With 14.3 billion monthly visits, YouTube is the second most visited website after Google. And with 62% of its users visiting the site daily, it's a great platform to showcase your brand in front of your target audience through influencer marketing. 

Let's dive into YouTube influencer marketing — see what it is, how you can nail it, and discuss some examples of brilliantly executed campaigns. 

Why use YouTube for influencer marketing? 

According to Takumi's report, The realities of influencer marketing: TikTok and YouTube in focus, 27% of consumers say YouTube influencers drove them to purchase from a brand. 

Compared to other platforms — Instagram (25%) and TikTok (15%) — YouTube is more effective in influencing the target audience to make purchases. 

Some of the reasons for YouTube's popularity as an influencer marketing platform are: 

• It allows more creative freedom to creators regarding the type of content they can create and post. 
• YouTube videos can be long — allowing viewers to get to know the influencers deeply and develop a bond with them. 
• The videos are valuable and searchable for a longer period of time. 
• Unlike other social media platforms, the YouTube algorithm also recommends older videos in the search results. This means video content has a longer “shelf-life” giving creators (& brands) more potential exposure. 

6 steps to create a YouTube influencer marketing campaign

A lot goes into executing your influencer marketing campaign to perfection. Let's discuss the steps you need to build and execute your next YouTube influencer marketing campaign. 

1. Cover your basics 

As with every other marketing campaign, the first step is to set specific goals and campaign objectives. Defining your KPIs will transform your entire campaign — selecting which influencers to work with to get the desired results, the type of campaign, and your end goals. 

Without a set of KPIs to determine the success of your campaign, there is no way to tell whether it's a success or if it needs improvement. Performance-based campaigns are set to succeed from the get-go as these campaigns are centered around hitting specific KPIs. 

On the topic of covering your basics, one of the most important parts is influencer briefs. Add all the necessary details, including company and product overview, campaign specifics, KPIs, timelines, visual and content guidelines, and payment details. 

‍🎁Bonus content: To save you time and resources (creating a brief is no easy task), we are giving you a free template for the most comprehensive and easy-to-customize influencer brief. Click the link, hit File, make a copy, and you’re all set. 

2. Find relevant YouTube influencers 

Do you know how you can make your campaign a success? By collaborating with influencers who are the right fit for your audience without focusing (too much) on their follower count. 

To get started for free, you can find influencers through a quick Google or YouTube search and see which influencers stand out to you.

When you’re ready to step things up, you can try using a paid tool to find YouTubers. Modash, for example, has a searchable database of every YouTube influencer with in-depth audience data and insights. It’s the fastest way to find (and vet) relevant YouTube influencers for your campaign. 

Simply sign up (for a 14-day free trial) and start searching for YouTube influencers. With filters like influencer location, gender, average views, subscribers, engagement rate, growth rate, and much more, you can find the perfect influencers in a matter of seconds. 

The right influencers will:

• Create engaging and relevant content that aligns with your brand's core values
• Know what they are talking about and have authority in the industry 
• Have a relevant audience that they regularly engage with 

🎁Bonus content: I have written an in-depth guide discussing the ten ways to find the perfect YouTube influencers for your campaign. Check it out!

3. Reach out to influencers 

You’ve found a bunch of influencers, and added them to your shortlists. The next step is to reach out to them. How? 

Let's have a look. 

Start by collecting their contact details. Most influencers have their emails listed in their About Channel section. To collect bulk emails quickly and efficiently, you can use Modash and extract their content details within a few seconds. 

The next step is to figure out what you are going to say to them. You need a customized and personalized pitch explaining why your business wants to collaborate with them. 

Writing a pitch that makes them say yes is an integral part of the influencer outreach process. Add social proof, get creative, and especially focus on the email subject line. 

‍🎁Bonus content: Check out these free influencer outreach templates. Open the link, hit File, and make a copy. You now have access to a complete email sequence (with follow-up emails) to nail your outreach process. 

4. Set up the logistics 

After reaching out to the influencers, it's time to set up a solid system in place. 

The first part is to figure out the payment methods. The compensation depends on many factors, including the number of followers, quality of content, engagement rate, campaign performance, and ROI. 

To ensure a smooth process, you need to determine the payment practices that work for both parties. Some examples include: 

• Performance-based pay: Usually a percentage of sales, for instance, between 5 and 30%, depending on margins. 
• Fixed-rate + performance-based pay: Involves a set fee per post or campaign and a percentage of sales. 
• Gifts: Includes gifting your products to the influencer in exchange for a post 
• Comped travel: Offers a free trip in exchange for a promotion 

Every influencer is different, and you can't expect to pay a macro-influencer the same amount as a nano-influencer. Prepare to negotiate, test different payment models, and see what works for you.

Don't forget to have a contract in place, as it protects both you and the creators. Your influencer contract should have: 

• Type of content to be created
• Goals and KPIs 
• Compensation and payment methods  
• Ownership and licensing 

🎁Bonus content: Get access to completely customizable influencer contracts by Modash. Click on the link and scroll down to see various templates. Get the one that fits your needs, make a copy, and start sending your contracts. 

5. Measure influencer performance

The negotiations are done, the contracts are signed, and the content is posted. 

What's next? 

Tracking your influencer marketing campaigns to see what's working and what needs further improvement. Your campaign objectives can be: boost brand awareness, increase sales and content production, or reach new audiences. 

And you can measure your campaigns through various methods depending on your needs, budgets, and skills. Here are a few ways: 

• Personalized promo codes for each influencer will help you track the number of sales, revenue generated, average order value (AOV), etc. 
• UTM codes capture four bits of info — source, medium, campaign, and content. You can then track the campaign by these categories.
• Use a monitoring tool like Modash to automate content tracking and measure the reach and engagement each post generates. 
• With YouTube's own analytics, you can capture a post's views, impressions, reach, and engagement rates. 

Similarly, tracking the ROI of a campaign — direct and indirect — is equally important. Some indirect factors that affect ROI include the number of new impressions, subscriber growth on the brand's socials, and indirect traffic. 

🎁Bonus content: Check out this cheat sheet we have created that details various sales, engagement, awareness, and content production goals, along with the metrics to track those goals and how to track them. 

6. Manage YouTuber relationships 

Managing your YouTube influencer relationships is a critical step in maximizing the ROI and scalability of your campaigns. 

While it may be a bit difficult to figure out what to do to manage your influencers effectively, having a proper system in place helps you develop mutually profitable relationships. 

Let's have a look at some steps you can take to perfect your influencer management strategy: 

• Influencer newsletter: communicate key messages, share tips and advice on how to promote your brand, and highlight the most successful posts of the month 
• Landing page: add content guidelines, payment methods, application criteria, points of contact, terms, and other benefits 
• Influencer activation: to speed up the process for new influencers, prepare contracts, briefs, brand guidelines, FAQs, the unique selling point of your business, etc. 
• Personalize your relationship: congratulate influencers on a milestone, wish them a happy birthday, and put in some extra thought when engaging with their content. 

🎁Bonus content: Learn more from this 5-minute video on Relationship Management from our Academy series. 

7 types of YouTube marketing campaign examples 

YouTube gives huge flexibility and autonomy to creators resulting in creative and engaging videos that highlight the brands and get the audience interested in them. Let's have a look at 7 types of influencer campaign examples popular on YouTube. 

1. Unboxing

An unboxing video involves opening a product from a brand on-screen, detailing the whole experience and the quality of the product. 

The influencer highlights the shipping experience, product packaging, and quality. Unboxing videos may also include reviews (more on this later), or product reviews may be done separately. These videos aim to introduce a new brand or product to the audience. 

Look at the unboxing video by Justine Ezarik, who has 7.02M subscribers on YouTube. Most of Justine's audience is interested in gaming and technology, which is also PlayStation's target market. 

In the video, she talks about the PS5's futuristic look and the updated features like lightweight controllers. She also shows close-up shots of the PS5, adding an air of intrigue and FOMO for the audience.  

🧐Deep-dive: Product unboxing videos give viewers an experience of living vicariously through the influencer. As viewers watch influencers open a product box and explore its features, they imagine themselves using the product, which eventually compels them to make a purchase. 

2. Product hauls 

Product hauls are similar to unboxing videos, but instead of focusing on a single brand and a single product, hauls tend to be larger and include different brands. These brands often send free products to influencers but haven't paid for their own specific video. 

Look at this video by influencer Tara Michelle with 1.28M subscribers. She unboxes 47 PR packages from various brands. 

While the video is not sponsored, Tara gives a shoutout to each brand while unboxing the packages, which is bound to boost their brand awareness. In the video description, Tara shares promo codes for different brands, including Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb. 

🧐Deep-dive: What's great about these kinds of videos is that the influencers don't have to dedicate a whole video to a single product. By including various products within a broader category (like skincare, cosmetics, etc.), a lot of businesses can benefit from a single video. 

3. Reviews 

These videos are focused on reviews for a particular product or service. The influencer details a product's features, explains what they like about it and how it benefits the target audience. 

These videos are great for introducing your product through a trusted influencer's positive reviews of your product.

Dr. Houlik reviews AutoBrush in this brief and to-the-point YouTube short. This is an excellent example of a review video as it's a feedback by a professional, and people are more likely to listen to his expertise and believe his opinion. 

🧐Deep-dive: Reviews videos are very important to convince your audience, who are at the decision-making stage of the sales funnel. Review videos can turn prospects into customers by showing how well the product is. 

4. Vlogs 

Many YouTube influencers post day-in-the-life vlogs to share their typical workday or weekend. These videos are quite popular with their audiences, and brands can take advantage of that. 

Collaborate with the influencer to showcase your brand's products. If you are a skincare brand, the influencer can share what products they use in the morning or at night. Since these videos cover the whole day, there is a lot of space for brand mention in the video. 

Have a look at this day-in-the-life-of vlog by influencer Olivia Messler who has 292K subscribers and is a stay-at-home wife. 

The video, sponsored by Walmart, shows some purchases from Walmart that Olivia has around the house. The video description has the products' links and Olivia encourages her audience to shop items in the video. 

🧐Deep-dive: What's compelling about these videos is the organic product integration within the content. The title sets the expectation that the focus will be on the daily routine at home, and when she shows the products around her house that she purchased from Walmart, it's a nice transition. 

5. Tutorials 

Many YouTube influencers are already creating videos to show their audience how to use a certain product. These videos are great for complex products or to showcase the product's many different use cases.

By including a discount code, you can encourage the viewers to make a purchase. 

Hair.com and Loreal Pro partnered with Stephanie Ledda, a beauty influencer with 1.12M subscribers, for this tutorial video.

The video shows how you can use the straightener to have curls like Stephanie's, and the video description has promo codes for viewers to grab their hands on hair treatment products and the featured hair straightener. 

🧐Deep-dive: The tutorial videos are also a great example of social proof. Listening to their favorite influencers talk about a product positively is a sure way to get the audience to make a purchase. For simpler products, showing how your audience can use them in multiple different ways is also effective. 

6. Contests or giveaways 

Contest or giveaway videos are quite popular as they encourage the possibility of receiving free products. You can partner with influencers to create a contest or do a product giveaway. It will also help put your products in front of a new audience who are more likely to go to your socials or website to check out your brand. 

Look at this giveaway video by Sophie Louise with 623K subscribers on her channel. The video, sponsored by Karma, shows Sophie decluttering her makeup and adding products for a giveaway.  

🧐Deep-dive: Giveaways are a great way for brands to show up in front of prospects and target audiences. By partnering with influencers, you can add your products in a giveaway boosting brand awareness and getting more sales through word of mouth. 

7. Product placement 

Product placement campaigns involve an influencer using your product casually and easily. The basic idea behind these videos is to show your products in an everyday setting to familiarize their use. 

From influencers using a specific type of computer or microphone to wearing a fitness brand or using a particular brand's hair straightener in a video, these videos focus on not promoting the products too hard. 

Beauty influencer Nikki of Nikki Tutorials shares this sponsored video by Marc Jacobs. Instead of using all the products by Marc Jacobs, the video showcases different brands along with the sponsored brand. 

🧐Deep-dive: Product placement videos are great for slipping in products naturally in the video. Instead of in-your-face marketing, with product placements, influencers can play around with other brands while showcasing the sponsored brand as well. 

Tips for successful YouTube influencer marketing 

According to a report from Google, 70% of people say they bought a product after seeing it on YouTube. But that requires a successful campaign with content that compels your audience to immediately make a purchase. For that, you need to take care of a few things that are discussed below: 

1. Avoid micro-managing your influencers 

You are collaborating with influencers because they are good at what they do and know what their audience responds to and prefers. Their audience knows and follows them for a particular type of content they create. 

Don't micro-manage influencers about content production. Your job is to provide them with a comprehensive brief and let them take care of the creativity of the video. Give them the autonomy to create videos that showcase their personal style. 

If you get in the way too much, you risk losing the authenticity that makes influencer campaigns stand out. If influencers do sponsored content that sounds spammy, their audience is not likely to listen to or engage with them. 

2. Properly compensate your influencers

I have mentioned above that some businesses gift free products to influencers in hopes of getting their product featured. New influencers who don't have a lot of collaborations under their belt might accept free products as payment, but that's not what I recommend. 

You should create a budget for your influencer marketing. If you are a small business with a tiny budget, focus on influencers with lower reach or fewer followers.

Companies that collaborate with celebrities and macro-influencers compensate accordingly. YouTube creator MrBeast's recent "Squid Game" video cost $3.5M to produce, funded by the video's sponsor, Brawl Stars.

3. Engage with the campaign 

When the video is up, and you see people engaging with it, don't sit on the sidelines. These people are your prospective customers, and it's your job to engage with them and nurture them through the buying journey. 

Reply to relevant comments and join in conversations with the viewers about the products featured in the video. Share the videos on your own channel and other social media platforms. 

4. Be bold and experiment 

As a brand, you shouldn't be afraid of trying out new and different ideas. Sometimes taking chances makes a campaign successful. 

Step out of your niche and collaborate with influencers in different industries. It will also boost brand awareness and help put your product in front of a diverse audience. You never know what part of your campaign convinces your target audience to buy from you. 

Nail your YouTube influencer marketing today! 

Working with YouTube influencers is a great way to boost brand awareness and increase sales. With a lot of flexibility over the length of the videos, influencers get to be creative and engaging and create a lasting impact on their audience. 

By following the steps mentioned above, you can create and execute the perfect YouTube influencer marketing campaign! 

And if you need an all-in-one platform to discover relevant influencers, manage multiple influencers and their content, and track the campaign performance, sign up for Modash and enjoy your 14-day free trial!