How To Plan & Brief Influencer Deliverables For YouTube: Integrations, Dedicated Vids, & Shorts
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Effective planning & briefing is the key to any successful YouTube influencer marketing campaign. To help you get it right, I spoke to three YouTube influencer marketing pros:
👉 Julianne Kiider, Influencer, Affiliate & Partnerships Consultant, (prev. Under Armour, Made In Cookware)
👉 Marit Tiesema, Sr. KOL & Ambassador Specialist at Loop Earplugs
👉 Michael Todner, Influencer Marketing Manager at Gear4music
Read on for everything you need to know about YouTube influencer briefing, including:
✅ Steps for briefing dedicated YouTube videos and integrations
✅ Considerations for sponsored YouTube Shorts
✅ General best practices for YouTube influencer briefing
(Looking for more general best practices? Check out our guide to influencer briefing.)
Steps for planning and briefing dedicated sponsored YouTube videos
By the time you’re ready to start briefing YouTube videos, you’ll already have set your campaign goals and completed your YouTube influencer search. Here’s what to do next.
⚠️ Disclaimer: I don’t go into the ins and outs of negotiating prices in this article — for that, check out our guide to YouTube influencer pricing.
1. Deciding a video topic
Some brands have a specific use case for dedicated videos, making topic ideation less relevant. For example, Michael at Gear4music explained that they usually use dedicated videos for influencer product reviews like this one:
As such, he already has a topic (and product) in mind, so it’s simply a case of pitching his idea to the influencer.
Michael prefers to work with influencers on multiple videos and turn them into a series exploring different product ranges and aspects. Not only does this build a relationship with the influencer’s audience, but it also helps Gear4music understand the types of products those audiences are interested in.
But what if, unlike Michael, you’re not starting with a clear concept in mind?
Marit recommended studying the influencer’s content to identify their typical themes, tone, and storytelling approach. She also suggested collaborating to come up with stronger ideas.
If possible, arrange a call with the influencer and/or their agent to brainstorm. This ensures alignment and helps craft a concept that works for both parties.
There are a couple other variables to consider when choosing your video topic:
Is it a specific campaign, or part of an always-on program?
Always-on campaigns tend to involve co-created concepts with basic guidelines, often revolving around the influencer's top-performing formats or personal milestones. Flexibility allows the influencer to incorporate the brand naturally into their content. Examples include:
✅ Day-in-the-life content
✅ “Morning routine” content
✅ Content tied to an upcoming trip
✅ Content tied to life events, like becoming a parent
Meanwhile, seasonal and brand-specific campaigns are typically more structured and tied to a particular moment, such as:
✅ Influencer trips
✅ Holiday campaigns
✅ Product launches
Marit said that while creative freedom is still key with these campaigns, they require more alignment in messaging across selected influencers.
For example, a holiday campaign for Loop Earplugs could center on managing the “overwhelm” of the season. An influencer might integrate this by sharing a vlog on their holiday prep, highlighting personal moments like using earplugs to stay calm in a crowded shopping mall or during overstimulating social events, paired with an open discussion on mental health.
New vs. existing influencer relationships
Your choice of video could also depend on your relationship with the influencer.
👉 New influencers: Focus on a general brand introduction and showcasing a flagship product to build awareness and credibility.
👉 Existing Influencers: Build on previous messaging and feedback, highlight new use cases or products, and reinforce the relationship with more tailored content.
The decision on the final topic(s) would be a blend of the above as well as trends, audience demographics and previous campaign learnings — both general and influencer-specific.
Campaign goals
If your brand has specific goals or ideas regarding the video format, it’s essential to discuss this with the influencer upfront prior to signing a contract.
For example, if you’re looking to fill some gaps in your SEO rankings for specific keywords, this should be discussed with the influencer so they can ideate and script out a video that fits those needs.
2. Create your brief
Now that you’ve agreed a topic, it’s time to work on your brief. There are a few steps to this process:
Include all the key information
While the specifics of a brief can vary from one brand to the next, Marit said you should include the following information:
✅ About the brand
✅ Product information (including benefits)
✅ Campaign details
✅ Content inspiration
✅ Product use guidelines (if applicable — e.g. do you need to show viewers how to use your product correctly?)
✅ Dos and don’ts
At the same time, don’t overdo the detail. Influencers are busy people and they often skim through briefing documents, so make sure yours is clear and to-the-point.
Map out product info
In most cases, dedicated sponsored YouTube videos are focused around a specific product (or products).
With that in mind, Michael recommended mapping out the product-related segments that are essential to your video. Using Gear4music as an example, a guitar review video would have the following segments:
🎸 Sound: If the customer can’t hear what it sounds like, nothing else matters.
🎸 Features: Highlight what it does.
🎸 Limitations: This is an overlooked aspect of dedicated videos. Mentioning a couple of flaws or limitations builds trust with the audience — after all, nothing’s perfect.
🎸 Price: A key part of Gear4music’s proposition, as they build products that would cost twice as much from a big-name brand.
Consider keyword opportunities
Dedicated videos aren’t just great for reaching people who are already subscribed to your influencer partner’s YouTube channel. Julianne noted that they’re also an effective way to plug SEO gaps.
Work with your SEO team and the influencer to identify ideal keywords to use in the title and description of the video.
3. Share the product
Again, dedicated videos almost always involve the product being shown and/or used by the influencer in real time.
Given that YouTube videos have significantly longer lead times than Instagram Reels or TikTok, Julianne recommended getting the product in your influencer’s hands as early as possible. After all, if they don’t look comfortable and knowledgeable using it, the content isn’t going to be persuasive.
Michael explained that he gives influencers up to a week to get to know the product, “have a play around”, share their thoughts and feedback, and share any ideas they have for the video. “They’ll often bring up great ideas here that relate directly to their audience’s interests.”
4. Run through the brief together
Now that the influencer has had the opportunity to get to grips with your product(s), it’s a good time to talk through the brief together.
Be aware that there’s still time to tweak your plans based on the influencer’s feedback. While you ideally don’t want to rip up the whole concept and start again, it’s totally fine to play around with the positioning, hook, title, and other elements.
5. Request a concept for approval
Out of every possible influencer deliverable, a dedicated long-form YouTube video is arguably the most painful to have to reshoot, making it essential that you and the influencer are totally aligned before shoot day.
So before signing off the brief, ask to review an initial script or concept. Julianne noted that this is especially important if:
✅ It’s your first time working together
✅ Your product is more complex
✅ Your brand is in a category with more legal limitations around messaging
Reviewing the concept allows you to sign off on the storyline, brand touchpoints, and tone of voice, and suggest content improvements (such as calling out specific product USPs). Plus it generally helps keep the project on track.
A strong concept review increases the chances of first-round approval and ensures your campaign goals are met.
Steps for planning and briefing sponsored YouTube integrations
Because integrations are a lot shorter than dedicated videos (typically 60 – 120 seconds), you might assume they’re easier to brief.
But that’s not really the case.
Integrations can even be trickier, because you’ve got limited time in which to convey your key messages. At the same time, you want to fit into the wider video, rather than crowbarring your ad into unrelated content.
That can be tough. But following these steps should make your life easier.
1. Talk to the influencer about their content schedule
At best, integrations feel like a natural segue within a related video. Think of a cooking influencer taking a couple minutes during a video about steaks to recommend their favorite cast iron skillet.
To make this happen, you first need to understand what content the influencer has in their pipeline so you can figure out where your integration fits most naturally.
As well as titles, you’ll want to find out about the overall video concept and how your brand would fit. Also, make sure the video’s audience aligns with your target demographic — a video on budget cooking tips probably isn’t a good match for a brand promoting $200 chef’s knives.
2. Decide what content to sponsor
Once you know more about the influencer’s upcoming schedule, you can make a call on what content to sponsor. It could be a standalone video or a content series.
Bear in mind that an influencer’s view count might vary widely across different content formats (e.g. maybe "30 day challenge" videos get way more views, on average, than in-depth product reviews).
If your goal is to get the best CPM and high views, look at the median views of each content type during the vetting process to understand which will likely get the most eyes on your product. If your goal is ER/CTR, you may decide to book the video type that engages a more targeted audience even if it has less views.
To elaborate on Julianne's point with an example:
👉 Broad video concept: "My weekly roundup of favorite recipes" — this video would likely attract broader audiences looking to watch cooking content. If this is a regular series on the creator's channel, this may be what subscribers tune in for as part of their weekly recipe inspiration.
👉 Niche video concept: "The best smash burger recipe ever" — this video likely would attract a slightly more specific audience of people who love burgers and/or are researching smash burger recipes.
Marit noted that you may already have done your concepting before selecting an influencer — in which case you can review the influencer’s relevant content and adjust estimated CPMs and fees based on the concept’s reach. She recommended analyzing what works best and checking the impact of sponsored videos on views and comments.
Michael added that there are also benefits to sponsoring a video series rather than a standalone video. Mainly that you can more confidently know what to expect from a video in that series.
If I know a creator has a weekly series that receives consistent viewership, it gives me a benchmark to work from.
For that reason, Gear4music has sponsored several episodes of TheGuitarGeek’s This Week In Gear series:
There are also considerations around your ideal timeline vs. the relevance of upcoming videos. Maybe an influencer is planning a super-relevant video that would make for a seamless integration, but it’s three months away. Do you wait for this “perfect” opportunity, or sponsor something less relevant that’s due to drop next week?
For Julianne, it’s all about the flexibility of your seasonality regarding:
👉 Your brand’s goals
👉 Budgets
👉 Relevancy of your brand/product
If you use YouTube influencers as an always-on approach and you have flexibility on timing, she recommended waiting until the more relevant video — even if it's a few months later than anticipated. Whereas if you have seasonal requirements, you may need to consider booking the placement based on ideal timing instead.
🤓 Pro tip: Marit warned that influencers may not agree to a three-month delay within your existing contract. If their reach grows during that time, you could face higher fees later, which impacts CPM and ROAS. Something to be aware of.
Beyond this, Marit also pointed out that the best influencers don’t depend solely on “perfect” timing to create fantastic content.
The right influencer for your brand shouldn’t only align once every three months — they should be able to deliver consistent value over a long-term timeframe.
3. Clarify integration length and placement
With integrations, you have options for where to place your ad in the video.
Post-roll integrations can be cheaper, and still effective for reaching the most engaged viewers.
However, in most cases, brands prioritize positioning an integration within the first 30% of the video to maximize visibility.
If your integration isn’t in the first couple minutes, here's a tip from Julianne to maximize the impact:
Even if your integration isn’t in the first minute or two of the video, see if you can work with the influencer to incorporate a natural mention of the product earlier.
4. Share your key talking points
Influencer marketers & creators should always strive to find creative ways to seamlessly integrate the brand and/or product, rather than crowbarring an “ad read” into an unrelated video.
However, this isn’t always the case with some video concepts and influencer niches — in which case your integration could feel more scripted. Viewers are more accustomed to “ad breaks” in YouTube videos, so this approach is more acceptable with YouTube integrations than other influencer content formats.
While you still shouldn’t ask your influencer to read your script word for word, it’s worth detailing your key talking points and CTA. Also, be sure to request changes if the integration is missing important information.
5. Share your product or creatives
Typically, you’ll want the influencer to have the product in their hands during the integration, so make sure they receive it in plenty of time. But if this isn’t possible for some reason, you can get around it by sharing your own B-roll.
Briefing YouTube Shorts
Someday, YouTube Shorts may become a dedicated influencer channel in its own right, much like Instagram Reels and TikTok are today. But for now, Shorts mostly fall into two categories:
👉 Reposts from Reels/TikTok
👉 Cuts of long-form YouTube videos
As such, the briefing process isn’t as formalized as for dedicated YouTube videos or integrations. Still, here are some considerations for briefing YouTube Shorts:
Reposts from Reels and TikTok
Shorts, Reels, and TikTok are all short-form video platforms, so cross-posting content can be an easy win. But it’s important to remember that they’re not exactly the same.
Marit noted that the audience on YouTube may differ to that on Insta or TikTok. So the content needs to resonate with the preferences of your YouTube audience while still resonating with viewers on the other two platforms.
Cuts of long-form YouTube videos
Ideally, you should agree on the YouTube Shorts requirements before the main, long-form video is created, Michael explained. That way, you’ll already know which segments you want to showcase in the Short. For example, Gear4music typically wants to include:
✅ The unboxing experience
✅ The sound of the instrument
Meanwhile, Julianne said requirements vary depending on the type of Short.
If it’s simply a teaser to promote the long-form video, she leaves the influencer to edit it themselves. Whereas if it’s a shorter version of a promotional video for the brand, it might require some brand input.
General best practices for briefing YouTube influencer collaborations
Work closely with the influencer
Whatever content format you're planning, you’ll want to collaborate closely with the influencer to ensure you’re both on the same page. Brands that don’t value an influencer’s input are a major turn-off, Michael warned.
Being too rigid with the briefing can lead to alienating the creator and them feeling like they’re not in control of their own channel.
Encourage influencers to show, not tell
YouTube is all about visual storytelling, so make sure you encourage influencers to showcase your product’s features and benefits on camera rather than simply listing them off.
For example, Marit asks influencers to demonstrate various elements of Loop Earplugs products, such as:
✅ Product packaging
✅ Carry case
✅ Different earplug sizes
✅ How to wear them
She also instructs them to show off different use cases for Loop Earplugs — like wearing them at a festival, in a restaurant, or on a plane — to build a stronger connection with the brand’s audience.
Talking helps, but it’s the visuals that truly convert.
Address (and resolve) audience pain points
Whatever the format, you want your influencer’s content to address the audience’s doubts and pain points in a relatable way. Marit recommends asking them to do this by sharing personal experiences, like this:
👎 I used to hate wearing earplugs to festivals…
👍 …but these actually filter the sound and make the music better!
Or like this:
👎 You know when you wear earplugs and hear your own voice in your head? HATE that…
👍 …But these actually don’t do that. I was surprised when I used them at the restaurant last night.
With YouTube, you need to plan further in advance
If you want to get your ideal sponsorship timing, you need to be planning ahead due since there are simply fewer pieces of content you can sponsor (vs. Instagram/TikTok).
YouTube inventory is much more limited vs. Instagram & TikTok. Most YouTube influencers post 1x per week, compared to the other platforms that might see 4-5x videos per week.
Add a QR code overlay for smart TV viewers
Once upon a time, YouTube viewership was largely confined to computers and smartphones. But an increasing number of people are now watching through TVs, with YouTube viewers globally streaming 1+ billion hours of content daily on their smart TVs in 2024.
This means you can’t rely solely on links in the product description to drive click-throughs to your site, Julianne explained. Sure, they’re still important — but you should also add a QR code overlay to bridge the gap for TV viewers.
Include a strong verbal CTA and text overlay
Speaking of calls to action, it's a general best-practice to add a strong verbal CTA plus a text overlay so viewers know where they can check out the brand and product.
Tailor your brief to the influencer’s niche
Chances are, your audience is interested in content across multiple niches. For example, a yoga brand might work with influencers across niches like fitness, lifestyle, etc.
This is a good thing, because it opens up a much larger pool of potential influencers. However, you should always align your brief with the influencer’s niche.
A fitness channel might emphasize performance benefits, while a lifestyle channel might focus on aesthetics and versatility.
How to keep track of influencer content
Once you’ve shared your YouTube briefs, it’s time to deal with another challenge: keeping track of live influencer content.
If you’re only working with a handful of influencers, it’s (just about) manageable to do this manually. But once you scale up, it becomes a serious time sink.
Fortunately, Modash has an influencer content monitoring tool that automates this process 🥳
Simply tell us which influencers are in your campaign and which hashtags to track. After that, you’ll automatically save all campaign posts in one place, so you can easily track live content and report on:
👉 Total videos/content produced
👉 Views
👉 Engagements
👉 Comments
👉 Top-performing influencers
👉 UTM link clicks/QR code usage
👉 Discount code usage
See for yourself by creating your free Modash account — no credit card required!
