Case Study: An Influencer Marketing Campaign In YouTube Shorts

If you are pouring budget into creator content but struggling to make YouTube Shorts perform for user acquisition, you are not alone — the format behaves nothing like standard YouTube placements. This case study breaks down how we built an influencer marketing campaign in YouTube Shorts to acquire new players for the mobile game Fishing Clash, what we learned about the algorithm, and how to program for virality. It pairs with our broader work in paid social and the wins documented across our case studies.

Objectives

Our objective was to attract new users for the mobile game Fishing Clash in the United States and Europe through an influencer marketing campaign. To achieve this, we engaged bloggers from various categories, including fishing, guns and weapons, vehicles, survival, sports, and education.

The first five categories were selected because they cater to a male audience and indicate an interest in recreational, entertaining, and adventurous content. In the last category, we sought individuals who were interested in learning how to fish.

Solution

As part of our collaboration with Fishing Clash, we launched influencers campaigns on YouTube and YouTube Shorts, and also published content across multiple platforms including TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. Bloggers were provided with a briefing to authentically showcase the mobile fishing simulator. They were instructed to demonstrate gameplay on mobile devices and include a call-to-action at the end of their videos.

We placed particular emphasis on launching blogger integrations in the YouTube Shorts format. Introduced on the YouTube platform in 2020, initially tested in India following the TikTok ban, YouTube Shorts allows users to create short videos up to 60 seconds in length. It offers features like adjusting playback speed, using timers or countdowns, and overlaying music from the YouTube library.

While this format may not be as widely recognized among brands, it possesses unique technological features that set it apart from others, making it suitable for successful advertising campaigns. The short video format allows for quick exposure and has the potential to achieve marketing objectives such as broad coverage and increased brand awareness.

However, it is important to note that not all bloggers or YouTube channels are actively creating content in the YouTube Shorts format, which presents an additional challenge. To address this, we faced the task of manually searching for YouTube bloggers who regularly produce YouTube Shorts videos. Fortunately, this challenge can now be overcome by utilizing specific AI tools, such as ThoughtLeaders, which assists in identifying suitable creators for YouTube Shorts collaborations.

Here is a closer look at how a coordinated creator launch comes together in practice.

What have we learned in working with the YouTube Shorts format?

Working with YouTube Shorts we learned:

1. In order to take full advantage of the interactive and dynamic nature of the YouTube Shorts format, bloggers should be given greater creative freedom. Their promotional videos should be seamlessly integrated to align with the interactive and dynamic characteristics of YouTube Shorts. The objective is to achieve maximum transparency in terms of the impact on virality by employing emotions, storytelling, actions, and other relevant elements. This is exactly where strong UGC creative production earns its keep.
2. It is crucial to understand that YouTube Shorts automatically selects the cover art for videos. If the gameplay shot is prominently featured in the video, YouTube may use it as the cover image. However, to prevent immediate recognition of promotional content by the audience and potential decline in video views, careful consideration should be given to selecting a cover image.
3. YouTube Shorts has the potential to attract completely new audiences, distinct from those of the main channel. The views on YouTube Shorts can be more unpredictable compared to regular YouTube videos, resulting in an audience that may differ significantly from the main channel’s audience. Therefore, when analyzing campaign results, it is crucial to carefully review the statistics to identify the audience that arrived through YouTube Shorts.

Results

We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with a new user acquisition channel for the Fishing Clash mobile game. We are also grateful to Ten Square Games for their willingness to embark on this journey with us.

Our experience with the YouTube Shorts format has been enlightening as we have challenged ourselves to understand the algorithms behind it and optimize our interaction for the best campaign results. While we recognize the potential of this channel to enhance campaign effectiveness, we also acknowledge that our expectations may differ from reality.

Thus, when working with YouTube Shorts, the following key points can contribute to the success of an influencer marketing campaign:

• creating a creative brief that focuses on the short (up to 1 minute) YouTube Shorts video format;
• programming virality through the use of emotions, memes, or influencers’ faces;
• highlighting the product’s key features in the YouTube Shorts video;
• and leveraging the appeal of opinion leaders and bloggers to directly call the audience to action, encouraging them to purchase or engage with the product.

Zorka.Agency continues to hold classics in the standard of integrations on YouTube, while investing time and resources in testing new formats, such as YouTube Shorts. The main thing is not to be afraid to try new approaches and experiment!

Alina Rakhimjanova, Influencer Marketing Lead, TSG, stated: Working with Zorka.Agency has been an absolute pleasure. Although finding relevant channels for an adequate price for our first-time YouTube Shorts format test was challenging, the agency’s assistance enabled us to successfully achieve our goals. Their professionalism and impeccable time management skills ensured the smooth and efficient execution of our influencer marketing campaigns. I truly appreciate their dedication and would highly recommend their services!

Frequently asked questions

What makes an influencer marketing campaign in YouTube Shorts work?

Give creators room to be authentic, program for virality with emotion and memes, surface the product's key features fast, and close with a clear call to action. Shorts rewards native, fast-paced content over polished ad reads.

How do you find creators who post YouTube Shorts?

Not every channel posts Shorts regularly, so manual discovery is often required. AI tools like ThoughtLeaders speed up the search by surfacing creators who consistently publish in the Shorts format.

How is the audience from YouTube Shorts different from regular YouTube?

Shorts can pull in a completely new audience that differs from a channel's main subscribers, and views are far less predictable. Always segment your stats to isolate the players who arrived through Shorts.

Ready to run your own YouTube Shorts campaign? See how our influencer marketing capabilities turn creator attention into installed, retained players.