The Anatomy of a Brief

Composing a clear, objectives-driven brief is one of the most crucial steps in achieving influencer marketing success. Influencers are looking to impress brands so they can work with them again in the future and want to deliver the content of your dreams, for the most part.

Things can often go south when there is a misunderstanding between the content that the marketer has envisioned and the content the creator has delivered. Typically this is because the creator simply didn’t fully understand exactly what the market wanted, not due to a lack of effort. From there things can often get more complicated as the creator then has to go back to step one and re-do the entire piece which doubles the amount of effort they have put into this collaboration in the first place.

How can we avoid this happening? Delivering a good brief.

Step 1: Set out the objectives

What are you trying to achieve with this campaign? Are you looking to drive sales from new customers? Galvanise your existing client base into action for a new product launch? Build awareness?

With a clear objective, you can figure out exactly which metrics to track, which consumers to target, the format and platform of the content and what your ideal influencer for this campaign will look like.

Step 2: Tell a story

You can be very prescriptive with your brief and ask for specific content pieces. Still, we also think it’s really important to tell your influencers a story about what you are trying to achieve, the background story behind your company and why you are bringing this product or service to market. Who it will benefit and why they need it. This is because your influencers have built up a following around their unique styles and they know their followers best. If you want their followers to engage with your brand through them, trust them to come up with the best way to do that.

Step 3: Include images

It’s difficult to put into words exactly which camera angles you prefer, the sort of vibe that a background should have or the general aesthetic you are aiming for so, stop trying to!

Try using a mood board and include screenshots of content that looks like the type of content you would like to see created for this campaign. You can use previous influencer content that has been created for your brand, any content you can find on the internet or even create a mock piece of content yourself that features all the details you’d like your influencers to include in their content.

Step 4: The non-negotiables

If you do decide to give more creative license to your influencers, it will be important to make sure they agree, in advance, to certain non-negotiables. At Sway Me Good, we call these the ‘Do’s & Don’ts’. When our clients list jobs on our platform, they lay out their red lines through bulleted ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ that outline exactly what must and mustn’t be included in the content. This enables you to stay on the right side of your brand guidelines, Advertising Standards compliance and have recourse to go back to the influencer and ask for revisions and edits, especially if you have included these in the contract as well.

Step 5: Hashtags & Posting Guidelines

Finally, clarify exactly which hashtags you’d like to see included such as #ad for compliance reasons, #yourbrandname for tracking purposes and any others you think are important.

Specify exactly how you would like the content posted in the brief. Do you want it to be a collaborative post on Instagram with your brand or just a normal post that tags your brand?

All of these things are super important in running a successful influencer marketing campaign as a specific and detailed brief delivers the content you envision and can feel proud of! As always, for a smooth influencer marketing campaign, check out Sway Me Good, the platform for influencer discovery, management and data.