Influencer Marketing in Canada: The Ultimate Guide

Influencer marketing is everywhere. From a TikTok video promoting a new coffee brand to an Instagram post showcasing a beautiful travel destination, influencers have become a powerful force in how Canadians shop and discover new products. For businesses in Canada, working with the right influencers is one of the best ways to build trust, reach a new audience, and drive sales.

Influencer marketing is not just about paying a celebrity to hold up your product. It’s about finding people who have built a loyal, engaged community and who can authentically share your brand’s story with their followers. In Canada, this strategy is more important than ever, with a huge percentage of Canadian consumers making purchases after seeing a recommendation from an influencer.

This guide will show you how to build an effective influencer marketing strategy for your business in Canada.

1. The Canadian Influencer Landscape

Canada’s influencer market is unique. It’s growing fast, and it has some specific trends you need to know about.

The Rise of Micro-Influencers

While big-name celebrities are impressive, the real power in Canadian influencer marketing lies with micro-influencers. These are creators with a smaller but highly engaged following, usually between 10,000 and 100,000 followers. They have a strong connection with their audience and are often seen as more authentic and trustworthy.

• Higher Engagement: Micro-influencers have much higher engagement rates than their larger counterparts. Their audience trusts their recommendations, which means they are more likely to buy a product after seeing it in a post.
• Cost-Effective: Working with micro-influencers is also more affordable. You can partner with several micro-influencers for the price of one macro-influencer, giving you a wider reach and more authentic content.
• Niche Audiences: You can find micro-influencers who focus on very specific topics, like sustainable fashion in Toronto, outdoor gear for the Rockies, or local coffee shops in Montreal. This helps you target your exact audience without wasting money.

Short-Form Video and Authenticity

In 2025, video content continues to dominate. Short-form videos on platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels are a must-have for any influencer campaign. They are easy to consume, and they have a high potential to go viral. Canadians are also looking for authenticity. They want to see real people sharing their genuine opinions, not a scripted ad. When you work with an influencer, give them creative freedom to tell your brand’s story in a way that feels natural to them.

2. How to Find the Right Influencers

Finding the right person to represent your brand is the most important part of your strategy. A bad partnership can hurt your brand’s reputation, so you have to choose wisely.

Look for Relevance, Not Just Reach

A creator’s follower count is not the most important thing. You should focus on relevance. Does their content match your brand’s values? Do they talk about topics that your target customers care about? A food influencer with 10,000 engaged followers is much more valuable for a restaurant than a fashion influencer with 100,000 followers who has never talked about food.

Check Their Engagement Rate

A high number of followers means nothing if people are not engaging with their content. You should look at their likes, comments, and shares. An Influencer Marketing with a high engagement rate has a strong relationship with their audience, and that’s exactly what you want. You can also read their comments to see if they are engaging in real conversations with their followers.

Find a Local Connection

Canadians appreciate content that feels local. You can find influencers who live in the same city or province as your business. A partnership with a local creator can build trust and show your community you are committed to the area. You can even find influencers who create content in both English and French to reach a wider audience in Quebec and beyond.

3. The Rules: Disclosures and Transparency

Canada has strict rules about influencer marketing, and both the brand and the influencer are responsible for following them. You must be completely transparent about your partnership.

Disclose All “Material Connections”

A “material connection” is any relationship between you and an influencer that could affect how people view their endorsement. This includes:

• Payment: Any money you pay the Influencer Marketing.
• Free Products: Any free products, services, or trips you give them.
• Family or Personal Relationships: If you have a personal connection with the influencer.

Use Clear Disclosures

Your disclosure must be clear, visible, and easy to understand. Using hashtags like #ad, #sponsored, or #partner is a must. The disclosure should be at the beginning of the post or video, so people see it right away. You should not hide the disclosure in a long list of hashtags or at the very end of a post.

Be Honest and Genuine

The Influencer Marketing opinion must be their own. You can’t write a script for them. The content has to reflect their genuine experience with your product. If an influencer has never used your product, they should not say they love it. This authenticity is what people are looking for, and it is also a legal requirement under Canadian advertising laws.

4. Putting It All Together: A Canadian Campaign Example

Let’s imagine a small business in British Columbia that sells locally-made hiking gear. They want to promote a new backpack. Here is what they could do:

• Goal: Increase brand awareness and drive sales for the new backpack.
• Find Influencers: They find 10 micro-influencers in British Columbia who create content about hiking, camping, and outdoor adventures.
• Reach Out: They send a personalized email to each influencer, explaining their brand’s story and offering to send them a free backpack. They also offer a small payment for a post and a short-form video.
• The Campaign: Each influencer receives the backpack and creates a video showing it in action on a beautiful B.C. hiking trail. They tag the brand and use the hashtag #sponsored in the caption. They also include a special discount code for their followers.
• Track Results: The business tracks how many people use the discount code and how many new followers they get. They also look at the engagement on the posts and videos.

This approach lets the business connect with a specific, interested audience in an authentic way, driving real results for their brand.