How to Supercharge Your Paid Ads Funnel with Influencer Content

Influencer-generated content (IGC) is one of the most powerful assets you can plug into your paid media funnel. When used strategically, IGC can lower customer acquisition costs, drive more conversions, and help you scale efficiently. 

So, what’s the best way to leverage IGC for your paid channels? 

We asked Shae Sattler (Influencer & Partnerships Strategy Consultant) and Todd Mendlinger (our in-house paid media expert) to share proven best practices for turning influencer content into high-performing ads — from concept development and creator briefing to campaign setup and ad format selection. 

Here’s their advice.

1. Build for placement from the start.

Great content won’t perform if it’s shown in the wrong place. A vertical Reels-style video might shine in Instagram Stories or Meta Reels, but fall flat on Facebook’s Feed. 

That’s why your creative format needs to match your most valuable placements. 

For example, one outdoor furniture brand saw strong results by pairing their creator content with specific placement strategies. Videos that featured backyard makeovers worked great with Reels. Meanwhile, repurposed statics from those videos helped them win on the Facebook Feed — a placement known to drive higher conversions.

What this means for you: When kicking off your influencer campaign, brief creators with paid placements in mind. Ask for multiple formats (e.g. vertical video, 4:5 still images, etc.). Consider repurposing videos into static ads, particularly when Feed performance matters. 

2. Pick content based on performance, but don’t rely only on organic results.

While it’s helpful to look at organic engagement when choosing IGC to promote, it shouldn’t be your only filter.

Just because a post didn’t perform organically doesn’t mean it won’t perform in paid. Organic results are impacted by algorithmic noise, like post timing or virality within a creator’s audience. Paid ads introduce that content to a broader, more targeted group of potential customers.

What to look for:

• Engagement rate relative to the creator’s follower count
• Impressions or reach relative to baseline content performance
• Overall engagement vs. your existing IGC library
  

But performance isn’t just about numbers. It’s also about brand fit.

As Shae noted:

“This is really about brand voice and image. I invest time upfront to educate creators on the brand voice, tone, and product value, so that most of the content we receive is already ad-ready.” 

She also maintains a shared content library with her paid ads team to ensure everyone’s aligned on what’s available and worth spending behind.

What this means for you: Measure performance and brand alignment. An asset that’s on-brand, high-quality, and showcases your value props clearly may be worth testing in paid — even if it didn’t go viral organically.

3. Don’t just test creators — test concepts.

One of the biggest mistakes brands make with influencer marketing is sending the same creative brief to every creator. That may simplify outreach, but it limits your ability to learn what actually drives performance.

Todd’s advice: 

“Create hypotheses and concepts you want to test so you can group content together and get a better read of what works from a content/narrative perspective. You don't want to reach out to 40 creators only to get back 40 very similar posts.”

So, treat organic IGC like A/B testing ad creative. Try out distinct concepts and formats, such as:

• “How-to” demos that show product benefits
• Before-and-after transformations to highlight results
• Face-to-camera testimonials that lean into authenticity
• Voiceover-led videos with polished visuals and branded storytelling

Shae also shared that she meets regularly with her paid ads team to stay aligned on what’s converting at any given time — whether it’s storytelling-led, educational, or simply eye-catching content with clear product value props. That real-time creative alignment ensures you’re always testing the right concepts, not just churning out content.

What this means for you: Create briefs tailored to your concepts, not just your products. That way, you can group content thematically and test your way into scalable winners.

4. Choose the right ad format.

Once you know what content to run, the next step is deciding how to run it: Meta Partnership Ads or allowlisting.

When to use Meta Partnership Ads:

• You want to quickly boost a post that’s already live.
• You need to get ads up with minimal friction.
• Negotiating usage rights is limited or time-sensitive.

When to use Allowlisting:

• You want to edit or reformat the video (e.g. tighten the hook, update overlays)
• You’re optimizing for different placements (e.g. Feed vs. Reels)
• You’re running branded static assets from a creator handle for added social proof
• You want full control over targeting, messaging, and CTA

Experts in the field often lean on Partnership Ads as a go-to because they’re fast, effective, and easier to secure. Allowlisting, while powerful, can be trickier to negotiate, especially with newer or algorithm-conscious creators.

As Todd puts it: 

“You should start with Partnership Ads for a quick turnaround to get your organic posts live as paid ads. These tend to work well. However, the original post may mention a specific holiday, or the captions/text overlays could be improved. In this case, you'll want to leverage allowlisting with the new assets you've put through post production.”

What this means for you: Use Partnership Ads to quickly turn organic content into ads, then secure rights to allowlisting if you want to iterate or scale high-performers. And when negotiating partnerships, be clear about the value of both, while remaining flexible if only one is on the table.

5. Structure campaigns for creator success.

Too many brands make the mistake of mixing creator content with branded content in the same ad set. This results in poor optimization and muddy performance data.

Todd’s advice: 

“Run your allowlisted/Partnership Ads in a separate campaign or ad set to avoid fragmentation and overlap. This allows the Meta algorithm to better optimize delivery for creator content, which may not perform as well when grouped with branded assets.”

This approach not only ensures that the algorithm doesn’t get confused, but it also lets you compare apples to apples when analyzing results.

What this means for you: Run IGC in dedicated campaigns or ad sets. Group by concept, creative format, or placement and let Meta optimize delivery based on clear creative signals.

6. Repurpose, remix, and reuse.

If you’re only using influencer content once, you’re leaving value on the table.

Some of the best-performing creator ads we’ve seen didn’t start out that way. They were reworked in post production. Whether it’s a stronger hook, better lighting, or a new CTA overlay, small tweaks can drive big results.

Consider:

• Turning longer clips into short-form hooks
• Pulling high-quality frames for static placements
• Editing together mashups from multiple creators
• Overlaying testimonials or quotes to increase clarity and impact
  

And remember, if you’ve built strong creator relationships and invested in education upfront, you’ll have high-quality, brand-aligned content that’s versatile and ad-ready.

What this means for you: Don’t toss content that doesn’t perform out of the gate. Rework it. Cut it. Add overlays or remix it with other creator clips. You’re likely sitting on a goldmine of raw footage that just needs a creative refresh.

7. Don’t forget to run creator content from your own handle.

IGC doesn’t just have to run from the creator’s handle to be effective. Especially for newer brands or those with low brand recognition, running creator content from your own handle can help build trust and control the narrative.

Plus, in Shae’s experience, it’s sometimes easier to secure rights for paid ad usage only:

“When both paid ad usage and allowlisting are hard to negotiate, I always lean toward paid ad usage. It’s invaluable, as long as the content is high quality.”

Try mixing and matching: 

• Creator video from creator handle
• Creator video from brand handle
• Branded content from creator handle
• Creator mashups from brand handle

What this means for you: Explore different handle combinations in your ads. Testing content from both brand and creator accounts can help you uncover what builds the most trust and drives the highest ROI, especially when brand recognition is still growing.

Influencer marketing as a performance channel

Influencer content isn’t just a brand play. It’s a performance lever. When used intentionally, IGC can fuel your paid media funnel with authentic, high-converting creative that scales. From testing different concepts to choosing the right ad formats and optimizing for placements, brands need to treat influencer content like the performance asset it is.

Want to learn more? Download our guide, The Secret to High-Performing Paid Ads.