We've run influencer campaigns in Malaysia since 2015. The tools and platforms have changed completely since then, but the campaigns that work still follow the same five rules.

1. Set one clear goal, and measure that

Awareness, trust and sales need different creators, different content and different metrics. Campaigns that try to do all three at once usually do none of them well.

  • Awareness: measure views, reach and cost per view.
  • Trust and interest: measure engagement rate, comments and saves.
  • Sales: measure clicks, promo codes and affiliate sales.

Decide before you brief anyone. See the types of influencer marketing objectives and how we achieve them.

2. Cast for fit, not follower count

The right creator is one whose audience matches your buyer, whose content style suits your product, and who genuinely would use it. A creator with 8,000 engaged followers in your niche beats one with 300,000 who post about everything.

Check that their audience is real and actually in Malaysia, and look at their last ten posts, not their best one. See how to choose the right influencer.

3. Plan for breakouts, then boost them

Not every post will perform, and that's fine. On TikTok, the For You Page decides reach, so with many creators you're making several bets at once. In one skincare launch, three posts out of 125 delivered about two-thirds of all views.

So plan for it: book enough creators to give yourself several chances, watch the results in the first few days, and put paid boosting behind the posts that take off. See how to boost content without wasting budget.

4. Brief clearly, then let creators be themselves

A good brief covers the goal, the key messages, the must-haves (product shown, disclosure, call to action) and the don'ts. Then it stops. Creators know what works for their audience better than any brand does.

The best post in one of our Xiaohongshu campaigns came from a creator who turned the planned carousel into a video and wrote a curiosity-led title on her own initiative. Over-scripted content reads like an ad, and audiences scroll past ads. See how to write a brief that gets great content.

5. Run it long enough to learn

A single round of posts can create a spike. Lasting results come when your audience sees your brand from several creators over several months, and when you have time to learn which creators, formats and messages actually move your numbers.

We recommend at least RM10,000 a month for six months. Keep what works, refresh what doesn't: in one follow-up campaign we ran, reusing the same approach as the launch delivered about a tenth of the views, a clear sign of audience fatigue.

Common mistakes that quietly waste budget

  • Choosing creators by follower count alone. Big numbers don't guarantee the right audience.
  • Over-approving content. Five rounds of brand edits turn a natural recommendation into an advert.
  • No trackable path to purchase. If the goal is sales, every creator needs a code, link or shoppable post.
  • Skipping contracts. Deadlines, usage rights and disclosure should always be in writing. See the 2026 compliance guide.
  • Judging the campaign on one post. Look at the whole campaign, and at what you learned.
  • Stopping after the big moment. In one year-long programme we ran, the phase after the main event delivered almost a third of the year's views.

Want help putting these into practice?

We've run campaigns with 41,000+ influencers in our database since 2015. WhatsApp us and we'll reply within one business day, or start with what influencer marketing is.