Fazley Rabbi"We paid an influencer and nothing happened"
This is a common story. A business pays a creator with a large following, the video gets plenty of views and likes, and the order count barely moves. Usually the problem is not influencer marketing itself. It is how the creators were chosen, and the fact that nobody could tell which orders came from them.
Micro-influencers are creators with a smaller but engaged following in a specific niche or area. They often suit small businesses better: their followers trust them, they are easier to work with, and you can try several at once. The work is in choosing well and measuring honestly.
Choose for fit, not follower count
Before contacting anyone, write down who your buyer is: age group, area, budget and what they care about. Then check each creator against that:
- Audience location. If you only deliver within certain districts, followers elsewhere are of little use. Ask the creator for a screenshot of their audience insights.
- Comment quality. Read the comments on recent posts. Real questions and conversations are a good sign; a wall of emojis and "nice" from unrelated accounts is not.
- Past brand posts. Look at how they presented other products. Did it feel natural? Did followers ask where to buy?
- Values and tone. Their content becomes linked to your brand. Check that you are comfortable with what they usually post.
- Consistency. A creator who posts regularly is usually more reliable than one with a single viral video.
Agree the details in writing
A short written agreement, even over email or WhatsApp, prevents most disputes. Cover:
- What they will make (video, story, post), on which platform and by when.
- The key points to include, claims they must not make, and whether you review before posting.
- How the partnership will be disclosed. Paid partnerships should always be clearly disclosed, using the platform's paid partnership label where it is available and plain words such as "sponsored" in the caption. Check each platform's current rules.
- Whether you may reuse the content on your page or in ads, and for how long.
- The fee or free product, and when it is paid.
Let creators speak in their own words, and in Bangla if that is how they talk to their followers. A scripted reading of your brochure loses the trust you are paying for.
Make every order traceable
This is where most campaigns fall down. Give each creator something unique:
- A personal discount code that customers mention when ordering.
- A tracked link with UTM tags, if you sell through a website.
- A question at order confirmation. When your team calls or messages to confirm a cash-on-delivery order, ask "Where did you hear about us?" and record the answer.
Keep a simple sheet with one row per creator: what you spent in fees and products, orders received, orders delivered and repeat buyers. After a few weeks you will see which creators bring real customers and which bring only views.
Common mistakes
- Spending the whole budget on one big name instead of testing several smaller creators.
- Judging by likes and views rather than delivered orders.
- Skipping disclosure, which damages trust and can break platform rules.
- Paying everything upfront to a creator you have never worked with. Splitting payment between before and after posting is reasonable.
- Doing it once. Followers often need to see a product more than once before they buy.
Doing it yourself, and getting support
You can find and contact creators yourself, especially local ones your customers already follow. Help is useful for building a shortlist, setting up tracking codes and links, and turning the best creator videos into ads with their permission. That sits within my social media and ads work, and the same tracking discipline applies to testing ad creatives.
A small first step
Pick three local creators whose followers look like your customers. Give each the same product, a unique discount code and a clear brief. Compare the delivered orders after a month, then decide who to work with again. If you want help setting it up, get in touch.