Introduction

Consider two ways to pitch a product:

• An ad, like the millions of others you’ve seen on Facebook.
• Someone you trust and have been following for years tells you how much the product means to them.

Now imagine the second approach done at scale for your business: empowering an army of trusted people who introduce your brand and products to excited potential customers.

That’s the power of influencer marketing.

How to Actually Think About Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is a collaboration between a business and an influential person to promote something, typically a product, service, or campaign. But, you shouldn’t start by thinking, "How do I get creators to post about my product?"

Instead, you should approach it like, "How do I find creators whose audiences genuinely need what I'm building?"

This shift changes everything—from who you target to how you measure success.

Influencer marketing typically looks like this:

• Businesses find and reach out to relevant influencers.
• Influencers create content to promote products and services to their audiences.
• Businesses compensate the influencers in exchange for exposure and creative assets.

Reasons to consider influencer marketing:

• Conversion: Create an affiliate engine by arming a community of influencers with performance-based compensation.
• Grow your organic social following: Some influencers’ followers will follow your company account—then you can reach them “for free” with organic posts.
• Social proof: Influencers’ audiences see your collaboration as a stamp of approval for your brand.
• Get content: Influencers can create content for you. And you can use that content for your own ads, organic social media posts, and landing pages.

Goals of influencer marketing

In order to figure out where you should be focusing your influencer efforts, think about what you want out of your campaigns:

• Are you looking for a high return on ad spend (ROAS)?
• Are you building a community?
• Are you prioritizing impressions and awareness?
• Do you only need help with the production of quality content?

A few examples of how companies use influencer marketing:‍

• ‍Airtable partners with productivity consultants and workflow influencers on LinkedIn and YouTube. Their goal is to generate awareness and pipeline by showing real-world Airtable use cases in project management and ops teams.
• HubSpot works with sales trainers and RevOps thought leaders to co-create content (webinars, LinkedIn posts, and guest podcasts). This builds credibility and drives demand for HubSpot’s CRM among sales leaders.‍
• Snowflake collaborates with data experts and analysts who host industry podcasts or newsletters. These partnerships focus on thought leadership and brand authority in the enterprise data space.‍
• Mutiny has partnered with marketing influencers on LinkedIn who share challenges and wins in ABM marketing. The campaigns are designed to convert awareness into trials and product adoption (direct ROAS and pipeline impact).

Why Creator Partnerships Work for Early-Stage B2C:

• ‍Rents trust at massive scale: Instead of spending months building brand credibility from scratch, you borrow trust from creators your target users already follow and respect. When someone with 50,000 engaged followers recommends your product, you instantly access their accumulated social capital.‍
• Acts as a two-for-one growth channel: It's simultaneously a short-term growth lever (direct distribution to engaged audiences) and a long-term brand asset (awareness, social proof, and market positioning). Every creator partnership builds both immediate conversions and lasting brand equity.‍
• Enables rapid narrative testing: You can test different messages, hooks, and positioning through creators' authentic voices—often learning more in one week than months of A/B testing your own content. Creators translate your features into user language naturally.‍
• Provides high-signal qualitative feedback: Unlike paid ads that optimize for clicks, influencer partnerships generate rich qualitative insights through comments, DMs, and authentic reactions that inform your entire marketing strategy.‍
• Creates content at scale: Every collaboration produces authentic content you can repurpose across your own channels, from social media to landing pages to paid ads—multiplying your content production without hiring a team.

Understanding the Human Element

Influencer marketing is fundamentally different from other growth channels because you're working with humans, not algorithms. This changes everything about how you approach it.

This is a hands-on channel

Unlike Meta Ads or Google Ads that you can largely automate once optimized, influencer marketing requires ongoing relationship management. You can't "set it and forget it."

What this means practically:

• You'll spend time getting to know creators personally
• Response times matter—creators expect quick, thoughtful communication
• Every partnership is unique and requires customized approaches
• You need to stay engaged throughout the collaboration, not just at the beginning

The upside: This hands-on nature creates defensible relationships that competitors can't easily replicate. Once you build genuine connections with creators, they become long-term brand advocates.

You're nurturing relationships, not executing transactions

The most successful influencer programs treat creators as collaborators and brand partners, not just advertising inventory. This mindset shift changes how you approach everything from initial outreach to ongoing partnerships.

Transactional thinking (avoid this):

• "How cheaply can I get this creator to post about us?"
• "Can we get them to post exactly what we want them to say?"
• "What's the immediate ROI on this single post?"

Relationship thinking (embrace this):

• "How can we provide value to this creator and their audience?"
• "What would make this creator genuinely excited to work with us long-term?"
• "How can we help this creator create their best content while showcasing our product?"

Practical implications:

• Send products for creators to try before asking for anything
• Share their content and engage with their posts regularly
• Introduce them to other creators in your network
• Provide exclusive access to new features or behind-the-scenes content
• Celebrate their successes publicly

Influence ≠ impressions

A creator with 5,000 highly engaged followers who trust their recommendations will drive better results than a celebrity with 500,000 passive followers. Focus on influence (the ability to drive action) rather than reach (total audience size).

What real influence looks like:

• High-quality comments that show genuine engagement
• Followers who ask questions and seek advice
• Strong conversion rates on previous sponsored content
• Active community discussions around their posts
• Followers who describe the creator as trustworthy or inspiring

The Psychology of Influence: Three Types of Capital

To work effectively with creators, you need to understand the psychological drivers that motivate both creators and their audiences to share content. We use three types of "capital" that people gain or lose through their sharing behavior:

Financial Capital: Economic incentives

What it is:

Financial capital refers to direct economic value: money, free products, discounts, or anything that improves someone's financial position. People share when they can gain financially or help others save money.

This is the most straightforward motivation: people are more likely to share content when there's a clear economic benefit involved, either for themselves or for the people they're sharing with.

Real examples:

• Uber/Lyft: Creators share promo codes where new users get $20-50 off their first rides, while the creator earns ride credits or cash bonuses.
• Cash App (Payment App): Creators share referral codes where both they and their followers get $15 when someone signs up and sends their first payment. Clear financial incentive for everyone involved.
• Credit Card Referrals: Personal finance creators promote cards like Chase Sapphire or Amex because they earn substantial referral bonuses ($100-500+) while their audience gets valuable sign-up bonuses (50k-100k points). Both sides win significantly.

For creators: Direct monetary compensation, affiliate commissions, free products with real value, exclusive access that saves them money.

For audiences: Discount codes, cashback opportunities, free trials, exclusive deals, referral bonuses.

How to leverage this:

• Offer creators competitive affiliate rates (15-30% for digital products, 10-20% for physical products)
• Provide audience-exclusive discount codes that make sharing feel valuable
• Create referral programs that reward both creator and audience
• Give creators early access to sales or limited releases
• Ensure your product has clear monetary value that's easy to communicate

Social Capital: Status and perception

What it is:

Social capital is about how sharing content affects your reputation, status, or how others perceive you. People share content that makes them look good, smart, helpful, or ahead of the curve. They avoid sharing things that might make them appear out of touch, behind trends, or unhelpful.

This capital is about social positioning—when someone shares your product, they're essentially putting their reputation behind it. They're telling their audience "this is worth your attention" and staking their credibility on that recommendation.

Real examples:

• Notion (Productivity App): Productivity creators share Notion templates and workflows because it positions them as organized, efficient experts. Being early to showcase advanced Notion setups made creators appear ahead of the productivity curve.
• Tesla (Electric Vehicles): Early Tesla owners and tech reviewers shared their experiences because it positioned them as forward-thinking, environmentally conscious, and early adopters of innovative technology.
• Clubhouse (Audio App): During its invite-only phase, creators shared about getting access because it made them appear connected and in-the-know about emerging platforms.

For creators: Association with innovative brands, being first to discover useful products, appearing helpful to their community, demonstrating expertise.

For audiences: Appearing knowledgeable, sharing valuable discoveries, helping friends solve problems, staying ahead of trends.

How to leverage this:

• Position your product as cutting-edge or exclusive rather than mainstream
• Share behind-the-scenes development stories that creators can pass along
• Create "insider access" opportunities that creators can share with their community
• Develop educational content that helps creators appear knowledgeable to their followers
• Emphasize what makes your product innovative or different from existing solutions
• Provide creators with interesting data or insights they can share

Personal Capital: Self-expression and utility

What it is:

Personal capital is about self-expression, identity, and personal fulfillment. People share content that reflects who they are, what they believe in, or what helps them solve genuine problems in their own lives. This is the most authentic form of sharing because it comes from genuine personal connection to the product or message.

When someone shares based on personal capital, they're saying "this is part of who I am" or "this genuinely helped me." This type of sharing often converts best because it feels most authentic to audiences.

Real examples:

• Duolingo (Language Learning): Language enthusiasts and travel creators share their Duolingo streaks and progress because it reflects their identity as lifelong learners and world travelers. The app helps them express their commitment to personal growth.
• Spotify (Music Streaming): Music lovers share their Spotify Wrapped and playlists because music taste is core to personal identity. Creators share favorite songs and discoveries as a way of expressing their personality and connecting with like-minded audiences.
• Peloton (Fitness Equipment): Fitness creators share their workout achievements because it reflects their identity as health-conscious, disciplined individuals committed to personal improvement.

For creators: Authentically expressing their values, solving genuine problems they face, creating content that reflects their expertise and interests.

For audiences: Self-expression through product choices, solving personal problems, aligning with personal values and identity.

How to leverage this:

• Ensure your product genuinely solves problems creators face in their daily lives
• Allow creators to customize how they present your product to match their personal style
• Align with creators whose values and interests naturally match your brand
• Focus on products that help people express their identity or achieve personal goals
• Share user stories that creators can relate to on a personal level
• Emphasize the transformational aspects of your product rather than just features

The Pattern: The most effective creator partnerships tap into at least two of these motivations simultaneously.