AI influencer marketing: Enhancing your campaigns with AI tools

Evolutions in artificial intelligence (AI) technology have impacted the way brands and businesses market to customers. Accessible tools now allow companies to streamline campaign management and create more effective, targeted campaigns.

One essential digital strategy that continues to feel this impact is influencer marketing. Marketers are learning how to balance the creativity of influencer campaigns with automation offered by new AI tools. Several creative examples over the past couple of years, including a few we’ve shared below, prove that the world’s biggest brands are already combining AI with influencer strategies to achieve results.

In this article, we’ll explain how AI influencer marketing strategies are starting to to change the industry. And we’ll show you how you can use AI influencer marketing tools to enhance your own campaigns.

What is AI influencer marketing?

AI influencer marketing refers to using tools to streamline influencer strategies and workflows–often through AI automation–to promote your brand online. Overall, content is managed by humans, but the content creation, strategies and campaign management are supported by AI. AI marketing techniques are used to enhance human influencer campaigns. AI influencer marketing also involves using virtual influencers, but in this article we’re focusing on human influencer campaigns.

How AI is transforming influencer marketing

AI impacts digital marketing strategies and influencer campaigns in a number of key ways.

Below are three creative examples of how marketers are using AI to optimize their influencer marketing campaigns.

1. Influencers boost the reach of a creative AI marketing strategy

Burger King used AI in influencer marketing for their Million Dollar Whopper campaign. They first built a burger creator website, where anyone could freely create their dream burger. They built a contest around this website and partnered with several influencers to increase the campaign’s reach. In this Instagram Reel, food creators Mari and Candice (mariandcandicee), show how to use the AI-powered website and join the contest.

This campaign was entirely built around the AI image generation tool used to power the build-a-burger website. AI was able to assist with the creative concept process, as well as streamlining the campaign behind the scenes. The Million Dollar Whopper campaign is a great example of how brands are using the benefits of influencer marketing to support their AI-driven campaigns.

2. AI and influencers blend online and offline activations

Heinz created an award-winning marketing campaign using a creative strategy and free AI tools. The company used image generators like Dall-E 2 to generate images of ketchup bottles. These generated images depict a Heinz-style bottle when given ketchup prompts.

Heinz used this campaign to create offline billboards and ads. But they also used AI and influencer marketing to take it to the next level. They encouraged user-generated content (UGC) by asking social media users to share their own results with ketchup prompts. Then, they sent out physical promotional bottles to influencers who created notable content. In the example above, @reviewsby.mrso received a promotional bottle for her previous content. This partnership shows how AI can be used in the conception phase of content development. Coming up with creative ways to use AI in content is one of today’s key influencer marketing trends, as companies continue to experiment with new AI tools and features.

3. AI streamlines influencer content campaign management

GuideGeek is an AI-driven travel planning tool that invests heavily in influencer marketing. They partnered with Michael Motamedi to create travel and motivational content while also promoting their tool.

In this example, an AI tool is used to come up with a creative idea. However, instead of being used for one-off Reels, several months of campaign content is centered around using an AI tool to travel. The influencer works with the results of GuideGeek’s tool to create engaging, relevant content that appeals to the company’s target market.

These three examples show how AI can support the concept and creative stages of influencer marketing. But brands can also use AI behind the scenes to help manage, automate and streamline these campaigns. One example is using AI to automate the campaign reporting process, which allows marketers and their influencer partners to measure the success of campaigns and deliver insights to stakeholders. As AI further integrates with current solutions, it’ll likely play a greater role in the future of influencer marketing tactics.

AI-powered tools for influencer marketing

AI influencer marketing is only possible if you have access to the right tools. These three influencer marketing tools make managing influencer campaigns easier through the power of AI.

1. Sprout Social Influencer Marketing (formerly Tagger)

Sprout Influencer Marketing is an influencer campaign management tool with AI functionality. You can use Sprout Influencer Marketing to craft data-powered strategies by analyzing current trends. ‌You can then form creative ideas based on the information that resonates with your target audience.

With Sprout Influencer Marketing’s database of over 10 million influencers and AI search tools and filter combinations, you can find the right influencer for your campaign. Sprout Influencer Marketing also enables you to activate and manage campaigns directly in the platform, with analytics that help you optimize and refine your future influencer marketing efforts.

Read more about Sprout Influencer Marketing’s all-in-one campaign management influencer marketing tools here.

2. Pitchbox

Pitchbox offers link-building software that can also support influencer campaigns. Its tools help marketers find influencers and automate the outreach process. Pitchbox has a number of different AI functions that can automate replies, create templates and personalize outreach.

3. Brandwatch

Brandwatch has a suite of marketing solutions, including some AI-driven influencer marketing tools. You can use Brandwatch to manage your influencer directory and measure campaign performance over time.

How to enhance your influencer marketing campaigns with AI

Once you have the right tools, you can start planning how to use them to enhance your campaigns. These steps outline how to use AI to create engaging content for your target audience and in influencer marketing campaigns to make management easier.

1. Clarify your goals and AI use guidelines

AI doesn’t guarantee a successful influencer campaign. You need to first understand what it can help with and how it can support your campaign goals. Marketers need to embrace innovations like AI responsibly. You should read up on AI ethics before using the technology in your campaigns. This is particularly important for influencer campaigns, as the influencers you’re working with may have different opinions on what AI should and shouldn’t be used for.

Set SMART–specific, measurable, achievable, relevant‌ and time-sensitive–goals for your campaign. Then look at how AI can help you achieve those goals. For example, an AI tool like Sprout Influencer Marketing will make tracking and achieving your measurable goals easier by clearly visualizing data. Or, AI scheduling and forecasting can support time-sensitive goals like your content planning. By aligning AI with your SMART goals, you’ll have a clear idea of which functionalities to rely on and how to use them effectively.

2. Use AI-driven tools to create a data-powered strategy

After defining your goals, use AI to create a strategy. A good example of this is using Signals, which is Sprout Influencer Marketing’s social intelligence engine. Use a tool like Signals to analyze influencer data and monitor key trends around your industry. Once analyzed, you can create your messaging and influencer marketing strategies based on these insights.

AI can make sure these initial strategies are data-driven, which makes the content you create more likely to resonate with your audience. By using AI at this stage, you can streamline the process of researching your audience and create your content strategies.

3. Find the right influencers using AI-powered searches

One of the biggest challenges with starting a new influencer marketing campaign is finding the right influencers to work with. Every influencer strategy is a two-way street, where your brand and the people you’re working with mutually benefit. Since influencers have such a strong impact over their audiences, activating the wrong partnership can put your campaign and company reputation at risk. This is why it’s so crucial to work with the right influencer from the get-go.

Using AI can simplify this process and allow you to access more reliable results. AI-driven influencer discovery tools like Sprout Influencer Marketing’s also offer different filter options. By using these dedicated platforms and filtering tools, you can find influencers that match your brand and the goals of your campaign.

4. Forecast your performance and analyze your results

Accessing predictive insights before you launch your campaign can give you an idea of how your campaign should perform. Use this data to create accurate key performance indicators (KPIs) to share back with relevant stakeholders and teams. AI can also enhance your campaigns after they’ve been published. AI tools can offer a clear visualization of your results, down to each individual post.

An all-in-one tool like Sprout Influencer Marketing empowers you to compare these results against historical influencer performances and similar performances across your platform of choice. Accessing these AI influencer marketing tools not only helps you see how well previous campaigns have performed, but they also provide insights that can guide your future campaigns for more reliable results.

Additional features like campaign performance reporting can then help you streamline the process of data collection.

5. Balance AI automation with influencer authenticity

Influencer marketing is built on trust—trust in the influencer’s creative work and how they interact with their audience. By using AI, you can define clearer strategies, forecast your successes and find the right partners for your concept. But you should always combine these innovations with the authentic power of the influencer you’re working with. Use their creative expertise to refine your content ideas and listen to their audience insights to determine how you can communicate to your customers. By combining these AI innovations with creative approaches and influencer expertise, you’ll be able to manage successful campaigns.

Improve your AI influencer marketing campaigns

AI continues to disrupt influencer marketing approaches, which can be exciting as a marketer—as long as you keep up to date with the technology’s evolution.

Ready to start optimizing your influencer marketing strategy? Find out more about Sprout’s influencer marketing tools to start refining your strategy and create campaigns that reach new target audiences.