How Brands Can Win With Influencer Campaigns This Holiday Season

The holiday sales window, (from around early October through end-of-year) is now one of the most critical periods for influencer-led marketing and creator-driven outreach. Yet, it’s also a time when traditional paid-media budgets surge, and brand demand for short-funnel conversions is intense. Marketing teams (especially at SMBs) working with influencers, are asking themselves: How do we craft a campaign that leverages creators, aligns with the paid-media push, and produces measurable outcomes?

1. Start early and build momentum

One of the biggest mistakes brands make is launching influencer work too late in the season. The holiday shopping window is expanding: buyers are browsing, comparing and buying earlier.

• Pre-seed products with selected creators in early Q4 so content is live and indexed before the big rush.
• Use influencers to drive awareness of upcoming deals and exclusive previews, instead of just the flash discount moment.
• Align timing so that creator content supports and overlaps your paid-media build (across social ads, search, etc.).

2. Build a full-funnel influencer plan (not just awareness)

For the rest of the year, campaign goals vary: “Let’s get reach, maybe some likes.” But during the holiday window, brands need sales and conversions. (Learn more about how CreatorCatalyst leverages campaign goals here).
Strategic layers to include:

• Top-funnel influencers for reach: stronger names or niche macro-creators offering gift ideas and seasonal stories.
• Mid-/low-funnel creators: micro and nano-influencers who can drive action via promo codes, affiliate links, or content targeted at high-intent shoppers. Research suggests micro creators often deliver better engagement.
• Creator content as ad assets: One of the key ideas is taking creator posts (or UGC from creators) and using them as short-form ad creative or whitelisted posts. This gives your influencer content a second life in paid channels.
• Measure and optimize: Track which creators/content/codes are performing and be ready to iterate. Many brands struggle because they don’t measure the right things.

3. Understand that ads are dominating, and use that to your advantage

While creator content and UGC remain very important, the holiday season sees heavier competition for ad space and a need for content that serves both paid and organic channels. Some recent insights:

• Digital ad spend increases each holiday season; media costs and competition are intense.
• Digital ads and social media discovery are increasingly the norm in gift-buying journeys. For example, about 32% of shoppers say social media is an essential resource for the winter holidays.
• At the same time, research shows that UGC still drives higher conversion rates than standard brand creative: one study found posts with UGC drove ~10× higher conversions than non-UGC.

So what does this mean for your strategy?

• Expect that your paid ads will have to carry volume and reach, especially in the last-mile push (e.g., Cyber Week). Don’t rely solely on influencer posts for scale.
• Use creators to feed the ad machine: supply them with briefs that result in content you can amplify via paid placements (whitelisting, creator ad units, etc.).
• Because ad costs are higher and attention is scarcer, focus your influencer creative on high-impact formats: short videos with strong hook, clear offer, holiday-context, urgency. For example: “Limited time,” “gift ready,” “only X left for shipping” messaging.
• Use creator content as both organic and paid assets—think dual use. This drives efficiency and consistency.

4. Make UGC and creator content the trust anchor

In a marketplace saturated with deals, discounts and ad noise, authenticity wins. Creator and user-generated content (UGC) help brands cut through the clutter with real people, relatable experiences and social proof.

• UGC drives stronger ­conversion.
• Authentic content helps build trust, especially during gifting where the consumer wants to feel confident in the choice.
• Brands should treat UGC/creator content as libraries to reuse across emails, site pages, paid ads, etc.

Tactical tips for UGC and creator content in holiday campaigns:

• Provide creators with a loose framework (holiday context + product) but let them use their own authentic narratives rather than purely scripted ads. This helps trust.
• Run a hashtag-challenge, unboxing, or giveaway tied to holiday themes—for example “Share your holiday set-up with #XBrandHoliday” and then repurpose the best entries.
• Secure usage rights to creator/UGC assets early so you can repurpose them into paid placements or site content. Many brands skip licensing and miss the amplification opportunity.
• Place UGC on product detail pages, in emails or in retargeting ads.

5. Plan creatively with a holiday calendar and format strategy

Because the holiday season is intense, you need a content calendar and format playbook that aligns with shopping behaviour, platform mechanics and shipping/fulfillment deadlines.

• Lead-in phase (4–6 weeks before major events): Use creators to introduce your brand or hero product, talk gift positioning, tease deals.
• Peak phase (Black Friday through Cyber Monday and beyond): Heavy ad spend and creator posts with calls to act now, exclusive offers, last-shipping-day urgency.
• Last-minute / post-holiday phase: Use creators to highlight value, alternate gift ideas, returns/upgrades, New Year's themes.
• Format playbook:
  • Short-form video (TikTok, Reels) with hooks like “gift idea for X” or “you won’t believe this deal”
  • Instagram carousel or YouTube shorts for deeper story-telling
  • Live or shopping stream (if relevant) with creator interacting and fielding questions
  • Static posts + Stories for amplification and link clicks
  • Paid ad variations of creator content: reels, feed ads, dynamic product ads

8. Post-campaign: learn, reuse & build momentum for next year

The holiday season ends but your metrics, insights and content library don’t have to.

• Review: Which creators drove the best ROI? Which content formats moved the needle?
• Repurpose: Top creator content becomes evergreen: highlight customer stories, UGC galleries, influencer testimonials throughout next year.
• Build a content bank: Secure rights for high-performing creator assets so next holiday you’re ahead of the game.
• Refine: Update your influencer database, plan next year’s campaign earlier (Q3) and use predictive modeling to forecast budget/creative needs.

For brands using CreatorCatalyst.ai...

You have an advantage when it comes to running high-quality campaigns.

• The holiday rush means brands need many creators (macro, micro, nano) quickly, and our AI Discovery accelerates that.
• With higher stakes, brands will care more about disclosure, audience authenticity and brand-fit. Our platform’s AI Matching is a valuable tool.
• Writing campaign briefs and getting them reviewed takes forever, so our AI Campaigns module generates them in seconds.
• During holiday chaos, brands don’t have time for manual outreach. Our AI Outreach workflow for onboarding, briefing, tracking and payment helps you stay agile.

For those brands using our platform: Prepare now, scale smart, and turn your influencer campaigns into conversion machines during the holiday rush.