Influencer marketing terms

Creator tiers, engagement rate, UGC, sponsored posts, rates, contracts and disclosure. 38 terms, each with what it means, why it matters and what to do about it.

Affiliate link

An affiliate link is a tracked URL given to a partner, so sales or sign-ups that come through it can be credited and paid as commission.

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing pays partners a commission for each sale or sign-up they send through a tracked link or code, so you only pay for results.

Audience demographics

Audience demographics describe who follows a creator or brand: location, age range, gender split and language. They decide audience fit.

Brand ambassador

A brand ambassador is a creator, customer or employee who represents a brand over time, usually with ongoing perks, pay or commission.

Content creator

A content creator makes videos, posts, newsletters or podcasts for an online audience and often earns from ads, sponsors and products.

Cost per engagement (CPE)

Cost per engagement is what you pay for each like, comment, share or save a sponsored post or ad receives: total cost divided by engagements.

CPM (cost per mille)

CPM, cost per mille, is what you pay for every thousand impressions or views. It lets you compare the price of creators and ad channels.

Creator economy

The creator economy is the market of independent creators earning from audiences through brand deals, subscriptions, ads, products and tips.

Creator marketplace

A creator marketplace is a platform where creators list themselves for brand deals and brands browse, contact and pay them in one place.

Earned media value (EMV)

Earned media value estimates what the attention from organic or influencer content would have cost to buy as advertising.

Engagement rate

Engagement rate measures how much an audience interacts with posts: likes, comments and shares divided by followers or views, as a percentage.

Follower audit

A follower audit checks whether a creator’s audience is real and engaged, looking for bought followers, bots and suspicious growth.

FTC disclosureWhite hat

FTC disclosure is the US rule that creators must clearly say when they have a paid or material connection with a brand they promote.

Impressions

Impressions count how many times content was shown on screen, including repeat views by the same person, unlike reach, which counts people.

Influencer brief

An influencer brief tells a creator what a sponsored piece should achieve: key messages, deliverables, dates, dos and don’ts and disclosure.

Influencer contract

An influencer contract sets out a creator deal in writing: deliverables, dates, payment, usage rights, exclusivity, approval and disclosure.

Influencer gifting

Influencer gifting is sending creators free products with no obligation to post, hoping they like them and share them with their audience.

Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is paying or partnering with creators who have an engaged audience so they show your product to the people who trust them.

Influencer marketing platform

An influencer marketing platform is software for finding creators, checking their audience, managing outreach and tracking campaign results.

Influencer outreach

Influencer outreach is finding creators who fit your brand and contacting them with a clear, personal proposal to work together.

Influencer rate card

An influencer rate card lists a creator’s prices for each type of content and extra, such as videos, stories, usage rights and exclusivity.

KOL (key opinion leader)

A KOL, key opinion leader, is a person whose expertise makes their views trusted in a field, such as a doctor, analyst or well-known engineer.

Macro influencer

A macro influencer is a creator with a large following, usually from about 100,000 to a million, often working with brands professionally.

Media kit

A media kit is a creator’s one-page profile for brands: audience size and demographics, engagement, past partners and how to work together.

Mega influencer

A mega influencer has a very large following, usually over a million, and reaches a broad audience much like a celebrity.

Micro influencer

A micro influencer is a creator with a mid-sized following, usually between about 10,000 and 100,000 followers, in a focused niche.

Nano influencer

A nano influencer is a creator with a small, close audience, usually under about 10,000 followers, who often posts about one personal interest.

Paid partnership

A paid partnership is a platform’s built-in label for sponsored content, showing viewers that a creator was paid or rewarded by the named brand.

Product seeding

Product seeding is sending products to many chosen creators at once, often before a launch, to spark organic posts and word of mouth.

Promo code

A promo code is a discount code customers enter at checkout. Unique codes per creator also show which creator drove each sale.

Reach

Reach is the number of unique people who saw a piece of content or a campaign at least once, as opposed to impressions, which count views.

Social proof

Social proof is the tendency to trust what others do and say: reviews, testimonials, user counts and creator recommendations that reassure buyers.

Spark Ads

Spark Ads are TikTok ads that boost an existing organic post, a creator’s or the brand’s own, keeping its likes, comments and profile link.

Sponsored post

A sponsored post is content a creator publishes because a brand paid or gave them something for it, and it must be disclosed as an ad.

UGC (user-generated content)

UGC, user-generated content, is content about a brand made by customers or creators rather than the brand: reviews, photos, videos and posts.

UGC creator

A UGC creator makes natural, customer-style videos and photos that brands pay for and post on their own ads and channels.

Usage rights

Usage rights say where, how and for how long a brand may reuse a creator’s content, for example in ads, on its website or in email.

Whitelisting

Influencer whitelisting lets a brand run paid ads through a creator’s account, so ads show the creator’s name and content to new audiences.