Influencer marketing is not just a trend; it's a crucial component of marketing strategy for businesses now. In 2023, the global influencer marketing industry soared to an estimated $21.1 billion in value. According to the 2024 State of Marketing report, 1 out of 4 marketers use influencer marketing campaigns to grow their business. 

If you wish to do the same, you are in the right spot. This article lists 20+ influencer marketing campaign ideas for small businesses and examples of how brands have used these ideas. We have also shared real-life examples of a few popular influencer marketing campaigns to show you what to expect. 

Let’s get started. 

Top Influencer Marketing Campaign Ideas You Can’t Miss

1. Product Reviews and Unboxings

You can work with influencers to create product reviews and unboxing videos to introduce your product or service and generate awareness around its features and benefits. 

Many technology companies use this method in influencer marketing. For instance, Samsung often teams up with leading tech influencers to showcase its newest gadgets. One of their go-to reviewers is Marques Brownlee, or MKBHD, as you might know him on YouTube. 

Samsung sends Marques the latest Samsung devices, and he posts thorough reviews of the products on his YouTube channel. His reviews create excitement among tech enthusiasts around Samsung’s new products.

2. Giveaways and Contests

Holding a contest or a giveaway is one of the best influencer marketing campaign ideas for achieving specific goals. Tailor your contest or giveaway depending on what you want to achieve. Ask the influencer you are working with to host the giveaway or contest to be able to reach out to their followers who trust them. 

Dunkin' Donuts' collaboration with TikTok star Charli D Amelio is an excellent example of how a business can use contests. In 2020, they created a drink called the Charli, an iced cold coffee brew with caramel, that D'Amelio promoted as her favorite through her TikTok.

Customers could order the 'Charli' drink at Dunkin' Donuts outlets. They also launched a 'Charli x Dunkin' contest,' where fans had to share pictures or videos recreating iconic Charli and Dunkin' moments. The winners would get to meet Charli through a video conference. This resulted in a lot of user-generated content for the brand, which made the drink popular.

Dunkin Donuts also released a second drink and merchandise line after a while. The campaign also brought in significant sales for Dunkin'. The sales of their cold brews shot up, and there was a 57% increase in the number of downloads of the Dunkin' Donuts app.

3. Influencer Takeovers

Influencer takeovers can benefit any brand, irrespective of the niche. Find a suitable influencer who can ‘take over’ your social media and introduce your brand to their followers. 

For instance, a makeup brand can let an influencer in the beauty niche ‘take over’ their social media and showcase the brand’s products. 

Once, Soccer star David Beckham took over Adidas's Twitter for the launch of a new collection. He shared tweets and behind-the-scenes content, talking about his personal connection with the brand. This helped create excitement among his large fanbase, leading to more attention and positive feelings towards Adidas. 

4. Behind-the-Scenes Content

Many brands use Behind-the-Scenes content by creating content showcasing their employees. Similarly, you can involve an influencer in the process and use their profile to showcase Behind-the-Scenes Content for your brand.

Influencer marketing campaign examples of brands that do this successfully often include Huda Beauty. The brand’s owner, Huda Kattan, is a makeup artist and beauty blogger. She frequently shares Behind-the-Scenes content to showcase the process of how the business creates beauty products and prepares for product launches.

5. Tutorials and How-Tos

Tutorials and how-to content are among the most commonly used influencer marketing campaign ideas, especially for beauty, technology, and food companies. 

Many makeup and skincare brands create ‘how-to-use’ content to show users how to use and benefit from their products.

If you create this kind of content with influencers, it can prove the value of your products to the customers and demonstrate step-by-step use. Education through tutorials and how-to videos can educate customers and drive sales.

6. Affiliate Marketing Campaigns

Affiliate marketing campaigns involve influencers promoting a business’s products or services in exchange for commissions on sales generated through their unique affiliate links.

Use affiliate marketing campaigns because commissions are an effective incentive for influencers to promote your brand. Plus, you can track sales and return on investment quickly.

7. Sponsored Blog Posts or Articles 

Sponsored blog posts and articles help businesses reach niche audiences by leveraging the trust influencers have built with their followers. For sponsored blog posts and articles, you can work with influencers or media companies that can influence people.

Through sponsored posts and articles, you can use storytelling to promote your products, increase visibility, and generate organic traffic for the business.

Mountain Dew collaborated with Vice Media in 2018 to sponsor an article featuring Olympic snowboarder Julia Marino. This promoted the brand and gave the readers a gripping, in-depth interview of the American Olympic athlete.

8. Discount Codes and Exclusive Offers

When influencers offer discount codes and exclusive offers, their personal endorsement is effective for driving conversions. It also increases sales, and you can track it easily to see if such a collaboration is working.

And since discount codes and exclusive offers are generally offered for a limited time, this creates a sense of urgency and encourages people to buy. 

9. Customer Testimonials and Success Stories

Customer testimonials and success stories demonstrate an influencer’s positive experience with a brand’s products and services, which helps create trust and credibility among potential customers. They also provide social proof and can influence purchase decisions.

Take Foundr as an example. However, by showcasing testimonials from well-known names like Daymond John, Marie Forleo, and Gary Vaynerchukhowcasing testimonials from well-known names like Daymond John, Marie Forleo, and Gary Vaynerchuk on their website, they instantly build trust and credibility within the business world.

10. Event Promotion and Live Streaming 

Live streaming and real-time interaction help encourage physical and virtual attendance at events. Promoting events and live streaming content through influencers can help you reach large audiences and generate buzz around events and products.

One of the best ways to see how you can use live streaming to promote your events is to see how the Golden Globes or fashion companies work with influencers to live-stream backstage content.

When a company uses live streaming to promote its products, it’s an excellent way to showcase them. Take a look at Amazon Live to understand how one can live-stream about products.

D2C brands work with Amazon influencers to promote their products through the Amazon Live page.

(If the term Amazon influencer is new to you, here’s an article that can help you understand how Amazon influencer marketing works.)

11. Seasonal or Holiday Campaigns

Seasonal or holiday campaigns with influencers can benefit a brand because you get to promote your product to a large audience at a time when consumer spending is naturally higher. During holidays, people are more likely to spend more. So, during this time, you can work with influencers to create tailored content relevant to the festive mood and can drive sales.

You can also use such content to promote exclusive holiday discounts or gift guides, which can boost conversions.

12. Local Influencer Collaborations

Local influencers help brands tap into regional markets. Such collaborations allow brands to reach a more targeted audience.

When you work with local influencers, creating content that resonates culturally and geographically is possible.

13. Brand Ambassador Programs

A brand ambassador program with influencers can benefit a company by generating consistent brand visibility. Influencers regularly feature the brand in their content, and these ambassadors become brand advocates, promoting the company’s products for the long term and engaging their communities through their content.

Many influencer marketing campaign examples of brand ambassador programs show how useful these can be. One such example is Gymshark, a UK-based multinational that has worked with Whitney Simmons, a fitness influencer, for a few years.

Whitney is a brand ambassador for Gymshark and has promoted their fitness apparel through posts on Instagram and YouTube. In 2023, they also named her the creative director for their ‘Adapt’ line.

14. User-Generated Content Campaigns

User-generated content is any form of content—images, videos, text, reviews, or social media posts—that unpaid contributors or fans of a brand create and share online.

Starbucks' 2014 #WhiteCupContest campaign is a classic example of how brands can successfully leverage user-generated content to promote engagement, build community, and generate authentic content.  

In 2014, Starbucks invited people in the US and Canada to decorate a Starbucks cup with customized art, take a photo of it and upload it on social media using ‘#WhiteCupContest’ in their post. The incentive they offered to do this: they announced that the winner’s design would be design be printed on a limited edition Starbucks reusable plastic cup.

Starbucks received nearly 4000 entries in three weeks! Britney Thompson, who drew an intricate, hand-drawn pattern won and her design was featured on a limited edition reusable cup which was sold in stores nationwide. 

If you are successful in executing a user-generated content campaign, the main advantage is that it helps in engaging customers and creating brand awareness organically. Even as a small business owner, it’s possible to succeed at this if you incentivize followers to create content and choose the right platforms for your business. 

15. Collaborative Product Launches

Collaborative product launches with influencers can significantly boost a brand's reach and credibility. By co-creating or endorsing a product, influencers generate excitement and anticipation among their followers, creating a built-in audience for the launch. 

These collaborations can also help brands tap into new markets and expand their visibility and awareness.

For instance, Nespresso, a Swiss company, worked with Italian fashion influencer Chiara Ferragni to co-create a limited-edition collection of coffee machines and accessories. They promoted this collection through her Instagram account and other influencers.

16. Influencer-Hosted Webinars or Workshops

Any business can use influencer-hosted webinars or workshops to showcase its products and services in an engaging, educational way. 

When you organize an influencer-hosted webinar or workshop, some of its followers will surely attend it, which can help you reach a targeted audience.

17. Micro-Influencer Campaigns

Micro-influencer campaigns are beneficial because you can work with influencers on a limited budget and reach a targeted audience.

In fact, micro-influencers often have a higher engagement rate than macro and celeb influencers. Micro-influencers are well-connected to their followers. Their followers trust them and are likely to act on their recommendations.

Even massive businesses like Airbnb and Sephora work with micro-influencers: a micro-influencer campaign is a great influencer marketing idea for any business. 

18. Pop-Up Shops and In-Person Events

Pop-up shops and In-Person Events can be powerful influencer marketing tools that a brand can use to promote its products and events.

By partnering with influencers, brands can attract their followers to pop-up shops and in-person events. Influencers can attend these events and post live content during and after them, which can help generate online buzz during and after the event. 

19. Influencer-Led Brand Challenges

Influencer-led brand challenges encourage followers to participate in fun, creative activities related to the brand. This can generate organic user-generated content and create community-driven conversation around the product or service.

Influencer-led challenges can also go viral, which helps expand reach. The Ice Bucket Challenge is a great example of an influencer-led challenge that had a huge impact. 

20. Collaborative Content Series 

Brands work with influencers to create ongoing, cohesive content that spans multiple posts or videos to create a collaborative content series. A collaborative content series can keep audiences coming back for more and create long-term engagement.

Such content also provides room for more detailed storytelling that can let influencers cover different aspects of the brand or product over time. 

For example, Impossible Foods, an American plant-based meat company, recently started a collaborative content series with entrepreneur-influencer Joey Chestnut to promote its plant-based meat. They show their plant-based meat hotdogs and burger patties through a series of Instagram photos and video posts.

21.  Cause-Related Marketing

Cause marketing combined with influencer marketing helps businesses contribute to social causes while tapping into influencers' engaged audiences. Influencers who genuinely support a cause can authentically promote the brand's campaign, making it more relatable and credible.

Cause-related marketing can also enhance a brand's reputation; some consumers are more likely to support businesses aligning with their values.

Did you notice the example we mentioned in the previous influencer marketing campaign idea? It's about how Impossible Foods is working with Joey Chestnut to promote their plant-based meat. They've also used cause-related marketing as a part of this campaign. 

Through an Instagram post with Joey in it, they promoted how the business donated 106,000$ to Operation Homefront, a US military non-profit organization.

22. Exclusive Product Previews

The last one on this list of influencer marketing campaign ideas is exclusive product previews. You can use exclusive product previews to create anticipation and buzz before a product launch. For this, you can give an influencer early access to your product or service, and they can create content like unboxing videos, reviews, or live streams. 

For instance, Apple often gives Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) early access to preview new products such as the iPhone or MacBook. These exclusive previews, posted on Instagram and YouTube, create hype before the product's launch. 

The Takeaway

You can use any of these influencer marketing campaign ideas to create an effective campaign for your small business. Creating a powerful influencer marketing campaign is possible even if you have a limited budget. To do this, consider working with micro-influencers or local influencers. 

This is where we can help. You can use impulze.ai to find micro-influencers for your brand who are based in your business's location and whose followers match the target audience you want your marketing content to reach. 

Curious to see how impulze.ai can help? Sign up here for a 14-day free trial.

Once you log in, use the search bar and the filters on the left side to find the perfect micro-influencers for your brand. Check out this step-by-step guide to see how you can use impulze.ai to find micro-influencers in a few minutes. 

All the best!

Frequently Asked Questions

How to create an influencer marketing campaign? 

To create an influencer marketing campaign, figure out your budget and goals for the campaign. Look for influencers manually or through influencer marketing tools. Once you find the right influencers for your brand, you can contact them and create a campaign based on your goals and the content you want to create. 

What are the 3 R's of influencer marketing?

The three R's of influencer marketing are reach, relevance, and resonance. Reach refers to the influencer's number of followers. Relevance means how well the influencer's content aligns with your brand. Resonance refers to the ability of the influencer to drive meaningful engagement toward the content they create. You can check the engagement rate (as a quantitive metric) and quality of engagement rate (as a qualitative metric) to check for the 'resonance' of an influencer.  

What is an example of influencer marketing?

Ria Fikrat is an Amazon influencer who works with makeup brands to promote their products through their Amazon storefront. Her content on Instagram drives people to her Amazon storefront, and she earns commissions when they click on links in her storefront and buy products. 

How do influencers attract customers?

Influencers attract customers through extensive reach, creative content, and connections with followers. So, influencers can reach a targeted audience and increase sales. 

What is a campaign in influencer marketing?

An influencer marketing campaign is a carefully planned series of activities with influencers that a business uses to promote its products and services. It can involve one or many influencers.