to create awareness of our brand with the golfing community by collaborating with influencers through social media and content creation.

Campaign Details: You will create original content featuring Alore Products. You could add these posts, videos, or photos to your blog or social media channels.

Core KPIs: Our goal is to gain a minimum of 1,000 followers on social media platforms. We will track this by measuring the growth of our Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook followers over time. We also plan to measure brand awareness by tracking the number of people who know about Alore Products after this campaign.

Payments: We will pay a flat fee of $50 for each post and video you create. We will give you the products before you post and make content for us. We will pay within 30 days after the campaign ends.

Content Approval Process: We will review the content before you post it and send a checklist for you to review. We will also approve your copy of the posts and videos. We will let you know if edits need to be made before you post or create content.

Content Rights: We will own all rights to the content created for our campaign. If you post on your social networks, you can use our brand name and tag us in the post.

Do's and Don'ts:

Do's

• Use a branded hashtag that relates to our product.
• Post on Instagram and Facebook.
• Tell people how they can get their hands on our products.
• Create an original video or photo for your content.

Don'ts

• Do not post more than once per day.
• Do not mention other brands in your content (unless you have permission from them).
• Do not use any profanity or inappropriate language.

Contact Person Details: In case of any questions or concerns, please contact me at the following email address:

John@Alore.co

Phone Number: (555) 555-5555

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Conclusion on creating influencer briefs

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Creating an effective influencer brief is a crucial step in the influencer marketing campaign process. It will help you clarify your campaign objective, who you want to reach, and how much it will cost.

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It will also help you save time and money by ensuring the influencers you hire will deliver content per your expectations.

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