Practice

Influencer relations

creator relations

Definition

Influencer relations is the practice of working with creators whose audience matches yours. Payment is the fork. A contracted post with a brief is paid media, even if it looks like a diary. An unpaid mention a creator chose is earned. Hybrid “gifting with no required post” sits on a line; the FTC still cares about material connection.

PESO puts some influencer work between paid and earned on purpose. Your spreadsheet should not.

How it works

Disclose. Write the brief as facts, not slogans, if you are paying. If you want earned, pitch a story the creator already covers and accept a no. Do not launder paid posts into the earned clip report.

Worked example

A dermatologist is paid $8,000 for a reel with #ad. A second dermatologist films the product unprompted after a conference. File one paid, one earned. Mixing them into “creator SOV” hides the invoice.

How it differs

UGC is audience-made content, often unpaid. Media relations is journalists. Influencer relations is creators. Native ads are paid units that look like feed posts.

Common errors

No disclosure. Counting gifted posts as earned when a post was required. Buying comments.

Sources