Answers

Finding UK micro-influencers who actually sell

Choose creators by UK audience and real views, test a small batch with a code each, keep those who sell, and pay a fee plus product when you need the post.

The question: “I run a UK skincare brand doing about £2M a year. How do I find micro-influencers who actually sell, and should I pay a fee plus product?”

Choose on audience and views, not followers

Choose creators by who watches them and what their posts actually achieve, test a small batch with a code each, and pay a fee plus product when you need a post, because product alone often does not get one. Look for followers mostly in the UK, steady views on recent posts and comments that ask about skin and products. "Micro" has no fixed definition; Kolsquare's UK benchmarks use 10,000 to 100,000 followers, but the label matters less than the audience.

Before you agree anything, ask for a screenshot of their audience insights: the industry code of conduct from ISBA and the Influencer Marketing Trade Body expects creators to be open about who follows them. Check, too, that they already talk about skincare in a way your customers would trust, and that their skin type and concerns match the products you would send.

Where to look

Start with people who already know you: customers and followers who tag you, and the creators your customers follow. Then search Instagram and TikTok for the skin concerns your products are made for.

Meta's Creator Marketing Hub, in Meta Business Suite, lets a brand filter creators by interests, age and follower count, for both the creator and their audience, and shows each creator's past branded content and partners. Not every account is eligible yet.

Test small, and judge each creator on sales

Give every creator their own discount code and link. Shopify's Sales by discount codes report shows orders and sales for each code, so you can compare creators one by one. Read it as a guide, not a verdict: some buyers never type the code, and codes travel. Browser extensions such as PayPal's Honey look for working codes at checkout and apply them automatically.

Decide in advance how many orders each creator needs to pay back: their fee plus the product and postage, divided by your margin per order. Re-book the ones who clear it. When a post sells, you can put ad money behind it as a Meta partnership ad, with the creator's permission.

What a fee buys that product does not

Product alone buys goodwill, not a commitment. In a 2023 Traackr survey of 305 marketers in the US, UK, France and Germany, 61% said fewer than half of the creators they gifted went on to post. A fee buys an agreed post: the format, the date and how long it stays up. A commission on top rewards the creators who sell.

Send the product early. Under the 2026 ASA, CAP and CMA guide, a review must be based on the creator's genuine experience, so set the posting date after they have had time to use it properly.

The UK rules that bite for skincare

Gifts count. The joint guide treats free products as payment even when there was no obligation to post, so the post must say it is an ad from the start (an "Ad" label at the very beginning is the simplest way); it advises against labels such as "gifted", "PR" and "collab". You and the creator are both responsible, and the CMA can fine a business up to 10% of its global turnover or £300,000, whichever is greater.

Claims count too. CAP's advice is that claims to "treat" acne or spots are likely to be medicinal, which an unlicensed cosmetic cannot make; cleansing to help prevent breakouts is safer ground, with evidence. In 2021 the ASA also ruled against tanning ads where influencers' beauty filters were likely to exaggerate the product's effect; it advises brands and influencers to avoid such filters, and suggests brands say so in their agreements with creators.

Where Autone fits

Autone runs this from your own Gmail or Outlook: it finds creators, writes to them, follows up, collects each creator's address so you can send the product, and tracks each post. You approve every creator, fee and payment; once you have approved a creator, it handles the replies and follow-ups, and anything about money still waits for you. You set each creator's fee, plus product and postage, and each creator's own discount code shows their orders in your Shopify. It is built for Shopify brands, at $199, $499 or $999 a month, month to month, with a 30-day free trial.

When Autone is the wrong choice

If you do not sell through Shopify, Autone is the wrong tool, because it is built for Shopify brands. If you want a commission-only affiliate programme, Shopify's Collabs app is made for that: it is free to install, with a 2.9% processing fee on automatic commission payments. And if you only send a few parcels a year, doing it by hand from your own inbox costs less than a monthly plan.

Questions

Do gifted skincare posts need an ad label in the UK?

Yes. The October 2026 ASA, CAP and CMA guide treats free products as payment even if you asked for nothing in return. The CMA tells brands to send gifts with instructions that any resulting post must be labelled "Ad".

Can a creator say my product cleared their acne?

Very probably not, unless the product is a licensed medicine. CAP's advice is that claims to treat acne or spots are likely to be considered medicinal, and the CMA says a brand may be held responsible for misleading content published on its behalf.

Is Instagram's "Paid partnership" label enough?

Sometimes. The ASA, CAP and CMA guide says a platform's label may be enough if it is upfront and prominent; if it blends in, the creator should add "Ad" themselves.

Sources

ASA, CAP and CMA, "Influencers' guide to making clear that ads are ads" (October 2026): free products count as payment whether requested or unsolicited and even with no obligation to post; any related content must be disclosed as advertising, ideally with an "Ad" label upfront; recommended labels #Ad and #Advert; advises against "Gift/Gifted", "PR", "Collab" and "Sponsored"; a platform's own label may be enough if upfront and prominent; the brand, the creator and any agents are responsible for labelling; a review must be based on genuine experience; the CMA can impose financial penalties under the DMCC Act. (asa.org.uk, checked 2026-11-11)
CMA, "How the CMA uses its direct consumer enforcement powers" (published 28 August 2025): a penalty can be up to 10% of a business's global turnover or £300,000, whichever is greater. (gov.uk, checked 2026-11-11)
CMA, "Social media endorsements: guidance for brands" (updated 28 August 2025): gifts of any products are payment; even if the business does not control the content or ask for anything in return, ads must be labelled as ads; brands sending free gifts should include clear instructions that any resulting content must be labelled "Ad"; a brand may be held responsible for misleading content published on its behalf. (gov.uk, checked 2026-11-11)
Kolsquare, "The Budget Report 2027" UK page (posted 19 October 2026): defines micro creators as 10k to 100k followers. (kolsquare.com, checked 2026-11-11)
ISBA and IMTB, Influencer Marketing Code of Conduct (version 4, November 2024, aimed at UK practitioners), clause 5.1: influencers and their agencies will be transparent about the nature and demographics of their audience. (isba.org.uk, checked 2026-11-11)
Meta Help Center, "Find creators to partner with on Meta Creator Marketing Hub": in Meta Business Suite, brands can filter by interests, age and follower count, applied to creators and to target audiences; a creator profile shows past and active partnership ads, branded content, past partners and metrics; the feature may not be available to every account yet. (help.instagram.com, checked 2026-11-11)
Meta Help Center, "About Meta Creator Marketing Hub": accessed in Meta Business Suite or Ads Manager; a business must be eligible to onboard. (help.instagram.com, checked 2026-11-11)
Shopify Help Center, Sales reports: the "Sales by discount codes" report groups sales by discount code, with the number of orders each code was applied to and their total sales. (help.shopify.com, checked 2026-11-11)
Honey (part of PayPal): pops up at checkout to search for coupons and, if it finds working codes, automatically applies one to the cart. (joinhoney.com, checked 2026-11-11)
Modash, "How to set up influencer discount codes" (September 2026): pair each code with a tracking link because some followers buy without entering the code; a coupon site that obtains a code can credit a creator with sales they did not influence. (modash.io, checked 2026-11-11)
Meta Help Center, "How to create a partnership ad": partnership ads (formerly branded content ads) let advertisers run ads with creators, showing the partner accounts in the ad header; the creator grants permission, for example by sharing an ad code. (help.instagram.com, checked 2026-11-11)
Meta Business Help Center, "About labels on paid partnership posts": branded content uses the "Paid partnership with" label. (facebook.com, checked 2026-11-11)
Traackr, State of Influencer Product Seeding survey of 305 marketers from brands and agencies in the US, France, Germany and the UK (reported June 2023): 61% said less than half of the influencers receiving gifted products actually post. (traackr.com, checked 2026-11-11)
CAP AdviceOnline, "Health: Acne and spots" (7 August 2024): claims to "treat" acne or spots are likely to be considered medicinal, and a product classed as a medicine needs an MHRA licence; claims that a product cleanses the skin to help prevent spots are more likely to be acceptable, with robust evidence. (asa.org.uk, checked 2026-11-11)
ASA, "The (mis)use of social media beauty filters when advertising cosmetic products" (11 February 2021): rulings against two tanning ads featuring influencers' Instagram stories whose filters were likely to exaggerate the products' efficacy; the ASA advises influencers and advertisers to avoid applying filters likely to exaggerate a product's effect, and says brands may wish to advise influencers against such filters in their commercial agreements. (asa.org.uk, checked 2026-11-11)
Shopify Collabs on the Shopify App Store: free to install; a 2.9% commission processing fee on automatic payments may apply; custom affiliate application page and personalised links and codes for approved creators. (apps.shopify.com, checked 2026-11-11)

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