Змінити мову (УКР)

Змінити мову (УКР)

How to partner up with an influencer and complete projects without unnecessary stress?

According to IAB Ukraine, the influencer market made a swift recovery after a rapid decline due to the beginning of a full-scale war. Brands also, cautiously at first, then increasingly actively, returned to cooperation with opinion leaders. At M&P Communications, we implemented a series of projects in the last months of 2024 involving influencers and are sharing our checklist for successful work with bloggers.

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In our experience, there are several cornerstones in working with opinion leaders. After all, the blogging market in Ukraine is quite young and often unregulated. New names appear, and cooperation with micro and nano influencers is in high demand. Working with opinion leaders becomes a real challenge for companies, especially those with established procedures for approvals, briefs, mutual responsibility, and legal partnership support.
Among the issues that can arise on the thorny path to effective interaction and “wow”-inspiring integration statistics, the main ones are:● Expectations regarding the result of the company and the opinion leader not matching each other;● Contradictions between the content that the brand wants to promote and the profile and interests of the influencer and their audience;● Blunders in approval processes: the gap between the influencer's expectations of a large corporation that seemingly has to approve everything in a few hours, and the corporation's expectations that bloggers will conscientiously wait for the finalised edits;● Gaps in communication and tone of interaction;● The legal side of paperwork and documents, documents, lots of documents.

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When building relationships with opinion leaders and implementing successful projects with them, there are two pillars on which an effective campaign rests:
1. Clarity of provided information and mutual understanding between you and the influencer.2. Documents, from brief to a deal, that guarantee that both the influencer and the brand are on the same wavelength, and their expectations are clearly outlined and approved.
By adhering to these components in their work, both brands and influencers can create a reliable partnership that satisfies the needs of both parties. After all, partnership is about mutuality.
We prepared a checklist that will help turn an influencer into your partner, avoid mistakes, and therefore avoid stress.

Selection of opinion leaders and beginning the communication

First of all, it's worth starting from determining the goals of the campaign within which a partnership with the influencer is planned. Partnership with an influencer with a large audience may not always meet the campaign's needs. Sometimes, working with local but specialized opinion leaders will give maximum return. We form a pool of those whose audience meets your needs.
At the selection stage, it's worth paying attention to the following components:● A match between what bloggers does and your project goals;● Amount of subscribers and reactions;● Geography and interests;● Reputation;● Statistics.
When checking reputation, check: Has the blogger been involved in any scandals? What do they write about in their blog? Do they work with your competitors? Don't be lazy to dig deeper.
"Run" the influencer through blacklists, but also pay attention to the adequacy of feedback, cut off subjectivity and excessive emotions. When evaluating bloggers, also look at the tone of comments, subscriber engagement, and results of past integrations.

Effective cover letter

This step is extremely important for establishing positive contact with the influencer. Write to bloggers with a cooperation proposal (it's better to start with email, but you can also communicate on social networks).
Greet the blogger (write the correct name!), say that you're interested in working with them for your brand's activities, and then describe your offer in detail. Ask where it would be faster and more convenient for the blogger to communicate. Approach all opinion leaders individually, be interested in their requests, not just yours.
To write an ideal cover letter:● Greet them and introduce yourself;● Briefly describe the reason for contacting them;● Briefly describe your project and in detail – your offer;● Emphasize the influencer's role in your campaign;● Outline the expected partnership format and conditions (commercial, barter, charity);● Invite to discuss details and leave your contact information.

Developing the perfect Terms of Reference

A well-written brief is 90% of a successful cooperation. The final product depends on how the task is described and what kind of results are expected after its execution. When the blogger doesn't wait for portioned information from you but immediately receives the brief necessary for work, it encourages a positive attitude and makes the partnership and joined idea realisation even more appealing.
Also, it's important to first send the brief and confirm that the blogger agrees to the conditions described in it. Preferably to discuss verbally if possible. Describe which approval stages there will be, how many iterations there may be, how long approval takes on your side, what do you expect from the blogger. For example, agreeing on a script, draft of a video integration, etc. Don't forget to specify the desired terms for preparation, approval, and publication of content. It's important to send the brief immediately after the influencer expresses interest in cooperation. This way, you minimize the chance of misunderstandings between you and the blogger.
The secret to a perfect brief:● Knowing characteristics of the audience the activity is aimed at;● Defining the type of content (post, video, stories, etc.) and its style;● Detailing key messages and tone of voice;● Time frames for task completion and publications;● Description of the project, along with providing information about the product / campaign / idea;● Specifying how the influencer is involved and what result is expected from them;● Providing details (text, images, video) that have to be integrated in the final material;● Defining the desired result and metrics for measuring it.

How to calmly handle all the documentation?

Cooperation with influencers is accompanied by proper legal paperwork. This is the law and a necessity. This way, you will be confident in the abidance by all conditions from both sides and guarantee yourself peaceful evenings.
Legal processes can be scary, but if you calmly approach the task with a clear action plan, the process of drawing up contracts can even draw you in. By following these steps, you can quickly close legal issues:
● Discuss and agree on all possible terms of cooperation: work format, services provided, terms of fulfilling agreements, payment amount and its terms, etc. (ideally, we advise doing this via email);● Draw up a contract / act with a clear formulation of cooperation terms, including obligations of both parties;● Ask the blogger to provide a list of necessary documents (for example, extracts from the register, etc.);● Agree on payment through FOP (individual entrepreneur) or another legal entity and sign documents (contract, acts of completed work, etc.);● Control the signing of documents through platforms such as "Vchasno" or "Diia.Signature".

Content publication and requesting statistics

Closer to the publication date, you need to clarify with the influencer whether the material is ready, if everything is going according to plan, and then finally approve it. If the client has edits, they need to be made at this stage. Later will be too late.
After the long-awaited content is published, congratulate yourself and the influencer on this, thank them for their great work. But don't forget that there's one last stage ahead: analytics and statistics collection. Ask the opinion leader for post statistics no earlier than 2-3 days from publishing, since in the first few days the post gains maximum coverage, and then everything goes downhill. If the communication was in Instagram stories, you can ask for statistics the next day.
Analyze the received statistics and overall experience of cooperating with a particular blogger, and then combine data from all integrations with opinion leaders into a single report. And don't forget to maintain your own databases of bloggers where you record results and impressions from cooperation with each of them.

So how does an influencer become a partner?

Having gone through this path almost to the end (from a polite and targeted welcome letter to communications during approval stage and to the end result), it's at the final stage that true partnership relations between the influencer and the client are consolidated. The way you communicate about the end of cooperation will significantly impact the blogger's impression of the cooperation. Don't forget to thank the influencer again for their work, and don't be shy to express your positive emotions and desire to work together on future projects.
Also, listen to the blogger's opinion: they know better what their audience likes. A one-time integration can turn into a long-term partnership beneficial for both parties. The blogger gets a reliable partner, and you get the trust of their audience.

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M&P Communications

Contacts

O.Honchara Str., 74B, office 23,Kyiv, 01054Phone: +38 093 436 96 46Email: au.p-m%40viyk

Working hours

Mon-Fri from 9:00 to 18:00Crisis communications – 24/7

SOCIAL MEDIA

© 2007-2025 M&P Communications

In case you have any questions

Please leave your contacts and we will call you!

Thank you!

We will contact you shortly

Can't send form

Please try again later.

M&P Communications

Contacts

O.Honchara Str., 74B, office 23,Kyiv, 01054Phone: +38 093 436 96 46Email: au.p-m%40viyk

Working hours

Mon-Fri from 9:00 to 18:00Crisis communications – 24/7

SOCIAL MEDIA

© 2007-2025 M&P Communications