Influencer Campaigns: Plan, Launch and Measure a Full Campaign
An influencer campaign is a coordinated set of creator collaborations aimed at one objective inside one window. The difference between a campaign and a pile of posts is that a campaign has a thesis, a timeline, and a way of being judged. This is how to build one that holds together.
Start from the objective, because it changes everything downstream
Awareness campaigns want reach and repetition, so they favour more creators, shorter formats, and a concentrated window. Conversion campaigns want intent and trust, so they favour fewer creators in tighter niches, longer formats, and tracked offers. Content campaigns want usable assets, so reach barely matters and rights matter enormously.
Choosing one objective is the discipline. Campaigns that claim all three end up with a creator mix optimised for none of them, and a report at the end that cannot say whether it worked.
Building the creator mix
- A small number of larger accounts for visibility, if the objective genuinely needs reach.
- A wider base of niche creators who carry the conversion weight and cost far less per result.
- At least a couple of creators you have worked with before, so the campaign has known quantities in it.
- Platform spread that matches where the product is actually bought, rather than where the team likes to scroll.
- A reserve of budget, roughly a tenth, for the creator who over-performs and should be reordered immediately.
A workable campaign timeline
- Week one: fix the objective, the offer, the tracking setup, and the budget split.
- Week two: shortlist and outreach. Expect to contact more creators than you need, because acceptance is never universal.
- Week three: agree scopes and fund the collaborations so production can start against committed budgets.
- Weeks four and five: production, drafts, and one round of revisions.
- Week six: publishing window, concentrated rather than spread thin, so the repetition is felt.
- Weeks seven and eight: measure, debrief, and reorder from the winners while the content is still fresh.
Tracking that survives scrutiny
Give every creator a unique code and a unique link. Codes catch the people who watched, remembered, and came back later. Links catch the immediate clickers. Using only one of the two systematically undercounts the campaign, usually by enough to make a working campaign look like a failure.
Then agree the measurement window before launch, not after the numbers arrive. A thirty day view of a considered purchase is honest. A three day view is a way of proving whatever you already believed.
The post-campaign step almost everyone skips
- Rank creators by cost per tracked result, not by follower count or by how much you liked the content.
- Keep every asset you have the rights to reuse, and put the best into paid rotation.
- Tell each creator how their content performed. It costs nothing and makes the next booking easier.
- Rebook the top performers within two weeks, while their audience still remembers the product.
- Write down what the brief got wrong, since the next campaign inherits that brief.
Frequently asked questions
How many creators should an influencer campaign include?
Enough that the result is readable at a cohort level. A handful of creators produces anecdotes; a larger cohort produces a pattern you can act on and reorder from.
How long should a campaign run?
Around six to eight weeks from planning to debrief, with a concentrated publishing window. Spreading posts thinly over months loses the repetition effect that makes campaigns work.
How do I split the budget between big and small creators?
Let the objective decide. Awareness justifies spending on reach; conversion usually rewards a wider base of niche creators, with a reserve held back to reorder from whoever over-performs.
What should I measure?
Cost per tracked result as the primary number, with content output and comment quality as secondary. Agree the attribution window before launch.
What happens after the campaign?
Rank creators by cost per result, reuse the assets you have rights to, share performance back with creators, and rebook the winners quickly.
Fund the first collaboration today
Agree the scope, fund it at checkout, and the creator is paid when you approve the work. No agency fee, no retainer, no minimum spend.