Influencer marketing

What influencer marketing means

Influencer marketing uses a person's reach and trust to make a product known. The difference from classical advertising lies in the relationship. An ad gets skipped, a recommendation from a known person gets watched, because the audience knows the person. That closeness is the value and at the same time the risk, because the effect stays bound to the person.

How suitable partners are recognised

Reach is the weakest criterion. Four other points are more telling. The first is thematic fit: someone talking about household matters and recommending kitchen appliances is credible; someone talking about cars and promoting kitchen appliances is not.

The second point is the composition of the audience. Large reach with an audience that never buys is worthless. The third point is interaction: comments that refer to the content are a better sign than many short reactions. The fourth point is consistency. Anyone publishing weekly and serving the same topic over months is more reliable than someone with a single success.

What belongs in a contract

• Labelling: paid content has to be recognisable as advertising. The duty lies with the influencer, the responsibility is shared by the shop.
• Scope: how many posts, on which channels, over which period and whether the post stays online permanently.
• Usage rights: may the shop use the content itself, on which channels and for how long. Without that rule only the reach of the post remains.
• Exclusion: no simultaneous promotion of direct competitors in the same period.
• Figures: views, interactions and clicks, with access to the analytics or a screenshot.

Why the effect is hard to measure

The first reason is attribution. Anyone using a discount code or a dedicated link can count clicks but not which share of them would have arrived without the post. The second reason is the delay. Effects often show weeks later, when the post has long gone from the feed.

The third reason is brand effects. If direct searches for the brand rise, that is a signal but no proof. The fourth reason is comparability: two posts are never identical, because timing, format and occasion differ.

In practice only one clean route remains: use a dedicated code per partner from the start and evaluate the number of orders with it. That does not show the whole effect, but it separates partners who bring something from those who only had reach.

Frequent questions

• Is an agency worth it? With several partners yes, because selection and billing take time.
• What does it cost? From product samples to fixed fees. The rates are strongly negotiable.
• How many partners? Better few with fit than many with reach and no connection.