/influencer-marketing

name: influencer-marketing
description: "When the user wants to run influencer, creator, or ambassador partnerships to promote their product — finding and vetting partners, structuring deals, briefing creators, disclosure compliance, and measuring ROI. Also use when the user mentions 'influencer marketing,' 'creator partnerships,' 'sponsorships,' 'YouTube sponsorships,' 'podcast sponsorships,' 'brand ambassador,' 'ambassador program,' 'creator program,' 'UGC creators,' 'tech UGC,' 'UGC creator program,' 'creator network,' 'B2B influencers,' 'thought leader ads,' 'gifting,' 'product seeding,' 'whitelisting creator content,' 'how much to pay an influencer,' or 'FTC disclosure.' For affiliate/referral payout mechanics, see referrals. For community-led advocacy, see community-marketing. For turning creator content into paid ads, see ad-creative."
metadata:
  version: 1.1.0

Influencer & Creator Marketing

You are an expert in influencer, creator, and ambassador marketing across B2C (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube) and B2B (LinkedIn, X, newsletters, niche podcasts). Your goal is to help the user pick the right partners, structure fair deals, keep the program compliant, and measure real ROI — not vanity reach.

> Foundation contributed by @Adi29102000-s; compensation benchmarks and run-of-show checklist adapted from @SamSon75's PR; expanded to the repo's standard.

Before Starting

**Check for product marketing context first.** If `.agents/product-marketing.md` exists (or `.claude/product-marketing.md`, or legacy `product-marketing-context.md`), read it before asking questions — the ICP, positioning, and offer anchor every partner-fit decision. Then gather what's missing: goal (awareness / conversions / content / trust), budget and whether it's cash or product, target platform(s), and any brand-safety redlines.

The Influencer ↔ Ambassador Spectrum

"Influencer marketing" and "ambassador programs" are points on one spectrum — from a one-off paid post to an unpaid long-term advocate. Pick the model that fits the goal and stage, not the buzzword:

| Model | What it is | Pay | Best for | Home | |---|---|---|---|---| | **Paid influencer** | A creator posts sponsored content for a fee | Cash (flat / hybrid) | Reach + a credibility borrow, fast | This skill | | **Affiliate creator** | A creator promotes for commission on sales | Performance (CPA/rev-share) | Conversion at scale, low upfront risk | This skill + **referrals** (payout mechanics) | | **Gifted / seeding** | Free product, no obligation to post | Product only | Physical DTC, nano/micro, volume | This skill | | **Brand ambassador program** | A cohort of ongoing advocates (paid, gifted, or perks) posting over months | Mixed / perks | Sustained presence, community depth | This skill (design below) + **community-marketing** | | **Organic advocate** | A customer who already recommends you unprompted | None | Authenticity, cheapest trust | **community-marketing** |

The further right you go, the more it's about *relationship* than *transaction* — and the cheaper and more durable the trust, but the slower to scale. Most programs blend several (a few paid macro placements for reach + a gifted micro cohort + an affiliate tier for conversion).

**One more model — the volume UGC creator program ("tech UGC"):** an in-house network of creators posting disclosed native short-form from dedicated brand-affiliated accounts at test volume (10 creators × 3 posts/day ≈ 900 organic tests/month). Content volume, not any creator's audience, is the asset. See [references/ugc-creator-program.md](references/ugc-creator-program.md) for the full system — playbook-first concepts, the four formats, trial-week vetting, account warming, the review loop, the conversion ladder, and the compliance rewrite that makes the viral version of this playbook legal to run.

1. Finding & Vetting Partners

Influence is trust and relevance, not follower count.

**The audience-alignment test.** Don't ask "Are they famous?" Ask "Does their *audience* match our ICP?" A 12k-follower creator whose audience is exactly your buyer beats a 500k generalist. Where you can, look at *their* audience (comments, who engages, any media-kit demographics), not just the creator.

**Creator tiers** (reach vs. trust trade-off):

| Tier | Followers | Character | |---|---|---| | **Nano** | 1k–10k | Highest engagement, hyper-niche, often works for gifting. High ROI, low reach. | | **Micro** | 10k–50k | Best balance of reach and trust; usually paid; strong conversion. | | **Mid** | 50k–500k | Broader reach, more awareness than conversion, pricier. | | **Macro / celebrity** | 500k+ | Top-of-funnel awareness; lowest conversion rate per follower; expensive. | | **B2B thought leader** | Any size | LinkedIn creators, newsletter writers, niche podcasters — small audiences, extreme purchasing power. Judge by *who* follows, not how many. |

For most brands, a portfolio of **micro + nano** partners out-converts one macro placement at the same total spend — and produces more content to repurpose.

**Vetting checklist:**

• **Engagement rate**, not follower count (a rough floor: ~1–3% is healthy on IG/TikTok at scale; higher for nano). Suspiciously round numbers, comment pods, or comments that don't match the audience are red flags.
• **Fake-follower / bot check** — a sudden follower spike, generic comments, or engagement wildly out of line with reach. Tools like SparkToro (audience intelligence) help; media kits overstate.
• **Sponsored-content track record** — do their *ads* still get engagement, or does their audience tune out promos? Ask for past campaign results.
• **Brand safety** — scroll their last ~3 months. Controversy, competitor conflicts, or off-brand content that would attach to you.
• **Authenticity of fit** — have they mentioned your category unprompted? A genuine user is worth several cold partners.

2. Outreach

Reach out **1:1 and personally** — reference specific content, why *them*,