At first glance, influencer marketing seems straightforward—find influencers, pay them, and wait for sales to roll in. 

But in reality, many brands struggle to see real returns. Picking the wrong influencers, running poorly structured campaigns, or failing to measure success can lead to wasted budgets and a low return on investments.

But, with the right approach, brands can use influencer marketing effectively—collect authentic user-generated content, increase engagement, and turn it into a sales channel. 

This article covers proven strategies to improve your influencer marketing and a step-by-step guide to launching a successful campaign.

What is influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing allows businesses to partner with individuals who have an engaged audience and strong influence in a specific niche. These partnerships range from micro-influencers to celebrities, with the goal of promoting your products to a new and relevant audience.

Take Tabs Chocolate, for example. The brand sells products that are restricted from running traditional paid ads. Instead, the brand relied on influencer marketing to explain how their product works and increase reach. By collaborating with creators across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, they increased brand awareness and drove traffic to their store.

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Importance of influencer marketing for ecommerce businesses

93% of people actively use social media, making it a powerful channel for brands. As social media channels have evolved, content creators and influencers have emerged as credible authorities in their areas of expertise. 

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84% of marketers who have invested in influencer marketing efforts have found it to be highly effective.

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Here are 4 benefits that influencer partnerships deliver for ecommerce businesses:

Social proof

People rely on recommendations from those they follow and trust over traditional ads. These recommendations serve as social proof, showing that creators that people follow commonly use your brand. In fact, social proof influences 90% of buyers comparing products.

Partnering with influencers helps you build trust in your products, making potential customers more likely to consider purchasing. 

Increased brand awareness and visibility

Traditional advertising methods don’t always reach specific new audience segments as effectively.  

Influencer content, on the other hand, creates a lasting impression, significantly increasing brand awareness. When working with influencers whose following aligns with your target audience, your brand gets visibility among audiences who wouldn’t have otherwise known about you. 

Better performing content

Content created by influencers consistently outperforms brand-created content. There are many reasons why:

• Social media influencers create different types of content (videos, Instagram stories, carousels, live streams) that are personality-driven. 
• Due to their relatability and authenticity, influencers have an audience that engages with their content actively. 
• Social media platforms prioritize user-generated content over brand content, giving influencer posts more visibility.

This is why many brands also use influencer marketing to generate quality, user-generated content about their products that they can repurpose for different purposes, like on social media, within ads, or even on their website.

Driving traffic and revenue growth

Influencers don’t just boost visibility, they influence purchasing decisions too. 

With better trust, authentic content, and a strong personal brand, influencers effectively drive highly qualified traffic to your brand through product mentions within their daily content, brand endorsements, or promo codes. 

Since their audience is already interested in your products, they are highly likely to click through to learn more and even place an order. Leveraging the community that an influencer has built allows you to drive in revenue and acquire new customers easily, improving your bottom line.

Effective influencer marketing strategies for ecommerce brands

Influencer marketing can drive real sales when done right. Here are five strategies that work best for ecommerce brands, along with actionable steps to implement them.

1. Turn influencers into affiliates to drive sales

Affiliate marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to partner with influencers because you only pay for actual sales. Instead of paying influencers upfront, give them a unique affiliate link or discount code where they earn a commission on every sale they bring in.

How to set it up:

• Offer a commission that incentivizes creators (e.g., 10-20% per sale).
• Give influencers a personalized discount code for their audience to encourage conversions.
• Provide real-time tracking so influencers can see their earnings and stay motivated.
• Feature affiliate content on your social media or website to encourage more participation.
• Provide unique tracking links to see how many sales each influencer partnership generates and to avoid coupon misuse or fraud.

2. Whitelist influencer content for paid ad creatives

Whitelisting allows you to run paid ads using an influencer’s social media profile and content instead of your brand’s page. This makes the ad seem like an organic post from the influencer, which gives your products more credibility and drives better ad performance.

How to set it up:

• Get advertising permissions from influencers through Facebook Business Manager or TikTok Creator Marketplace.
• Select top-performing influencer posts about your brand that already have high engagement and repurpose them into ads.
• Run A/B tests on different ad creatives and copy to find what works best.
• Use lookalike audiences to target people similar to those who have already bought from you for better results.

A great example of influencer whitelisting is the partnership between HelloFresh and Mindy Kaling. Mindy shared an Instagram post about her experience cooking with HelloFresh, which received high engagement.

To capitalize on this, HelloFresh could whitelist Mindy’s Instagram post, allowing them to turn it into a sponsored post and increasing its reach beyond her followers. 

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3. Gamification and exclusive rewards for influencer engagement

Keeping influencers engaged is just as important as recruiting them. A gamified influencer program encourages continued participation from your creators, making them excited to be involved and building a deeper relationship with them.

How to set it up:

• Create tiers based on performance milestones (e.g., Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum).
• Offer higher commissions, free products, or exclusive perks as influencers move up the tiers.
• Send real-time performance updates via email or a dashboard so influencers can track their progress.
• Host monthly challenges (e.g., "First influencer to make 10 sales wins a $500 bonus").
• Feature top influencers within your brand’s newsletters to show appreciation.

For example, The Pod Company, an ice bath brand, runs a gamified content program where affiliates create and submit videos. Every month, affiliates showcase the Ice Pod in their content and submit it. The top three submissions win $100 each, deposited directly into their affiliate accounts.

4. Influencer-led product drops

Exclusive product drops create urgency and excitement. Partnering with an influencer to launch a product can lead to instant sales and brand awareness.

How to set it up:

• Select an influencer who aligns with your niche and has an engaged audience.
• Co-create a product or limited-edition collection with the influencer’s name attached.
• Offer early access or exclusive discounts to the influencer’s followers.
• Promote the drop across email, social networks, and influencer content.
• Use countdown timers and waitlists to build anticipation before launch.

For example, Wild, a natural deodorant brand, partnered with influencers of different audience sizes on Instagram and TikTok to introduce its new product, a Chamomile Tea & French Lavender scent.

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5. Leverage TikTok and Instagram challenges for brand awareness

Social media challenges drive massive engagement and access to fresh user-generated content (UGC), making them one of the most effective digital marketing strategies.

How to set it up:

• Partner with influencers to create a branded challenge that’s easy to participate in.
• Use a unique hashtag to track participation and build brand awareness.
• Encourage participants to tag your brand and nominate friends to join.
• Offer incentives like giveaways, free products, or discounts for the best entries.
• Repurpose the best UGC for your social media platforms, ads, and website.

For example, Crocs partnered with Post Malone to launch the #ThousandDollarCrocs challenge, inspired by his song lyrics. Fans were encouraged to showcase their dream $1,000-worth Crocs by creatively customizing them. The campaign boosted the brand’s TikTok followers by 18% in just 24 hours, proving the effectiveness of influencer-led social challenges.

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How to set your influencer marketing strategy

While influencer marketing can help your ecommerce business in reach, awareness, and sales, you need to plan it right to achieve these results. Follow these six steps to create a campaign that drives measurable impact.

Step 1: Set your budgets (Gifting & commission)

Your budget depends on your goals and campaign timeline. 

Are you launching a product, running a holiday promotion, or focusing on long-term brand awareness? How long do you plan to run your influencer campaign? 

Consider these key costs when planning your influencer marketing pricing plan:

• Product seeding: Sending free products to influencers is a standard practice. Include product and shipping costs in your budget.
• Customer rewards: If you’re offering discounts or free products for purchases made through influencer referrals, factor this into your costs.
• Influencer fees: Compensation varies based on follower count, engagement rates, and campaign type. Some mega-influencers charge a flat fee plus commission, while micro-influencers may accept performance-based payments (commission only).

For example, DadGang runs an affiliate program where influencers earn 10% commission on every purchase made through their referral links—an effective way to incentivize creators while keeping costs in control.

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Step 2: Identify your ideal influencers

To maximize your social media marketing success, focus on creators who align with your brand, audience, and campaign goals. Start with thorough research to understand your target audience’s interests, behaviors, and preferred platforms.

Then, decide on the type of influencer you want to partner with. Influencers vary by reach and cost. Here’s a breakdown of the different types of influencers:

• Celebrities (1M+ followers): Offer massive exposure but come with high costs and lower engagement rates.
• Macro-Influencers (100K–1M followers): Have broad appeal and more reasonable rates.
• Micro-Influencers (10K–100K followers): Provide high engagement and niche audience trust, making them cost-effective.
• Nano-Influencers (Under 10K followers): Have small but loyal audiences with strong influence and high conversion rates.

Micro and nano-influencers often drive the highest conversion rates due to their authentic relationships with their followers.

Once you’ve decided on the type of influencer, it’s time to finally select them. When doing this, ask yourself:

• Do they fit your niche? Choose influencers relevant to your industry—fashion, beauty, food, fitness, etc.—to check for audience alignment.
• What is their engagement rate? High engagement indicates an active and loyal audience. Low engagement with a large following may signal fake followers or low impact.
• Have they worked with similar brands? Check their portfolio, past partnerships, and audience interests to see if their content aligns with your brand values and style.

Finding influencers

To simplify influencer discovery, use tools like Icebreaker, an AI-powered Creator Search tool that helps find niche influencers. 

It lets you filter and find influencers based on specific demographics, industry, and account size, allowing you to find the right influencers for your brand easily.

Step 3: Influencer outreach

Once you’ve identified the right people, it’s time to initiate outreach and build influencer relationships. Your outreach strategy will depend on the type of influencer you choose.

For example, for celebrities and macro-influencers, you’ll likely need to connect with management agencies to discuss collaboration terms. Whereas, for micro-influencers, you can reach out directly—most share their contact details online.

Here’s what an example email would look like:

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Some best practices when reaching out to influencers are: 

• Keep your pitch short and clear. 
• Offer a free gift. If they like it, encourage them to share their experience with their audience.
• Personalize your message, letting the creator know why you want to partner with them.
• Be clear about your compensation to show that you value them.
• Be transparent about what you expect from them through the partnership.
• Follow up politely if you don’t receive a response. 

⛄️: Check out our step-by-step influencer outreach playbook for extensive steps and tactics to effectively set up partnerships.

Once you’ve found and converted influencers into partners, use an influencer marketing tool such as Social Snowball to manage them:

• Set up tracking links to identify sales generated.
• Set rewards and commissions for fair compensation.
• Enable product seeding without any logistical hassle.
• Payout influencers in bulk.
• Monitor the performance of your influencer marketing campaign.

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Build an influencer strategy that drives results

Influencer marketing is a great way to acquire new customers. Once you set your foundation, running campaigns that align with your brand’s goals becomes second nature. With the right creators and engagement tactics, you can scale your efforts with a lean budget and with more predictability. 

Social Snowball simplifies influencer management by giving you full control over attribution, bulk payments, and fraud prevention—all in one platform. 

Frequently asked questions

How do I measure the success of an influencer marketing campaign?

To measure the success of an influencer marketing campaign, track metrics like engagement rate, reach, impressions, click-through rate (CTR), conversions, brand mentions, and follower growth. Additionally, align these key performance indicators (KPIs) with your campaign goals and analyze both quantitative (sales, website traffic) and qualitative (brand sentiment, audience interaction) data. This lets you pinpoint what’s working and what isn’t so that you can optimize your strategy.

Use tools built for affiliate management like Social Snowball for an extensive analytics dashboard that lets you monitor your performance easily.

How long should an influencer campaign run?

A typical influencer campaign should run for about one month, with most brands opting for two to six weeks. However, the duration depends on factors like campaign goals, influencer type, and content format. Long-term influencer collaborations often yield better brand trust and sustained engagement.

What’s the best way to compensate influencers?

The best way to compensate influencers depends on their reach and engagement. A common approach is a performance-based model, where influencers earn a commission on sales through unique affiliate links. Many brands also offer a flat fee for content creation, making sure influencers are fairly compensated while maintaining cost efficiency.