Influencer marketing borrows trust. Here's how to keep some of it
Paying, gifting or partnering with people whose followers trust them. The trust is real and it's rented: it lasts as long as the post, unless you give it somewhere to land.
- 062Influencer Marketing
- A strategy that involves collaborating with influential people to promote products or services to their followers, leveraging their trust and reach.
- Usual forms
- Gifted product, paid posts, affiliate codes, and creators' posts run as ads
- UK rule
- A post you paid for, in money or in product, has to be clearly labelled as an ad
- Tracked by
- A tagged link per creator, with a code as the backup
- Email's job
- Turning a creator's audience into people on your own list
What influencer marketing looks like for an online shop
It's less glamorous than the word suggests. You send product to creators and hope. You pay a few of them to post. You give some an affiliate code and a commission. And the posts that land get run as ads from the creator's own account.
Every version buys the same thing: a stranger hearing about you from somebody they already trust. That trust belongs to the creator. You're borrowing it for a few days.
Labelling influencer posts under the UK rules
Gifted product counts. The ASA and CMA guide for influencers treats any incentive as payment, free product included. And it holds the brand and the creator both responsible for making it clear the post is an ad.
- A plain label up front, such as ad or advert
- Not gifted, sponsored, collab or in partnership with on their own
- Not buried in a pile of hashtags, or hidden where people have to tap more to see it
Put it in the brief and the agreement, because your brand's on the hook too. This is a summary of the guidance, not legal advice.
Giving a creator's audience somewhere to land
A follower who clicks through arrives warm and a bit wary. They trust the creator, not you. It's the same borrowed trust as a press mention, and it fades just as fast unless you catch it.
- A landing page or pop-up that names the creator and the product they showed
- A reason to sign up that isn't the code they already have
- A property on the Klaviyo profile recording which creator sent them
- A first email that picks up the creator's angle, not your brand story
Watch the codes. They have a habit of ending up on voucher sites, and then every sale through them looks like the creator's work. Track by link first and treat the code as the backup.
Turning an influencer spike into repeat customers
The post brings a spike. Whether any of it lasts comes down to what happens next. That's a welcome flow written for that audience, a post-purchase sequence that shows them how to use the product, and a reason to come back that isn't another code.
Ask happy customers for photos and reviews while you're at it. Same trust, and you don't have to rent it.
Related terms
FAQs
Do gifted influencer posts need an ad label?
In most cases, yes. The ASA and CMA guide treats any incentive as payment, free product included, and expects the content to make clear it's advertising. The guide advises against gifted on its own as a label. Put the rule in the brief, check the posts when they go up, and take proper advice if you're unsure.
How do you track sales from an influencer?
Give each creator their own link with UTM tags, and write the source onto the Klaviyo profile when someone signs up. Use a code as well, but don't rely on it, because codes get shared and turn up on voucher sites. Then judge each creator on what their customers do over months, not on launch weekend.
Is influencer marketing worth it for a small brand?
It can be, with modest expectations and a plan for the traffic. Gifting is cheap but unpredictable, and a paid post is a spike that fades. If nothing on your site catches that spike, you've paid for a day of attention. Build the landing page and the first email before the post goes up.
Rather we explained it on your own account?
Bring your Klaviyo account to a growth consultation. We'll walk through what this means for your numbers, in plain English, and what we'd fix first.
Half an hour with Theo, our founder.
We're all about relationships built on trust, mutual respect and a shared vision for success. If that sounds like your vibe, let's make some waves together 🌊
