6 Top Types of Influencer Marketing Campaigns (With Examples)

If you use social media, I’d put money on the idea that you’ve seen influencer marketing in action at some point, in some form.

The main influencer marketing examples that come to mind involve the classic (and occasionally cheesy) Instagram photo of an influencer posing with the promoted product.

But don’t let that fool you – the playing field is diverse and impressively creative.

Which is part of what makes influencer marketing campaigns so fun. Brands and influencers can work together to come up with fresh ideas that keep their audiences engaged and excited to give those brands a try.

No matter which types of influencer marketing campaigns you settle on, keep in mind that your compensation agreement can follow different models. For example, you can give the influencer your product or service for free, pay them a flat rate for each post, or create a model that pays (or otherwise rewards) them for meeting certain goals

If you go the affiliate marketing route, you can pay the influencer commission as a percentage of the sales they bring in.

In this article, I’ll be focusing on the common types of influencer marketing campaigns in terms of their content. We’ll also look at some real-life examples from brands that do it right.

I’ll cover six types of influencer marketing campaigns:

1. Sponsored content
2. Reviews
3. Competitions and giveaways
4. Product and content collaborations
5. Long-term ambassadors
6. ‘Takeovers’ on your platforms

1. Sponsored Content.

Let’s start with the basics. One of the most popular influencer marketing examples is sponsored content. This type of influencer marketing campaign falls more in line with the simple, ‘classic’ description I mentioned earlier. It typically plays out with brands reaching out to influencers to ask if they’re willing to promote one of their products or services – or vice versa… some influencers do outreach too!

Depending on the influencer’s channel(s) you’ve agreed on, the final product is usually a photo, video, or blog post featuring your offering.

These campaigns usually start with the brand sending the influencer a campaign brief that outlines certain guidelines, instructions, and requirements.

But it’s important to remember that you must give your influencers some creative freedom.

It’s their audience, after all – they know the best ways to engage them. And their followers will definitely smell something fishy if a post is out of line with the influencer’s personality, style, and voice.

Here’s a classy Instagram influencer marketing example from Carl Thompson, founder of men’s clothing brand Hawkins and Shepherd.

And a video example from Calvin Young, a Deaf traveller who entertains and inspires through his blog Seek the World. He partnered with travel and ticket booking company Busbud to promote its services on Facebook.

2. Reviews.

One of the most common influencer marketing examples of reviews involves a brand offering their product or service to the influencer for free, and the influencer posting a review in exchange.

If you’ve seen any ‘unboxing’ videos, this may have been the driving force. The premise of these videos is that the influencer has never seen or used the product before, and they’re unboxing and testing it out for the first time on camera.

(Keep in mind, though, that some web personalities have built their name on reviewing products, like tech products. In these cases, they may be getting these items through other ways than an influencer marketing partnership.)

In his YouTube video, Jacques Slade unboxes and reviews a media kit sent to him by Jordan Brand.