YouTube Influencer Marketing: A Guide For Success

In some ways, YouTube can be considered the grandfather of influencer marketing in the social media era.

Before Instagram and TikTok influencers became millionaires, YouTube creators were partnering with small, upstart brands as a way to introduce them to their audience.

Today, influencer marketing is an entire industry experiencing rapid growth, but YouTube is still a formidable platform for brands that want to make a deep connection with an audience.

YouTube offers a format that most other social media platforms simply can’t match. When used correctly, YouTube influencer marketing can deliver amazing results that rival just about any other channel.

In this guide, we’ll look at the current state of YouTube influencer marketing and how you can best use it to help build your brand.

What Is YouTube Influencer Marketing?

YouTube influencer marketing involves partnering with various content creators to promote, review, or mention your brand within their content. Due to the longer video options, YouTube influencer marketing can extend far beyond the types of marketing campaigns found on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, or X (formerly Twitter).

What Are The Benefits Of YouTube Influencer Marketing

Understanding the benefits and unique features of YouTube will help you decide when and where to use the platform for your influencer campaigns. By playing to YouTube’s strengths, you can reach entirely new audiences in ways that many other platforms can’t match.

YouTube’s Longer Video Format

We’ve already touched on this, but the longer video of YouTube format opens up an entirely new way to communicate with an audience. Extensive product reviews and deep dives are very common on the platform and these formats also perform well with audiences and with the YouTube algorithm.

Many users today watch YouTube creators on their television while relaxing at home. This type of interaction is far different than the constant scrolling on shorter-format social media platforms.

Campaign Content Has A Long Shelf Life

Another benefit brands can leverage from YouTube influencer marketing is the extended shelf life of content. This can vary due to the topics covered by a specific influencer, but there are many ways to produce “evergreen” influencer campaigns that garner views and interactions for months or even years after the campaign has ended.

This residual effect can help extend the ROI campaigns and also help to build brand authority on certain topics.

Part Of The Google Search Universe

As most digital marketers already know, Google holds over 90% of the search traffic on the internet. Every brand wants to rank highly on Google’s platforms, and YouTube is part of the Google infrastructure.

Google search results favor and prioritize YouTube content for almost every competitive search term. This means brands that can position themselves correctly on YouTube can have the added benefit of being featured in Google search results for the same queries.

Highly Engaged Comment Section

The right content on YouTube can produce detailed and deep discussions within the comment section, more so than most other social media platforms. 

This high level of engagement among viewers is important for influencer campaigns to be successful and it’s an integral and organic part of the YouTube experience. 

YouTube Shorts And Influencer Marketing

YouTube has introduced YouTube Shorts in recent years. This format is very similar to TikTok or Instagram Reels. However, it doesn’t quite have the popularity of these dedicated short-form content platforms.

Existing creators do post Shorts on the platform, but these are usually designed to support their main content. For example, a creator will cut a clip from their long-form YouTube content and offer that as a YouTube Short.

In this way, YouTube Shorts is mostly used for promotional, bite-sized videos for creators already posting long-form videos on the platform.

If you’re partnering with a creator on the platform, make sure to include negotiations about Shorts content to help bolster the original campaign. 

How To Use YouTube For Your Brand Influencer Campaigns

Many different campaign types can work on YouTube and you often have the ability to be more direct with your campaign messaging.

Below are popular YouTube influencer campaign types to consider when creating a campaign for your brand.

Sponsored Content

On YouTube, sponsored content campaigns are the most common and easiest to create.

For sponsored content, you partner with a creator and then sponsor one or more videos. The video can be related to your product or completely unrelated. If it’s related, this can sometimes increase the rate that the influencer charges if the content was created exclusively for the promotion.

The benefit of related content is that your promotional messaging fits better within the video.

If it’s not related, the creators will either mention your brand sponsorship at the beginning of the video or during the video with a cutaway explaining or promoting your product.

The campaigns work best if your research indicates the creator’s audience is already familiar with your brand category and the choices within it.

The goal of these campaigns can be to drive sales or leads or to build brand awareness within a product category.

The key aspect of a sponsored video campaign is to ensure the creator’s audience aligns with your brand’s target customer. This is the most critical part for these types of campaigns to be successful.

Most marketing relies on a similar alignment, but with sponsored posts, it’s what makes or breaks the campaigns.

Product Reviews

One of the strongest influencer campaign types on YouTube is product review videos. These can be paid reviews or in exchange for a product.

Because of the longer video format, these can go through every unique selling point your product offers as well as how it’s different from competing products.

This is a very unique attribute and for higher-ticket items where consumers make careful decisions, it can be extremely effective.

These reviews also take advantage of the long content shelf life we outlined earlier in the article.

Reviews can drive sales and leads long after the campaign is over. They can also be featured in Google search results across all of their platforms.

With this type of campaign, there can be some tricky FTC regulatory compliance to deal with. For example, how you paid for the review or whether or not the products were returned can influence the various disclosure requirements.

Make sure you fully understand these requirements and that the influencer fully discloses all necessary information.

Tutorials

YouTube tutorials blur the line between sponsored posts and product reviews. Sponsored tutorials work well for building brand awareness along with brand authority.

For example, a cosmetics brand may partner with a fashion influencer for a make-up tutorial spotlighting the brand’s products.

Longer form tutorial videos can also show how your product solves a specific problem that your target customer has.

Similar to many campaign types on YouTube, tutorials don’t require the same level of marketing creativity that short-form videos require. With tutorial campaigns, the users are seeking out the information being presented, so there isn’t as much of a need for a “hook” to grab their attention as with a TikTok campaign.

Contests & Giveaways

Contests & giveaways are still popular influencer campaign techniques on YouTube and they perform well.

Standalone giveaways can work, but combining a giveaway with other campaign formats can boost engagement, which is crucial for any type of influencer marketing.

These can add a layer of complication to the campaign, so careful planning and a detailed content brief are necessary to ensure the influencer and you are on the same page.

Similar to product reviews, you also need to confirm the details of your giveaway and adhere to all FTC regulations as well as YouTube-specific content regulations regarding giveaways.

YouTube requires that you post your “Official Rules” regarding the contest, including how gifts are awarded and how to claim them.

You also cannot claim the giveaway is part of a YouTube promotion. For example, calling it a “YouTube Giveaway” may present a problem.

Working With YouTube Influencers And Creators

A majority of YouTube creators are open to offers and partnerships from brands. In some cases, you can contact the influencer directly. For larger influencers, they will generally have a management company that you will need to go through.

If you’re a newer brand looking to get into influencer marketing, working with a management company may sound intimidating, but it can often make the process of partnering with influencers much smoother.

Finding YouTube Creators To Partner With

Finding the right influencers is similar to other social media platforms and it starts by identifying the influencers in your industry and carefully analyzing their audience and content.

You’ll want to break down influencers by the following metrics

• Content type
• Content length
• Subscriber count
• Engagement
• Influencer interaction with their audience
• Influencer’s preferred promotional method

Remember that YouTube allows for highly-targeted niche content to be matched with similar audiences. Always consider this over the total subscriber count when seeking out influencers.

An influencer’s overlap with your own target customer should be the most important priority, above follower count.

Working With A YouTube Influencer Marketing Agency

Another way to find suitable influencers is to work directly with an influencer marketing agency.

An agency will have existing relationships with YouTube creators and will also have experience securing and negotiating contracts with influencers in your industry.

For some brands, these services are well worth the fees the influencer marketing agency may charge.

Agencies can also help with payment structures, campaign creation, and ensuring your content is compliant with all regulatory and platform requirements.

Creating A YouTube Influencer Marketing Campaign

Starting an influencer campaign on YouTube isn’t much different from other social media platforms. Following a few key steps along the way will give your campaign the greatest chance of success.

Plan Your Objectives

Start by deciding what you want to achieve with the campaign. Are you a new brand that wants to build awareness or are you looking to drive sales of your existing products?

Your objective will determine the type of campaign and the content you plan on sponsoring.

Find Your Influencers

When you have your objective in mind and the matching campaign type you need, it’s time to search for influencers to match your goals.

This part requires the most research and you want to carefully analyze each potential creator to ensure their audience’s interests match your target customer. This is the most important factor for creating a successful campaign.

Once you’ve selected a few influencers that meet the criteria, begin reaching out to them to see which ones are open to your campaign ideas and partnerships.

Sponsored posts are generally the least expensive and easiest to negotiate. Most influencers have predetermined prices and requirements for such campaigns, which makes the negotiation fast and relatively straightforward.

More involved campaigns will have a higher cost if they require specialized content that’s created around your brand. These also generally require far more lead time.

Finalize The Content Briefs

Once you’ve secured your influencers, you want to finalize any content details. This includes specific messaging, scripts, or other language that is required within the content.

This may involve some negotiation, so be flexible if necessary so your content matches with the influencer’s style and tone.

Launch The Campaign And Track Results

Tracking the results of your campaigns helps to confirm your objectives have been met.

YouTube provides robust analytics that your influencer can provide for you after the campaign is over. You can also view public metrics via social media tools meant to track views, engagement, and other details.

Final Tips For YouTube Influence Marketing Success

Even though it may not get the same buzz today as platforms like TikTok, YouTube is still an incredibly powerful and unique marketing platform.

Savvy brands should look to leverage niche targeting opportunities and longer-form content to their advantage.

Finally, YouTube influencer marketing works extremely well for products and services that have a higher price tag. Other platforms can work for brand awareness when it comes to these higher-priced brands, but YouTube offers a direct connection to customers during their decision-making process.

All of this makes YouTube worth considering for any brand looking to expand its marketing effectiveness and reach.