Influencer marketing has proven time and again that it works wonders for brands when implemented right. Social media personalities have an immense power to influence people’s purchasing decisions and even help brands to convert people into loyal customers. Because of that, brands are increasingly investing in influencer marketing as a part of their media mix. 

To succeed in influencer marketing you do not only have to find the right influencer for your brand, but also decide on what content you want them to create. Unlike what many people think, sponsored posts is not the only way a brand can collaborate with an influencer.

Let us take you through 5 other ways in which you as a brand can collaborate with influencers that is not the typical sponsored post on Instagram:

1. Social media takeovers

This is when you let an influencer take over your social media account(s) to create and publish organic posts, stories, videos, or even go live. Depending on your objective, this takeover can extend over a day, a week or even a longer period of time. This type of content can be highly beneficial for the brand since it can gain more traction than brand-created content. The key to a successful social media takeover is to collaborate with an influencer who you trust and who has been working with the brand before.

2. Affiliate influencer marketing

Skeptical to spending money on influencers? Try an affiliate influencer marketing collaboration! This is a pay-for-performance model where you pay influencers a commission based on sales or signups directed to your website. To track the conversions generated by each influencer, personalized promo codes or affiliate links/traceable links can be used. 

3. Giveaways and contests

This type of collaboration allows influencers to engage their followers and give something back to them in return for their support. Hosting giveaways and contests is a great way to not just create brand awareness but also to encourage a specific action – such as driving followers to the brand’s own Instagram page or generating product feedback. However, the downside of this sort of collaboration is the followers might not be genuinely interested in your brand but are participating just to receive freebies. 

4. Brand ambassador program

In a brand ambassador program, the influencer, as opposed to just doing stand-alone campaigns, works with the brand over an extended period of time and promote its products/services on an ongoing basis. The key to a successful brand ambassador program is identifying an influencer who shares your brand values and who can act as the ”face” of your brand. 

5. Sponsored blog posts and guest blogging

Being one of the oldest forms of influencer marketing, blogging is easily dismissed when planning a collaboration. But as a matter of fact, blogs are a great channel for increasing your brand’s search engine visibility, sharing valuable knowledge with your target audience and even generating new business leads. Brands can collaborate with bloggers in two ways. Firstly, there are sponsored blog post collaborations in which bloggers publish either a dedicated blog post that speaks about the brand in detail, or a round-up post where the brand is mentioned. Secondly, we have guest blogging where the influencer writes an article on the brand’s own blog (just like a form of takeover that we talked about before). Regardless of which form of blog collaboration you choose, it is important that you select an influencer who writes about and have expertise within your niche or market, and who has credibility within the field.