We start with the campaign goal and what you want the audience to think, feel or do after seeing the post. We gather your brand guidelines, product facts, approved claims, offers and the pages where interested viewers should land; see brand guidelines. We study the creator’s style and past sponsored posts, because a brief that fights a creator’s natural voice produces stiff results. Then we draft the brief on one to two pages, in plain, respectful language. It opens with a short summary of the brand, the product and why this creator was chosen. Next comes the objective in a sentence, followed by the key message and no more than three supporting points. We state what must be shown, such as the product in use, the price or the offer period, and what must be said, such as an official name. We list what must be avoided: unproven claims, medical or financial promises, comparisons with named competitors, sensitive topics and anything that conflicts with advertising rules. We explain the disclosure requirement exactly: a clear label on the post, spoken in videos and visible without tapping “more”, placed at the start, using the platform’s paid partnership tool where available; see service page content for the clear-language style we use elsewhere. We give practical details: the platform and format, length, aspect ratio, number of posts and stories, hashtags, mentions, the link or code to include and whether the creator may suggest their own angle. We make the creative freedom clear, saying which elements are fixed and which are theirs to shape. We set the timeline, with dates for the first concept or draft, our feedback, revisions, final approval and posting, and the minimum time the post must stay live. We explain the review rules: who approves, how many rounds are included and how fast we respond. We state usage rights in simple words, for example whether you may reshare the content on your channels or use it in ads, for how long and in what regions, to be formalised in the agreement. We set out measurement needs: unique links or codes, the screenshots and analytics the creator should share after posting, and the dates; see campaign tracking. We add contact details and payment steps, such as invoice details and timing, as agreed in the contract. We prepare variants for different creators and platforms, since a reel brief differs from a blog brief, and we create a one-page checklist for reviewing drafts. When drafts arrive, we check them against the brief, point out gaps kindly and in writing, and suggest edits that keep the creator’s voice. We keep copies of approved versions with dates. After the campaign, we update the brief template using what worked; see influencer performance reporting. We cannot control what a creator finally publishes, nor ensure they follow every instruction, but a clear, fair brief removes most avoidable errors and speeds approval.
