Influencer Whitelisting, Does it work in 2023?

Everything you need to know about Influencer Whitelisting in 2023.

Influencer whitelisting is the new pony trick.

Does it work? I’ve heard it has brought CPA down, but honestly, like all questions in marketing, my only answer is, “it depends.”

I do not want to overstate or understate the importance of whitelisting; instead, I merely want to suggest that it is a tactic worth trying.

So, let’s get started with influencer whitelisting and what you need to know.

Note: This post was written with the help of The Performers group, and it is just a highlight of what we discussed in our mastermind group call.

What is Influencer Whitelisting?

Influencer whitelisting, or you could call it creator licensing, is when a brand chips in some ad cash to boost a creator's post. So, when folks on social media spot the ad, it'll seem like it's straight from the creator, not the big brand, which can make it come off as way more legit.

Why is this an exciting tactic?

Advertisers like us want to get viewer’s attention and trust. Influencer marketing used to be huge. It still is if you do it right. But most people scroll their feeds and want to avoid ads. You give an ad 2 seconds of attention, and it feels like some friend has posted this content so viewers lean more into that post.

So basically, you do it to:

• Become the scroll-stopper

• Because the reach of organic has died

• Get authority, credibility, and trust

• Get higher engagement than traditional ads

• Improve CTR, hook rate, and all that nice stuff

• The links in the bio and codes are hard to attribute. It’s more measurable than a standard organic post.

Does influencers’/creators’ following impact the performance?

I’ve talked to several media buyers in our group, and my friend, Dara Denny, also shared that it does not matter much. The CTR, engagement, and CPA are the same regardless of the following.

What’s the ROI on Influencer Whitelisting?

Cody Plofker, one of the mastermind guests, shared that he has seen whitelisting winning but I’d say test it, and don’t depend on it completely:

Follow his full thread and Q&A here; very interesting discussion.

How much should you pay for an influencer whitelisting?

The rates vary, but 20-30% of the fee is a rule of thumb. However, I’ve seen creators getting paid $200-$500 extra for whitelisting. And if the ad works out longer than 60 days, keep renegotiating with similar pricing.

But here’s my opinion. Don’t pay anything, tell the creator (influencers might be harder to convince) that we’ll run the ad from your account, and if the CPA is down, we’d be happy to pay a certain fee that’s reasonable to you.

Plus, there are many benefits to influencers for running whitelisting:

• Free followers

• Free link in the bio traffic

• Follow-up opportunities if the ad did well

Here’s a sample contract that you use and embed your whitelisting clause in it.

What’s better Meta vs. TikTok Spark Ads?

There is no standard consensus. Spark Ads in TikTok are way easier to run and explain to the creator. TikTok ads don’t scale regardless of whitelisting vs Meta does.

The short answer is it depends, but Meta scales better.

If you want to learn about how to get access to Meta follow these links:

• Resource # 1

• Resource # 2

• A resource to give to your creator

• A step by step instruction I found

Let’s take a break.

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Back to influencer whitelisting…

What are some tactics that you can apply with whitelisting?

• Founder Ads: If you’re a brand with a low budget, use founder ads. Here are some founder ads examples for you.

• Working with an influencer: Use their existing audience with retargeting to have maximum impact.

• Whitelisting for all funnels: Don’t just test whitelisting on top of the funnel but middle and bottom of the funnel too.

• Always test different offers and landing pages: When you work with a specific influencer, ensure the offer and landing page are customized (most people forget this.)

• Work with non-influencers or creators to test whitelisting, too, like this one and a blog like this.

I’m planning to offer something like (above tactic) this to my audience. We’ll try your product and review it, and you can use the blog & ad in your retargeting.

For those who have already attempted whitelisting, we have a community of 10K+ people here. Let's collaborate and determine if this strategy has been successful for you or not. The results will be displayed once you click on the poll. Please feel free to share your opinion, and I will share it next week.

Credits and references to dive deeper into the whitelisting topic:

• What You Need To Know About Influencer Whitelisting & Spark Ads

• Influence Whitelisting Opinion

• THIS AMAZING Slack goup 🙈

And that’s all from this week.

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Aazar Shad

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