Mar 10, 2025
8 MIN READ
INFLUENCER MARKETING
INFLUENCER MARKETING
Influencer Gifting Mistakes To Avoid
Influencer Gifting Mistakes To Avoid
Influencer Gifting Mistakes To Avoid
Aishwarya Taskar
Aishwarya Taskar
Aishwarya Taskar
Aishwarya Taskar
Content Marketer @impulze.ai
Blog in Short ⏱️
Blog in Short ⏱️
A quick glance at the highlights—perfect for when you're short on time.
A quick glance at the highlights—perfect for when you're short on time.
Influencer gifting is a great way to boost brand awareness, but it needs to be done right.
Common influencer gifting mistakes include reaching out to the wrong influencers, sending impersonal pitches, and cutting corners on packaging.
To succeed, set clear goals, choose influencers who align with your brand, and personalize your gifts. Follow up politely and track your campaign's success by monitoring mentions and engagement.
Tools like impulze.ai can help you find the right influencers based on your target audience, making the process easier and more effective.
Influencer gifting is when brands send free products to influencers, hoping they’ll share honest feedback or reviews with their followers. Unlike paid collaborations, there are no strings attached so that influencers can present your brand authentically. It’s a great way to boost brand awareness, but it needs to be done right. This blog covers key influencer gifting mistakes to avoid and tips for success.
Common Influencer Gifting Mistakes and How To Avoid Them
Mistake #1. You’re Reaching Out to the Wrong Influencers
Many brands struggle with choosing the right influencers because it’s time-consuming. While some tools match influencers based on keywords and interests, they don’t always find the best fit. For example, an influencer focused on skincare might seem perfect for your new salicylic acid cleanser.
But, what if they've previously shared that they’re sensitive to acidic products? To truly connect with the right influencers, dig deeper than surface-level data.
Solution: Go beyond basic info. Review their content style, tone, posting frequency, and their audience. If any of these aspects don’t align with your brand, finding other influencers who would be a better match is best.
Mistake #2. Your Pitch Lacks Personality
Is your pitch too “salesy”? Are you copying and pasting the same message to every influencer? Using product descriptions or website text? If so, it might sound too impersonal. A generic message or email won’t cut it.
Solution: Personalize your outreach. Mention what caught your eye about the influencer’s content and why you think they’d be a great fit. Introduce your brand in a friendly, genuine way.
Mistake #3. Your Packaging Doesn’t Impress
Unboxing videos are a common form of influencer content, but the experience from receiving the product to using it is just as important. If you cut costs on packaging or miss the personal touch, you’re losing out.
Solution: Invest in attractive, branded packaging. Add extra goodies or samples and include a handwritten note. These small details make the gift feel special and encourage influencers to share.
Mistake #4. You’re Asking for Too Much
It’s important to remember that influencer gifting is just that—a gift. Expecting influencers to post in exchange for a free product, without an explicit agreement or compensation, can be pushy. Influencers are more likely to share if they genuinely like the product.
Solution: When reaching out, clarify that it’s a gift, with no expectations. Let them know that if they enjoy it, you’d love for them to share it with their audience; but make it clear there’s no obligation.
Tips for Successful Influencer Gifting
These tips can help you avoid influencer gifting mistakes and do it effectively:
1. Set Clear Objectives
Start by defining what success looks like for your campaign. What exactly do you want to achieve? Is it boosting brand awareness, launching a new product, or driving traffic to your website? Be specific.
Instead of vague goals like ‘increase sales’, aim for measurable targets, like ‘a 5 % rise in sales and 10% rise in website traffic.’ Clear goals will guide your strategy and give you a benchmark to track progress once the campaign ends.
2. Choose the Right Influencers
The influencers you partner with can make or break your campaign, so picking the right ones is essential. Think about your audience first: who are they, what do they care about, and what kind of content do they enjoy? Then, find influencers who naturally connect with that audience.
Look at engagement rates, audience demographics, and whether their content feels genuine and relatable. Also, ensure the influencers align with your brand’s values. When they’re genuinely excited about your product, it shows in their content and resonates with their followers. If they’re already fans of your brand or passionate about your industry, it’s a bonus.
A tool like impulze.ai can help you find influencers that match your target audience. You can use its filters to find influencers based on location, engagement rates, follower size, and its influencer report to see if the influencer’s followers match your target audience.
If you want to save time while looking for influencers on social media, our Chrome extension, SocialiQ, can help. SocialiQ lets you search influencers on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok by using filters like location, follower size, and instantly shows you engagement rates.
Watch the video below to see how to use SocialiQ to find influencers.
3. Personalize Your Gift and Message
Personalization goes a long way in influencer gifting. Don’t just send your product in a plain box. Consider the influencer’s style, interests, and personality when preparing their package. A handwritten note explaining why you’re excited to work with them adds a nice personal touch.
Use branded packaging to make the unboxing experience memorable and exciting. You want the influencer to feel special and eager to share the experience with their followers. Adding small surprises or complementary items makes it even more shareable.
4. Follow Up
Sometimes emails or direct messages get lost in the shuffle, and a gentle reminder can make a big difference. So, always follow up and send a nudge to increase your chances of getting a response.
But always be polite when following up and ensure you send a professional message that doesn’t make the influencer feel you’re being pushy about what you want.
5. Monitor Your Mentions
Once your gifts are sent out, it’s time to track the results. Monitor social media mentions, hashtags, and influencer post engagement.
Are people reacting positively? Are they engaging at all? Use this feedback to fine-tune your next influencer gifting campaign.
The Takeaway
Influencer gifting is like taking the longer, more thoughtful route rather than the quick fix. You can’t just hand over cash, get a sponsored post, and call it a day. It’s a long-term strategy, but one that can really pay off.
Gifting is a fantastic way to kick off relationships with influencers and see if there’s a good fit between your brand and their audience. One of the key things to keep in mind? Finding the right influencers for your influencer gifting campaign.
If the influencers you’re sending gifts to aren’t a good fit for your brand, you’re just sending money down the drain.
This is where influencer marketing platforms can help. A platform like impulze.ai can help you find influencers that match your target audience faster than a manual search.
Use our free plan to start and see if impulze.ai suits your needs.
Influencer gifting is when brands send free products to influencers, hoping they’ll share honest feedback or reviews with their followers. Unlike paid collaborations, there are no strings attached so that influencers can present your brand authentically. It’s a great way to boost brand awareness, but it needs to be done right. This blog covers key influencer gifting mistakes to avoid and tips for success.
Common Influencer Gifting Mistakes and How To Avoid Them
Mistake #1. You’re Reaching Out to the Wrong Influencers
Many brands struggle with choosing the right influencers because it’s time-consuming. While some tools match influencers based on keywords and interests, they don’t always find the best fit. For example, an influencer focused on skincare might seem perfect for your new salicylic acid cleanser.
But, what if they've previously shared that they’re sensitive to acidic products? To truly connect with the right influencers, dig deeper than surface-level data.
Solution: Go beyond basic info. Review their content style, tone, posting frequency, and their audience. If any of these aspects don’t align with your brand, finding other influencers who would be a better match is best.
Mistake #2. Your Pitch Lacks Personality
Is your pitch too “salesy”? Are you copying and pasting the same message to every influencer? Using product descriptions or website text? If so, it might sound too impersonal. A generic message or email won’t cut it.
Solution: Personalize your outreach. Mention what caught your eye about the influencer’s content and why you think they’d be a great fit. Introduce your brand in a friendly, genuine way.
Mistake #3. Your Packaging Doesn’t Impress
Unboxing videos are a common form of influencer content, but the experience from receiving the product to using it is just as important. If you cut costs on packaging or miss the personal touch, you’re losing out.
Solution: Invest in attractive, branded packaging. Add extra goodies or samples and include a handwritten note. These small details make the gift feel special and encourage influencers to share.
Mistake #4. You’re Asking for Too Much
It’s important to remember that influencer gifting is just that—a gift. Expecting influencers to post in exchange for a free product, without an explicit agreement or compensation, can be pushy. Influencers are more likely to share if they genuinely like the product.
Solution: When reaching out, clarify that it’s a gift, with no expectations. Let them know that if they enjoy it, you’d love for them to share it with their audience; but make it clear there’s no obligation.
Tips for Successful Influencer Gifting
These tips can help you avoid influencer gifting mistakes and do it effectively:
1. Set Clear Objectives
Start by defining what success looks like for your campaign. What exactly do you want to achieve? Is it boosting brand awareness, launching a new product, or driving traffic to your website? Be specific.
Instead of vague goals like ‘increase sales’, aim for measurable targets, like ‘a 5 % rise in sales and 10% rise in website traffic.’ Clear goals will guide your strategy and give you a benchmark to track progress once the campaign ends.
2. Choose the Right Influencers
The influencers you partner with can make or break your campaign, so picking the right ones is essential. Think about your audience first: who are they, what do they care about, and what kind of content do they enjoy? Then, find influencers who naturally connect with that audience.
Look at engagement rates, audience demographics, and whether their content feels genuine and relatable. Also, ensure the influencers align with your brand’s values. When they’re genuinely excited about your product, it shows in their content and resonates with their followers. If they’re already fans of your brand or passionate about your industry, it’s a bonus.
A tool like impulze.ai can help you find influencers that match your target audience. You can use its filters to find influencers based on location, engagement rates, follower size, and its influencer report to see if the influencer’s followers match your target audience.
If you want to save time while looking for influencers on social media, our Chrome extension, SocialiQ, can help. SocialiQ lets you search influencers on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok by using filters like location, follower size, and instantly shows you engagement rates.
Watch the video below to see how to use SocialiQ to find influencers.
3. Personalize Your Gift and Message
Personalization goes a long way in influencer gifting. Don’t just send your product in a plain box. Consider the influencer’s style, interests, and personality when preparing their package. A handwritten note explaining why you’re excited to work with them adds a nice personal touch.
Use branded packaging to make the unboxing experience memorable and exciting. You want the influencer to feel special and eager to share the experience with their followers. Adding small surprises or complementary items makes it even more shareable.
4. Follow Up
Sometimes emails or direct messages get lost in the shuffle, and a gentle reminder can make a big difference. So, always follow up and send a nudge to increase your chances of getting a response.
But always be polite when following up and ensure you send a professional message that doesn’t make the influencer feel you’re being pushy about what you want.
5. Monitor Your Mentions
Once your gifts are sent out, it’s time to track the results. Monitor social media mentions, hashtags, and influencer post engagement.
Are people reacting positively? Are they engaging at all? Use this feedback to fine-tune your next influencer gifting campaign.
The Takeaway
Influencer gifting is like taking the longer, more thoughtful route rather than the quick fix. You can’t just hand over cash, get a sponsored post, and call it a day. It’s a long-term strategy, but one that can really pay off.
Gifting is a fantastic way to kick off relationships with influencers and see if there’s a good fit between your brand and their audience. One of the key things to keep in mind? Finding the right influencers for your influencer gifting campaign.
If the influencers you’re sending gifts to aren’t a good fit for your brand, you’re just sending money down the drain.
This is where influencer marketing platforms can help. A platform like impulze.ai can help you find influencers that match your target audience faster than a manual search.
Use our free plan to start and see if impulze.ai suits your needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do brands send gifts to influencers?
Why do brands send gifts to influencers?
Why do brands send gifts to influencers?
Does influencer gifting work?
Does influencer gifting work?
Does influencer gifting work?
How to message influencers for gifting?
How to message influencers for gifting?
How to message influencers for gifting?
Do you have to disclose if something is gifted?
Do you have to disclose if something is gifted?
Do you have to disclose if something is gifted?
How to message influencers for gifting?
How to message influencers for gifting?
How to message influencers for gifting?
What is the difference between seeding and gifting influencers?
What is the difference between seeding and gifting influencers?
What is the difference between seeding and gifting influencers?
Is impulze.ai free?
Is impulze.ai free?
Is impulze.ai free?
Author Bio
Author Bio
Aishwarya Taskar
Aishwarya Taskar
Aishwarya Taskar is a full-time writer. She has studied journalism and marketing. In her free time, she loves watching films and spending time with animals. You can learn more about her here.
Aishwarya Taskar is a full-time writer. She has studied journalism and marketing. In her free time, she loves watching films and spending time with animals. You can learn more about her here.
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Join over 15000+ SocialiQ users who have installed this free Chrome extension to search, analyze, save, and contact influencers directly on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.
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May be Later
Join over 15000+ SocialiQ users who have installed this free Chrome extension to search, analyze, save, and contact influencers directly on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.
20K+ Active Users
May be Later