Influencer marketing succeeds when there is a good idea and a creator who fits it, the audience and the brand. Follower count is only part of the picture. A creator whose audience resembles the brand's audience, who speaks in a way that suits it, and from whom the message sounds credible, will usually bring a better result than a big creator with a scattered audience. So the work starts with the idea and defining the audience, continues with a structured selection and check of each creator, and ends with measurement defined in advance.
In brief
- רעיון וקהל לפני שמות. Define what you want to say and to whom before opening a list of creators, and choose by fit, not by size.
- בודקים לפני שחותמים. Audience quality, real engagement, past collaborations and content history are checked before every contract.
- סימון ברור בעברית. According to the Attorney General's position, sponsored content should be labeled at the beginning of the post, in Hebrew and unambiguously.
- מגדירים הצלחה מראש. Tagged links, discount codes and branded searches make it possible to compare creators and decide whom to continue with, even if on their own they don't prove what the campaign added.
What is influencer marketing, and why is follower count misleading?
Influencer marketing is a paid or otherwise compensated collaboration between a brand and a content creator on social networks, in which the creator presents the brand to their audience. Follower count is the first figure you see, so it's easy to treat it as the main thing.
The problem is that follower count describes size, not fit. It doesn't say where the followers are from, how old they are, whether they are active, or whether they are relevant to the product at all. A creator with a small, precise audience is often worth more than a big creator whose audience doesn't buy in the category.
Marketing through influencers works when there is an idea that fits the creator and their audience, and the message sounds natural coming from them. If the audience feels the creator is reading an ad, it may react as it would to an ad and skip it.
How do you define the audience before choosing influencers in Israel?
Before looking for creators, define the audience the campaign needs to reach, and only then look for creators whose audience matches the definition. This order helps focus the budget.
The definition should include more than age and gender. It's worth asking what stage of life the audience is at, what content it consumes, which platforms it's active on and what makes it trust a recommendation. An audience of young parents in the periphery and an audience of students in Tel Aviv will react differently to the same message, even if they are the same age.
In Israel's influencer market there is another consideration: the audience is relatively small, and many creators share some of their followers. When building a roster of several creators, it's worth checking how much their audiences overlap, so you don't pay twice to reach the same people.
What should you check before signing with a creator?
Before signing, check five main things: audience quality, real engagement, past collaborations, fit with the brand's values and content history. The following table summarizes what to check and how.
| בדיקה | What to check | How to check | Warning sign |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audience quality | Whether the followers are real, active and from the right country | Screenshots of audience data in the app, source and age and location percentages | A high share of followers from abroad or empty accounts |
| Real engagement | Whether the comments are about the content | Reading comments on several recent posts | Generic, repetitive comments, or sharp jumps in followers |
| Actual performance | How many people see the content, not just followers | View and reach data for previous posts, including sponsored posts | A large gap between followers and views |
| Past collaborations | Which brands they worked with and how often | Reviewing the feed and content labeled as a collaboration | Working with direct competitors, or an ad in every post |
| Language and values | Whether the tone fits the brand | Watching content over several months | A style or topics that clash with the brand |
| History | Content or statements that could create a crisis | Searching the creator's name online and in articles | Past controversies that weren't addressed |
| Compliance with labeling rules | Whether they label sponsored content as required | Checking past collaborations | Sponsored posts without clear labeling |
The last check is especially important. A creator who didn't label collaborations in the past may also expose the brand working with them to risk.
Audience data is best requested directly from the creator, from the platform's insights dashboard, rather than relying only on what appears on the public profile. Professional creators usually provide it as part of the process.
How do you write a brief that leaves room for the creator?
A good brief presents the idea and the central message, defines what must not be said and the legal requirements, and leaves the creator the way to tell it. The creator knows their audience well and how to speak to it.
The brief should include:
- מטרה אחת. Awareness, download, purchase or sign-up, and not all of them at once.
- מסר מרכזי אחד. One sentence the audience should remember, not a list of ten benefits.
- גבולות. What must not be said, claims that must not be made, and competitors that must not be mentioned.
- דרישות סימון. How to label the content as advertising, on each platform.
- תהליך אישור. Who approves, within what time, and how many rounds of revisions there are.
- זכויות שימוש. Whether the brand can use the content in paid advertising, and for how long.
The last question connects to UGC. UGC, short for User Generated Content, is content created by users, for example a review or a video a customer uploaded on their own initiative. Brands sometimes commission paid UGC-style content from creators to use in ads. This is content the brand commissioned and paid for, even when it looks spontaneous. If that's the intention, it needs to be written into the contract in advance, including the platforms, the duration of use and whether the content will be posted from the creator's account.
How do you label sponsored content in Israel?
Sponsored content needs to be labeled so that the audience immediately understands it is an advertisement. This is a requirement arising from the Consumer Protection Law, as detailed below, and also a condition for preserving the audience's trust in the creator and the brand.
The Consumer Protection Law prohibits advertising that may mislead a reasonable person into thinking it is not advertising. In January 2021, the Attorney General submitted a position to the Jerusalem District Court, in the context of class action motions against advertisers on Instagram, expressing the view that the provision also applies to influencer advertising on social networks. According to the position, the label should appear at the beginning of the post, be visible without an additional click, be clear and unambiguous, and be written in Hebrew in terms the audience understands, such as advertisement or sponsored content.
The same position stated that tagging the brand or a hashtag alone is not enough. It also stated that Instagram's paid partnership label, on its own, does not necessarily ensure that the audience in Israel will understand it's an advertisement. As of the article's last update, this is the official position published on the government website. It is not a court ruling, and it's advisable to consult a lawyer about specific cases.
What do the platforms require?
The platforms also have their own rules, which add to the law rather than replace it:
- אינסטגרם. Meta's branded content policy requires using the paid partnership label and tagging the brand in all branded content.
- טיקטוק. The commercial content disclosure setting must be turned on for every post that promotes a brand. The label is shown as a paid partnership when promoting another brand, and a post without disclosure may be removed or restricted.
The cautious practice is to combine both: the platform's label, and also a clear word in Hebrew at the beginning of the text.
How do you measure an influencer campaign?
Measure an influencer campaign by a goal defined before launch, with a separate measurement tool for each creator. Impressions and likes are only the beginning.
- מגדירים מטרה ומדד אחד לכל קמפיין. Traffic to the site, sales, sign-ups or a change in perception, and not all of them at once.
- נותנים לכל יוצר קישור מתויג משלו. A link with UTM parameters makes it possible to see in Google Analytics how much traffic came from each creator and what it did on the site. It's worth keeping consistent spelling, because the parameters are case-sensitive.
- מוסיפים קוד הנחה אישי. A different code for each creator also measures purchases that didn't go through the link.
- אוספים נתונים מהיוצר. Screenshots of views, reach, saves and shares, already specified in the contract.
- בודקים חיפושי מותג. An increase in searches for the brand name during the campaign period can indicate impact that doesn't go through a link, although it also has other causes.
- משווים בין יוצרים לפי עלות לתוצאה. By the cost of each defined result, even when the creators differ in size.
Such measurement makes it possible to decide at the end of each wave whom to continue with, whom to move to a longer collaboration with, and whom to end with.
It's important to remember that part of influencer marketing's impact isn't measured by a click. A person who saw a recommendation may search for the brand a week later, or buy in a store. So it's worth looking at the broader picture of the period too, and not judging a creator only by their link. Links and discount codes also measure only actions that can be attributed to the creator. They don't prove those actions wouldn't have happened without them, meaning they don't measure incrementality.
What changes when the campaign includes many creators?
Professional management of an influencer campaign is needed mainly when the campaign includes several creators, several platforms or a combination with paid media. In a campaign with one creator, a brand can work directly.
The advantage of professional management is mainly in the process: finding creators by audience data, pre-signing checks, managing contracts and rights, checking labeling before every publication, and uniform measurement. When working with many creators at once, a single labeling mistake or an unchecked creator can harm the whole campaign.
How we approach this at CONNECT
At CONNECT, part of the Bruckner Yaar Levi advertising group, an influencer campaign starts with the idea and defining the audience: what the brand wants to say, to whom, and which creators can say it in their own way. When there are several directions, they can be tested in advance inearly message testing, and the brief built on what came up.
From there we move to choosing creators by audience data and pre-signing checks, a brief that leaves room for the creator, and checking labeling before every publication. The campaign is measured with separate links and codes for each creator, and the data is connected with the rest of the brand's social and media activity.
Frequently asked questions
How do you choose influencers for a campaign?
Start with the idea and defining the audience the campaign needs to reach, and only then look for creators whose audience matches the definition. For each creator, check audience data, comment quality, the gap between followers and views, past collaborations and content history. A small creator with a precise audience is often better than a big creator with a scattered audience.
Is it mandatory to label a sponsored post in Israel?
Yes. The Consumer Protection Law prohibits advertising that may mislead people into thinking it isn't advertising, and the Attorney General stated in a position submitted to the court that this also applies to influencers on social networks. According to the position, the label should be at the beginning of the post, in Hebrew, and visible without an additional click. According to the same position, tagging the brand or a hashtag alone is not enough. The position is not a court ruling, and in specific cases it's advisable to consult a lawyer.
What is the difference between micro-influencers and big influencers?
The main difference is in the size of the audience and how precise it is. Smaller influencers usually speak to an audience focused on a particular topic, so their recommendation can sound more personal and credible. Big influencers reach many people quickly, but their audience is more varied. The choice depends on the goal: broad awareness, or influence on a defined audience.
What is UGC and how is it different from influencer marketing?
UGC is content users created, such as a review video or an unboxing a customer uploaded on their own initiative. In influencer marketing the creator posts on their own account and to their own audience. When a brand commissions paid UGC-style content from creators, it uses it mainly in its own ads. This is no longer independently created content, even if it looks that way. In such a case it's important to define in the contract the usage rights, the duration of use and the platforms where the content will appear.
How do you measure the success of an influencer campaign?
Define one goal and one metric in advance, and give each creator their own measurement tool: a link with UTM parameters that shows traffic in Google Analytics, and a personal discount code that measures purchases. In addition, collect view and reach data from the creators, and check whether there were more searches for the brand name. This way creators are compared by cost per result rather than by size. These metrics show actions that can be attributed to each creator, and not necessarily what the campaign added.
ראו גם: Influencers & Content Creators · Social Media Management · איך קוראים דוח קמפיין · Synthetic audience research · פרטיות ומדידה בשיווק
Sources: The Attorney General's position on influencer advertising on Instagram (gov.il) · The Consumer Protection and Fair Trade Authority: research on identifying covert advertising · Instagram Help Center: paid partnership label · TikTok: Branded content on TikTok · Google Analytics Help: UTM parameters
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