# How to run an influencer campaign on X, step by step

> Set one goal, define who you need to reach, shortlist creators those people follow, write a short ask, set the price, pay only for verified posts and measure each creator with a tracked link. A step-by-step plan for X, with what a first campaign costs.

**To run an influencer campaign on X: pick one goal, define exactly who you need to reach, shortlist creators those people already follow, tell them what to post about in a sentence or two (an ask, not a script), set a price per post, pay only when each post is verified live with your link and a paid-partnership disclosure, and measure every creator with their own tracked link. Start with a small test of five to ten creators, then re-book the ones whose audiences act.**

## What makes a good influencer campaign?

Four things, in this order:

1. **One clear goal.** Signups, sales, waitlist joins or awareness: pick one and measure that.
2. **The right audience, not the biggest one.** A creator whose followers are your buyers beats a larger account whose followers aren't.
3. **Creators' own words.** Followers trust a creator because they sound like themselves. Tell them what to cover; don't script them.
4. **Measurement per creator.** Each creator gets their own link, so you know who drove results and who to book again.

## Step 1: Set the goal

| Goal | What to measure | Good fit for |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Signups or trials | Tracked clicks and signups per creator | SaaS, developer tools, apps |
| Sales | Tracked sales and revenue, plus an optional commission | E-commerce, paid products |
| Launch awareness | Verified posts, reach and replies | Launch days, new features |
| Waitlist or community | Joins per creator | Pre-launch products |

Write the goal down with a number ("200 signups from 8 creators") before you contact anyone. In Influencer Marketing Hub's 2026 benchmark survey, brand awareness was still the most-cited KPI (55.1% of respondents), but on X you can usually measure more than awareness, because every post can carry a link.

## Step 2: Define who you need to reach

Name the target audience in one sentence: role, interests and where they are. "Backend developers who use Postgres" or "founders of seed-stage B2B startups" is specific enough to search with; "tech people" isn't. Then ask: **who do these people already follow and listen to?**

## Step 3: Shortlist creators

- **Ask your customers** who they follow on X.
- **Search the topics** your product solves and note who answers them well.
- **Check engagement over the last 10–15 posts**, not the best one.
- **Mix sizes.** Smaller creators often have more engaged audiences, and you can test more of them on the same budget. See [Why smaller creators often outperform](/blog/why-micro-creators-outperform).

Our full checklist is in [How to find and vet influencers](/blog/how-to-find-and-vet-influencers). On Transformer you can skip the manual search: paste your website and you get suggested X creators, each with why they fit and a suggested price.

## Step 4: Write the ask

Tell each creator what to post about in a sentence or two: what the product does, who it's for, what's new, and the link. Leave the wording to them, and ask for a clear paid-partnership disclosure (on X, the Paid partnership label). On Transformer the ask is written for you from your website, and you can edit it before sending. If you run a bigger campaign with several talking points, a one-page [creator brief](/blog/creator-brief-template) helps.

## Step 5: Set the payout

Price by audience size and fit, and consider a commission on tracked sales. As a starting point, Transformer's default tiers for one X post are:

| Creator's followers on X | Brand pays per post | Creator receives (80%) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| under 5,000 | $50 | $40 |
| 5,000–24,999 | $125 | $100 |
| 25,000–99,999 | $250 | $200 |
| 100,000–499,999 | $625 | $500 |

Pay more for a strong fit. See [How much should you pay an influencer?](/blog/how-much-to-pay-an-influencer) and [How much to budget for your first creator campaign](/blog/influencer-marketing-budget-first-campaign).

## Step 6: Send offers and let creators choose

Send each creator a specific offer: what to post about, the link, the deliverable and the price. Creators accept the offers that fit their audience, which is what you want: a creator who says yes because they like the product writes a better post. A short, personal note about why you picked them helps; see [How to reach out to influencers](/blog/how-to-reach-out-to-influencers).

## Step 7: Pay only for verified posts

Have the money committed before the creator posts, and release it only when the post is checked: live, from the creator's own account, with your link and a clear paid-partnership disclosure. Creators know they'll be paid; you never pay for a post that didn't go up. See [How to pay creators per verified post](/blog/pay-creators-per-verified-post).

## Step 8: Measure and re-book

Compare creators on the goal you set: tracked clicks, signups or sales per creator, and cost per result. Re-book the creators whose audiences act, try new ones in their place, and keep the ask that worked. See [How do you measure the results of creator marketing?](/blog/influencer-marketing-is-measurable)

## How Transformer runs this

Transformer is the agentic influencer marketplace: real creators, paid on verified posts. Run it from the dashboard or from your agent.

- **Suggested creators:** paste your website and get X creators matched to your brand, each with why they fit and a suggested price. No brief to write.
- **Offers:** the price, the ask and your link are prefilled; sending is free, and you pay only when a creator accepts (balance, card or US bank account). The creator posts after you've paid. Unanswered offers expire after 7 days.
- **Payment protection:** the payment is held and released when the post is verified on X with the Paid partnership label; money from declined or expired offers goes back to your balance.
- **Tracking:** every accepted offer gets its own tracked link; report sales with the click id.
- **Agents:** the same steps work through the MCP server, REST API or CLI. See [Run an influencer campaign from an AI agent](/blog/run-influencer-campaign-from-ai-agent-mcp).

No subscription or minimum: you pay per offer, and creators keep 80%. [Sign up](/login?signin=signup) as a brand and paste your website to see your suggested creators.

## FAQ

### What makes a good influencer campaign?
One clear goal, creators whose audience matches your customers, posts in the creators' own words with clear disclosure, and a tracked link per creator so you can measure results and re-book the ones that work.

### What goals should a creator campaign have?
Pick one: signups or trials, sales, launch awareness, or waitlist joins. Set a number for it before contacting creators, and measure each creator against it.

### Who is the target audience for an influencer campaign?
Your customers, described specifically: role, interests and location. The campaign works when a creator's followers are those people, so define the audience first and pick creators second.

### What tools let brands manage creator recruiting, deliverables and payouts in one place?
Influencer marketplaces and platforms. On Transformer, a brand pastes its website, gets suggested X creators, sends them offers free, pays when a creator accepts, holds the payment until each X post is verified, tracks clicks and sales per creator and pays creators, from the dashboard or from an AI agent.

### How many creators should a first campaign have?
Five to ten is a good test: enough to compare creators, small enough to manage. Re-book the ones whose audiences act.

## Sources

- [Influencer Marketing Hub: Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report 2026](https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-benchmark-report/)
- [FTC: Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers](https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/disclosures-101-social-media-influencers)