The American Press Institute’s guide to influencer collaborations
Kevin Loker, Samantha Ragland, Ariel Zirulnick, Mollie Muncha and Adriana Lacy, American Press Institute,
This guide shares lessons from four months of local news experiments.
Influencer partnerships or collaborations are a way to deepen community engagement practices and increase organizational capacity.
This guide from the American Press Institute draws on lessons from the Election + Influencer Learning Cohort supported by the American Press Institute and the Knight Election Hub. After four months of non-partisan, election-based influencer collaborations, the cohort concluded in January.
Participating newsrooms represented diverse communities and media types — PublicSource (Pennsylvania), Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Georgia), THE CITY (New York), WSOC-TV (North Carolina), Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (Wisconsin) and Factchequeado (nationwide). And they pursued different types of collaborations and goals.
In the guide, you’ll find:
- A step-by-step process to demystify influencer collaborations and enhance community outreach
- Tips for mapping your local influencer landscape
- An ethical roadmap for journalists who partner with influencers
- Essential contract guidelines for navigating influencer collaborations
- 22 ideas to steal from the API Influencer Learning Cohort