Influencers are not always marketing professionals, but rather experts in their own channels, and conversely, brands do not always understand the specific rules of influencer marketing. Every influencer and their audience are different. That's why a brief that supports and guides longer-term collaboration or shorter campaign creation is one of the most important tools, especially for the influencer, but also for the party planning implementation and the brand.
We also asked for comments on the criteria for a good brief from influencer veteran Mikael Sundberg, who produces content for YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok.
When starting out, i.e., when structuring the background and objectives of cooperation for the brief, it is important to examine the campaign as a whole from the influencer's perspective. How familiar is the topic to the influencer already, how do things that are self-evident to the brand and brand experts appear to an outsider?
Translating the customer's perspectives, goals, and campaign key messages into a clear form for the influencer is the absolute foundation of the brief. The customer's messages probably cannot be directly copied as-is on the influencer's channel, and what is basic knowledge for the brand can be completely new information to the influencer - even if the selected influencer is a perfect brand match. Therefore, the customer's messages should be presented to the influencer as straightforwardly and understandably as possible, and unnecessary fuss should be left out.
In a comprehensive brief, all relevant background information related to the topic, service, or product being addressed in the collaboration should also be shared with the influencer. Additionally, it is important to note that there is a certain difference between concrete products and abstract things or services, as understanding physical products, for example, can often be easier than the latter.
It's important to know the customer's wishes and such details as the campaign's so-called mantra or individual messages, around which content and the whole is built - Mikael Sundberg
Often, especially with larger or complex wholes, there is a situation where there are abundant things to communicate to the audience about the topic. And that's completely natural: every brand probably wants to offer as much information about itself and its product or service to the relevant target audience as possible.
However, from the campaign and brief perspective, it is important to first select and then clearly highlight among all these messages the brightest guiding star around which the influencers' content is built - i.e., the campaign's main message. Alongside this primary message focus, there are also suitable supporting messages that influencers can draw from to add more meat to the bones of their content. The campaign's main message presented in the brief can, at its simplest, be, for example, a new product launch, with supporting messages selected to be about different features of the new product. Sharpening a clear main message is good to pay attention to in marketing in general - too much message flooding eats away at the effectiveness of actions.
An essential (and mandatory!) part of influencer marketing is naturally also the correct, according to MEN's guidelines, markings that tell about paid content. Commercial collaboration is always commercial collaboration, whether it's a more straightforward marketing of a physical product or sharing general benefit information through paid influencer work.
In some cases, there may also be several parties involved in the cooperation, which is why all commercial markings should be opened in the campaign brief as accurately and unambiguously as possible. Who is marked and what tags are used? How do the markings repeat from channel to channel, are there significant technical differences between platforms regarding markings? There can be no flexibility or looseness with commercial markings, and their importance should be emphasized in the brief even if the matter seems obvious to you.
When the content-related matters about the campaign background and messages to be communicated are in order, it is equally important to think about the structure of the brief and its appearance. If the brief is scattered, difficult to read, or visually burdensome for the reader, the review of the instructions may in the worst case remain incomplete and the produced content far from what the customer hoped for.
When the brief is in chronological order, the content is easier to implement and the brief can be reviewed along the way as needed, when you know where and how you're going. Also, for example, traditional bullet points help clarify reading the brief a lot. - Mikael Sundberg
In terms of content structure, the most effective approach is to highlight the most important matters, such as main messages and collaboration markings, right at the beginning of the brief.
In addition to text structure and formatting, the readability of the brief is also essentially affected by the visual side, such as colors, shapes, and images. If the brief's color palette is light and bright, the text should stand out from the background clearly enough. Forgetting something that sounds this simple and obvious can lead to endless PowerPoint zooming and also soon inevitable frustration.
Device optimization also presents its own challenge for visual success - when creating a brief, it might be good to remember that many influencers' primary working tool may be a smartphone, where things work very differently than on traditional devices.
In general, the use of various illustrations or visual elements in briefs probably won't backfire, as breaking up long stretches of text with other content can help keep the reader's attention focused. After all, every campaign brief is, in its own way, study material for the influencer - illustrations can prevent information from turning into a monotonous and boring barrage.
The use of actual mood boards or reference images in the brief may also come into question when the brand has more specific wishes about the visual appearance or feel of the influencer content.
In addition to all the above, a good brief makes it clear what is expected of the influencer, what is the agreed-upon amount of campaign content, and the final publication schedule. If the customer has wishes about exact times for publications, those should also be easily available in the brief.
A holistically successful briefing helps articulate and thereby achieve the brand's and collaboration's goals: the influencer's personal way of working and knowledge of their own channel and audience get clear tools and framework in their support.
A good brief ensures influencers have a fundamental understanding of the campaign's starting points and the product's or service's specifications, which in turn enables the production of deeper and more engaging content, which above all benefits the end customer.
Are you looking for an influencer marketing partner? Contact Troot's team here.
