These are general guidelines, and some exceptions can be made. For instance, the criminal activity could have been many years in the past and the influencer has shared their journey publicly about overcoming personal challenges. Everything should be viewed in the context of your brand and audience.

Write a thorough brief

We want influencers’ creativity and personal storytelling to shine through while ultimately helping to tell the brand or product narrative. This is where writing a brief for influencer partnerships becomes a fine science. The brief should include the key messages you want to be conveyed through the content. These messages could also be validated during the market research you conducted to better understand your customers’ core values.

The most important aspect of brief writing is designing a flexible messaging framework that includes deliverable mandatories. These mandatories can include things like content format, deadlines, language do’s and don’ts, tagging, calls to action and brand or product inclusion. By providing the messaging framework that enables creative freedom and the specific brand mandatories that instill confidence, both parties will feel empowered and safe.

As with any marketing channel that experiences continuous growth and market maturity, we need to evolve our planning approaches. This is even more critical when our marketing activities have the potential to create a healthier online dialogue and make both partners and consumers feel seen, heard and appreciated.