How to run an influencer campaign, from brief to follow-up

1. In short: settle the goal, the terms and the review before the creator starts, and check the label before anything is posted.

In an influencer campaign, a company and a creator enter a commercial collaboration in which the creator shows a product, a service or a brand on their channels in return for payment [1]. The payment can be money, but also goods, travel and services [2]. The process can be divided into nine steps: goal, payment model, brief, choice of creators, agreement, review and posting, labelling, follow-up and payment. Figure 1 shows who does what and what should be settled at each step.

The company that hires a creator carries the main responsibility for the marketing and cannot contract it away, according to the Swedish Consumer Agency (Konsumentverket) [3]. Nor can a breach be undone by changing the post afterwards, and the agency writes that companies therefore need a working advertising review function [4]. That is why the review and the label check come before posting in the process, not after.

There is no standard for how long the steps take. We have found no independent Swedish source on timelines, the number of review rounds or response times, so the article gives no such norms. Our judgement is that the timeline belongs in the brief and in the agreement, so that both sides know where they stand.

Section 2 covers the goal and the payment model, section 3 the brief and the choice of creators and section 4 the agreement. Section 5 goes through review, approval and the posting window, and section 6 the label check before and after posting. Section 7 covers follow-up and payment.

2. The goal and the payment model come first, because they steer the rest of the campaign.

Goal and audience

IAB Sverige describes how an agency’s work on a campaign starts with a strategy in which goal, audience, channels and key metrics are set. The organisation also writes that the result depends on, among other things, the choice of influencer, platform and creative approach, and that relevance and credibility often weigh more than reach alone [5]. Our judgement is that one goal per campaign makes the later steps easier, because the brief, the selection and the measurement can then start from the same thing.

The audience also decides which rules apply. If the campaign is likely to reach children, the advertising label must be suitable and clear for a child, and the company may not direct calls to buy at children under 18. For some products, for example alcohol, tobacco and gambling, there are special rules the company needs to know before the product is marketed [6]. On TikTok, paid content for alcohol and gambling, among others, is not allowed in Sweden [7]. The brief template covers more categories.

Payment model

The payment models are described in the guide to what influencer marketing is. Two things are enough here for the process. The first is that the payment does not have to be money. Konsumentverket writes that the payment can consist of money or other financial benefits, for example goods [3], and the industry recommendation also counts affiliate links as influencer marketing [2].

The second is that the measurement also decides the payment when the payment depends on the result. Our judgement is that it then needs to be settled before the start which number counts, where it is taken from and on which day it is read off, and that this belongs in the agreement.

3. The brief says what is to be done, and the selection decides who does it.

The brief

Mediemyndigheten (the Swedish Agency for the Media) describes how the advertiser usually gives guidelines on key messages, visual or language requirements, mandatory tags, links or discount codes and the number and type of posts. The creator often has some room to adapt the content to their own tone [1]. IAB Sverige calls the balance between a clear brief and creative freedom an important success factor [5]. A template with the parts of the brief, and the reasons for them, is in the influencer brief template.

For the process, it is enough that the brief already contains what the later steps build on: how the advertising is to be labelled, where and for how long the company may use the material, how the review works and when the posting is to happen. That is our judgement. The brief does not replace the agreement, but it makes the agreement easier to write.

Finding creators

The company can find creators on its own or through an intermediary. Mediemyndigheten describes talent agencies, which often work exclusively with their profiles, influencer networks with a less exclusive relationship, and affiliate networks that make it possible to see who passed on a click or a purchase and that handle commissions and payments. Many creators also manage their collaborations themselves [1]. IAB Sverige describes how an agency selects creators on the basis of audience, content, tone and past performance [5]. Whether the counterparty is the creator or an intermediary also affects who is responsible for tax and contributions at the payment step [10]. How to make the selection is covered in the guide to finding the right creators.

4. The agreement must say what the collaboration covers, but it cannot move the company’s responsibility.

In Mediemyndigheten’s example of how a collaboration works, an agreement is written on what the assignment should contain, what material is part of the delivery and the production dates [1]. Konsumentverket notes in a 2026 report that clear agreements or assignment descriptions are often missing, even where the commercial purpose can hardly be questioned [11].

The agreement alone does not decide what counts as advertising. Konsumentverket writes that agreements can be written, oral or implied. In a case the agency refers to, PMT 2479-20, the assignment covered more posts than the parties had agreed in writing [4]. Nor can the company’s responsibility be contracted away to the creator or an intermediary [4]. So the agreement can divide the work, but not the responsibility.

Two parts of the agreement tie in with statute text. Under the Copyright Act, receiving a copy of a work is not the same as receiving the copyright in it, and unless otherwise agreed, whoever has received the copyright may not change the work [8]. So the agreement needs to say where and for how long the company may use the material and whether it may be edited. If the creator is under 18, the Children and Parents Code says the child enters an agreement to work on their own, but only if the guardian consents [9].

Brand Marketing Sweden, formerly the Swedish Association of Advertisers (Sveriges Annonsörer), published an agreement template for collaborations with influencers in February 2026. It requires membership, and we have not read it [12]. Our judgement is that the agreement should also state the payment, when it is paid and what applies if a post does not happen, but we have no independent source for what such terms usually look like.

5. The content is reviewed in rounds before posting, and the company approves the version that goes out.

Drafts and review rounds

IAB Sverige writes that before posting, it needs to be ensured that the content is of high quality and in line with the campaign’s goals. When an agency runs the campaign, its quality assurance includes making sure the content follows the brief and is adapted to each platform [5]. Konsumentverket’s call for a working advertising review function points the same way, because a breach cannot be put right afterwards [4].

We have found no independent Swedish source on how many review rounds or what response times are reasonable. In TikTok’s own tool, TikTok One, the video is first reviewed by the platform, and the company can then ask for up to five edits. There is also an optional expected posting date, and a different actual date carries no penalty [13]. This applies only to projects in that tool and is no norm for other collaborations.

Example of how the review can be written into the brief: “The draft is sent by [date]. [Name] at [the company] replies within [number] working days. At most [number] review rounds are included. The post goes out between [date] and [date].” The text is our wording. The numbers are left open, because there is no standard to refer to.

Approval and posting window

Our judgement is that the approval should cover the final version, with caption, links, discount codes and label, and that it should be clear who at the company approves. If the post is changed after approval, it needs to be reviewed again. The posting window is the period in which the creator may post. It lets the company plan the label check and the follow-up, and the creator knows when the post is expected to be live.

6. The label is checked before the post goes out, and again once it is live.

The rules for how a paid post must be labelled are in the guide to advertising labels and are not repeated here. This section is about when the check is done. The industry recommendation of January 2026, from the Swedish Association of Communication Agencies, the Swedish Association of Advertisers (now Brand Marketing Sweden) and IAB Sweden, says that clear words are not enough. The label must also stand out enough through colour, text style and placement [2]. That can only be judged in the finished version, so the label belongs in the approval described in section 5.

On TikTok, the commercial content toggle must be switched on when paid content is posted [7]. According to the industry recommendation, the platform’s own label does not always meet the law’s demand for clarity, and the marketer is responsible for making sure it does its job [2]. In a decision Konsumentverket refers to, PMB 5086-23, the fact that the platform’s labelling function had stopped working did not free the company from responsibility [4].

The check needs to be done in the published post too. The industry recommendation notes that how clear the label is can depend on whether the post is viewed in an app or a browser, and that a post that is reposted, for example as a Story, should be labelled as well [2]. On TikTok, the creator can get a notification if a video seems to contain paid content without the right disclosure. If the creator does not respond within 24 hours, the video is no longer eligible for the For You feed [14]. Our judgement is that the agreement should say how the creator and the company reach each other if that happens.

7. The follow-up measures what was decided before the start, and the payment follows the agreement and the tax rules.

Measurement and follow-up

Mediemyndigheten describes how a campaign is followed up when it ends and measured on key metrics such as reach, views and engagement [1]. IAB Sverige writes that the result should be followed up continuously while the campaign runs and compared with relevant benchmarks, and that brand effect can be measured better in longer collaborations by comparing before and after [5]. Which metrics fit which goal, and what each number does not show, is covered in the guide to measurement.

Our judgement is that, for the process, it is enough that the measurement is settled in advance: which metric, from which source and on which day the number is read off. The follow-up is also a chance to write down what worked in the process itself, for example how many review rounds were needed, ahead of the next campaign.

Payment

Skatteverket (the Swedish Tax Agency) writes that there are no special tax rules for payments to influencers, and that whoever hires an influencer must follow the general rules. If the creator has F-tax or a limited company, the creator reports the income and pays taxes and contributions. If the creator has A-tax, the company usually has to pay employer contributions and may need to withhold tax [10].

For a creator without F-tax, employer contributions can apply to products, services and discount codes too, if the total market value reaches at least SEK 1,000 in a calendar year. Tax withholding applies to payment in money to a creator without F-tax, when it reaches SEK 1,000 or more in the calendar year. So the company needs to keep records of the products’ market value. If the collaboration goes through an agency or a network, the responsibility depends on who has influence over how the payment is allocated [10]. The rules have more detail than this, and when in doubt an accountant or Skatteverket is the place to ask.

8. About this article: a process overview built on authorities, industry bodies and statute text, without norms for time or price.

All sources were read on 15 October 2026, and the quotations come from the sources’ own text. “Independent” marks laws, authorities and the industry’s joint recommendation and contract template. “TikTok” marks TikTok’s own policies and help pages. “Estimate” marks the industry body IAB Sverige’s own description of how agencies work, since it speaks for the industry. The division into nine steps, the example review terms and everything marked “our judgement” are our own and not a source’s.

What is not covered

The article gives no prices, fees or timelines, because we have found no independent Swedish source for them. The guides to the campaign process that we found came from vendors and agencies, and we do not quote them. How the company finds creators is covered only briefly. Brand Marketing Sweden’s agreement template requires membership and has not been read. Instagram’s and other platforms’ own rules are not included, and search volumes have not been measured.

Limitations

The article describes what authorities, industry bodies, statute text and TikTok say. It is not legal or tax advice. Case numbers such as PMT 2479-20 and PMB 5086-23 are given as Konsumentverket states them, and the judgments have not been read. IAB Sverige’s description of campaign work covers how an agency works, and we have applied it to a company running the campaign itself. TikTok’s rules can change, and it is the policy in force from 31 August 2026 that has been read [7].