Influencer marketing glossary

Plain, concrete definitions of the key terms used when brands work with creators: UGC, barter, reach, media kit, ad labelling. Each one in two sentences, without jargon and without a price list.

51 terms explained in plain language
9 topic categories
15 related niches

Basics

Influencer marketing: Advertising in which a creator tells their own audience about the product, rather than the brand telling it. It works because a recommendation from someone you listen to weighs more than a banner.
Influencer: A person who has their own audience on social media and influences its decisions. A brand pays not for ad space, but for the trust that person has already built.
Blogger: A creator running their own channel — once a blog, today more often a profile on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube. In Poland the word is sometimes used interchangeably with “influencer”, though it usually stresses publishing regularly.
Creator: A broader term than influencer: anyone who makes content — including someone who films material for brands instead of publishing it on their own channel. The name puts the emphasis on the craft, not on reach.
Audience: The people who actually watch a given creator's content: their age, gender, location and interests. Not the same as follower count — an account can have plenty of followers and a narrow group of real viewers.

Forms of collaboration

Paid collaboration: The creator is paid in money for producing and publishing the material. The terms — scope, deadline and amount — are settled before the start, not after delivery.
Barter: Settlement in a product or a service instead of money: a dinner, a treatment, an order from the shop. For smaller companies it is often the first way into a collaboration.
Product seeding: Sending a product to creators without ordering any particular publication. The brand counts on some of them showing the thing themselves, but has no guarantee and no deadline for it.
Brand ambassador: A creator who works with one brand over a long time and regularly, rather than on a single campaign. The audience starts to associate the brand with a particular person, which works more strongly than a one-off mention.
Affiliate collaboration: The creator is paid on results: a commission on sales made through their own link or code. The brand pays for the outcome, and the creator risks earning nothing if sales are weak.
Giveaway: A joint activation in which the creator's audience wins a product from the brand. It drives reach and comments faster than an ordinary post, but it also attracts people interested only in the prize.

Content

UGC: User generated content — material that looks like it was filmed by an ordinary user, not by an agency. The brand orders it from a creator and uses it on its own channels and in paid advertising.
UGC creator: A creator who films material for a brand but does not publish it on their own channel. What counts is the quality and the credibility of the footage, not the follower count.
Sponsored content: Material published by a creator on a brand's order and for payment. It has to be clearly labelled as advertising — including when the settlement was barter.
Product placement: Showing a product inside content that would have been made anyway: in a video, a story or a post. The viewer watches the material and the product is part of it, not a break in it.
Product review: Material in which the creator judges a product after using it — flaws included, if they see any. An honest review builds trust; staged praise spends it.
Unboxing: A recording of a parcel being opened: the packaging, the first impression, the contents. The format shows the product at a natural moment and works well for launches.

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Describe the task: the format, the deadline and the amount or the barter. Creators from your industry will apply on their own, and you choose from the applications.