Frequently Asked Questions 

About Influencer Gifting

  • Influencer gifting, also known as product seeding, connects brands with creators who are genuinely interested in trying their products, experiences or gift cards. Rather than paying for a scripted endorsement, brands give creators the freedom to share only if they genuinely love what they receive. This creates more natural recommendations, authentic social proof and valuable UGC—while helping brands build awareness and creator relationships at a scale that paid partnerships often cannot match.

  • Paid partnerships guarantee agreed deliverables, but audiences can often recognise when content is sponsored. Influencer gifting gives creators the freedom to share their genuine experience, resulting in endorsements that feel more credible and organic. It also allows brands to engage a larger group of relevant creators without paying an individual talent fee for every relationship -making gifting a cost-effective way to generate widespread awareness, social proof and potential brand ambassadors.

  • Gifted content is not guaranteed - and that is part of what makes it powerful. When a creator chooses to post without being paid, the endorsement carries genuine credibility. By selecting highly relevant creators who actively want to try the product, brands can improve participation and posting rates while reaching more people than may be possible through paid partnerships alone. Ernie manages creator selection, communications and content tracking to help maximise campaign results.

  • Gifted campaigns allow brands to discover which creators and content naturally resonate before investing further. If a brand wants to reuse or boost a high-performing post, Ernie can help obtain the creator’s permission and negotiate the necessary usage rights. This means brands can identify proven content organically, then selectively invest in the strongest assets - rather than paying upfront licensing and production fees across every creator relationship.

 Your Product & Brand

  • Whether you’re launching a completely new product or trying to raise awareness of a product that needs a bit more consumer love - influencer seeding is an amazing way to spread the word about amazing products. We’ve worked with brands on hugely successful campaigns for products ranging from under $5 to over $500.

  • We work with a wide range of brand categories - from food and drink, through to beauty and tech. We also have experience working with brands to provide custom solutions unique to their needs. If you’re wondering if we’re the right fit for you - just drop us a line!

  • Yes! To keep things easy, this should be limited to 3 options, with choices of a similar value. You would also need to make sure that enough stock is available of each option so that we can kit out influencers no matter their choice.

  • ### What if I have a high-value product?

    For higher-value products, Ernie can arrange contracted or termed gifting to give brands greater certainty. Selected creators agree to defined content deliverables, posting dates and usage terms in exchange for keeping the product. Alternatively, products may be provided on loan and returned after content is created. This approach combines the authenticity of product-led creator content with the structure and accountability of a contracted partnership, making it suitable for premium, limited-edition or high-cost products.

 Our Process

Check out our homepage for an overview of our influencer seeding process here at Ernie.

  • While we have a registered network of more than 12,000 creators, we are not limited to it. We combine our database, campaign technology and direct platform sourcing to find creators who are uniquely suited to each brief. Whether you need a broad audience or a highly specific niche, we can source creators based on location, age, audience, interests, passions, content style and brand alignment.

  • We always ask for guidance on the influencer categories you’d like to try your product, and love when you share example influencers that you love. However, we will only send products to influencers that confirm they would like to try out your product. While this means that you can’t pick and choose exactly who tries, it gives a much better chance of the influencer trying, loving and sharing your product! 

  • You sure can! Our delivery partner network is able to dispatch products Australia-wide. This means that we can work with you to determine the influencers that are best fit for your product and make sure it is in the right hands.

  • No, no money exchanges hands! Influencers who confirm they are keen to try your product, are sent a sample and are encouraged to share their thoughts and love in exchange for the product. 

  • At the heart of Ernie is authentic product seeding to real people. Which means influencers only post content if they like the product. While that means that there isn’t a guarantee, this is where our process of sending only to influencers who are interested in sampling is super important.

    We also have a wealth of previous campaign experience across diverse brands and products, so we can give you a clear indication on the scale of content to expect based on your brief.

  • We can absolutely work with you to give influencers creative prompts for their content, but expect a mix of stories and in feed posts (videos, carousels, and stills) across platforms. Ultimately, it’s up to them to try out the product how they choose - which is where the beauty of influencer seeding comes in!

  • We can work with you to share brand preferences with the creators, but as this is a gifted campaign, influencers are not obligated to adhere to these guidelines.

  • Absolutely! Whether it’s leaving a Google review or a review on your website, we can work with you to figure out the best way to do this. The main thing is: keep the process clear and simple.

  • Share that social proof! As long as you credit the influencer, you can organically share content on your own social media channels. If you’re looking to put spend behind any influencer content, this can often come with a small fee - but we can work with you to speak to the influencer if this is something you have your eye on!

Get in touch with us to talk more on how we can make influencer seeding work for you! 

Say hello

info@helloernie.com.au

Suite G1, 79-83 Myrtle Street, Chippendale NSW 2008, Australia
(02) 7209 9100

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