Real-world influencer marketing campaign types (with examples)
Understanding the various campaign types will give you a head start on determining the most effective way to work with influencers. Here are some of the most common types of influencer campaigns, how they can help your brand achieve its goals, and examples of successful campaigns.
1. Product gifting campaigns
If your brand produces and sells items, a product gifting campaign can be an excellent strategy. For these campaigns, your brand will send free products to select influencers whose niche aligns with your target audience. In return for the free gifts, creators review and promote your product on their channels.
Product gifting campaigns are ideal for brands seeking to showcase new product launches or increase brand awareness. Sending out free products often costs less than other strategies and can result in authentic content from a multitude of creators.
When shifting sales from brick-and-mortar to online stores, luxury skincare brand COSMEDIX used Influence to help get the word out. identified and recruited the right mix of micro-influencers, advocates, and customers to receive and make content about COSMEDIX products. In the end, COSMEDIX achieved a 527% ROI without paying the creators for the content about their skincare products.
Sponsored content campaigns are paid collaborations between a brand and an influencer. These campaigns can work differently depending on the platform the influencers use.
For example, a YouTube channel with long-form videos about emerging technology might include a 30-second promotion for a new VPN in the middle of their video. Creators on platforms such as TikTok or Instagram may create a short-form video where the influencer encounters an issue and resolves it by installing a VPN.
Sponsored content campaigns are the most scalable type because your company can work with only one or hundreds of influencers to promote your offerings. When you use analytics tools or an ROI calculator, it’s easy to determine what is working and what isn’t. Then you can take the sponsored content that works and expand the campaign.
Home decor retailer and ceramics manufacturer MacKenzie-Childs decided to leverage to make a sponsored content campaign. helped the company execute an allow-listing strategy, where influencers created authentic content about products and MacKenzie-Childs boosted these posts. The company also paid the creators to complete the tasks.
3. Ambassador programs
When your company hits it off with an influencer, you may consider forming a long-term working relationship with them. Ambassador programs are partnerships where the creators repeatedly promote a specific brand over time, as opposed to a one-off sponsored post or ad.
When collaborating over a sustained period, the creator introduces their product or service to their audience and builds trust by continuously promoting it. This familiarity and trust can turn into conversions, repeat buys, and loyal customers.
When done right, an ambassador program can have a high lifetime value. However, because it involves a long-term partnership, finding the right creator is crucial. Using a management platform can help significantly by streamlining communications, workflows, and content.
Clif Bar & Co., a company that makes energy bars, used Influence to transform disorganized influencer campaigns into an efficient ambassador program. With ‘s all-in-one platform, Clif Bar streamlined its communications and campaign management, resulting in a savings of 2,591 hours and $265,000.
4. Unboxing & review campaigns
Unboxing and review campaigns are popular strategies to get authentic first impressions of products online. Brands send out new items to specific influencers who then craft content around the product.
For example, an influencer may receive a new model of headphones that aren’t yet on the market. They’ll inspect every aspect from the packaging to the look and feel to the audio quality of the product.
Such campaigns are well-suited for video-based platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. Both long- and short-form unboxing and review videos can effectively build trust and educate the audience about a new product.
One example of a review campaign is from the company Premier Protein, a nutrition brand. With , the company was able to identify a diverse group of influencers that aligned with their target audience. These influencers reviewed the products, leading to a total audience reach of 23.2 million people.
5. Affiliate & promo code campaigns
Affiliate and promo code campaigns let creators earn commissions for every conversion they generate. Brands provide a unique trackable code or link that creators can promote.
With discount codes, the customer will receive a percentage off when buying an item by entering the code a specific influencer shared. Another option is an Urchin Tracking Module (UTM) link. These are URLs that allow marketers to track the traffic source and performance. Both of these methods allow the company to pay commissions to the influencer, encouraging them to promote.
A popular fashion retailer paired a promo code campaign with their ambassador program with ‘s help. Through unique promo codes and ‘s analytics platform, the company was able to track macro- and micro-influencers and compensate everyone accurately.
6. Event or experience campaigns
When brands hold big events, they can invite influencers to attend and share their experiences with their audience. Whether virtual or in-person, such events can generate a lot of positive press.
For example, a tour company might invite several travel influencers to take a free tour. Instead of paying for sponsorships, the creators will post authentic content showing what it’s like to travel through that company. These campaigns can work together with other strategies like gifting, sponsored content, and live posting to maximize exposure.
Chobani, a food company, took a creative and modern approach to an experience campaign. The company used Roblox to create a custom game anyone could play and partnered with Twitch influencers to promote it. Because Chobani had limited experience with Twitch, they turned to for insights and end-to-end campaign management.
7. Contest & giveaway campaigns
Everyone likes free stuff, so promoting your products or services through contests and giveaways can be a superb way to get attention. For these campaigns, brands work with creators to get audiences to participate in brand-sponsored contests. These usually involve taking an easy online action, such as tagging, following, or commenting, for a chance at a reward. Contest and giveaway campaigns are easy to launch and can quickly ramp up engagement.
helped a baby brand with a giveaway-like campaign. The campaign focused on selecting participants from the brand’s customer base, having them make content about the brand, then rewarding them with points and cash back.
8. Co-creation campaigns
Co-creation campaigns are collaborations where brands and influencers work together to put a spin on a product or service that directly appeals to the creator’s audience. This can involve creating a new product, which can be demanding but may have a high return on investment. A campaign could also be based around making a collaborative content series.
Done well, co-creation campaigns can generate high conversion rates. For example, a sandwich chain could partner with a well-known food vlogger to create a limited-time sandwich inspired by the influencer. The influencer could promote this new sandwich on their channel, and the audience would head to the stores to try it. This campaign would help drive profits and increase awareness about the sandwich chain in general.
For example, popular restaurant chain named Habit Burger took advantage of Influence to run a campaign actively involving its creators. The influencers traveled with the Habit Burger food truck, interacted with fans, and participated in VIP events while making content that promoted the burger brand.
