# Influencer marketing for an online store: pick, pay, disclose, measure Influencer marketing for an online store in Bulgaria: micro or macro, how to pay creators, contract points, ad disclosure rules and sales tracking. Source: https://cloudcart.com/en/blog/influencer-marketing-online-store · CloudCart · 2026-11-06 In short: influencer marketing works for an online store when the creator's followers look like your buyers, every post carries a personal discount code and a UTM link, and the post is clearly marked as an ad. In Bulgaria most brands work with micro influencers (5,000 to 40,000 followers): 72% of companies in the MSL Sofia 2025 survey include them in campaigns. Written by the CloudCart team, the Bulgarian ecommerce platform, for stores selling in or from Bulgaria and across the EU. It shows how an influencer campaign is set up and measured in the CloudCart admin. The legal part summarises Bulgarian and EU rules; have a lawyer review the contract itself. ## What influencer marketing is and why it sells for an online store An influencer is a content creator on social media whose audience trusts them and acts on their recommendations. Influencer marketing is a paid or agreed collaboration in which that person shows your product to their followers. For a store it is a sales channel when each post points to a specific page and carries a code that lets you count the orders. For a foreign founder selling in Bulgaria, a local creator speaking Bulgarian gives a new store the trust it lacks. According to [The Pulse of Influencer Marketing in Bulgaria 2025](https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/3db9f9da-249d-4af0-ae35-986d570ccc0d/-/inline/no/MSL_The%20Pulse%20of%20Influencer%20Marketing%202025_.pdf) (MSL Sofia and Pragmatica, survey from June to August 2025), 33% of consumers have bought a product after influencer content. Instagram is used by 97% of the companies, followed by Facebook (45%) and TikTok (31%). ## Nano, micro, macro or mega influencer: which fits your store For most online stores the best choice is a micro influencer in the product's niche. The audience is narrower and more engaged, and the fee is lower than for a celebrity. The tiers below come from the same survey and reflect the size of the Bulgarian market. | Tier | Followers | When it works for a store | Risk | | Nano | 1,000 to 5,000 | New store, product test, local audience, many creators at once | Small reach per person, more coordination work | | Micro | 5,000 to 40,000 | Niche products: cosmetics, kids, sport, pets, food | Execution quality varies, check past campaigns | | Macro | 40,000 to 100,000 | Product launch, seasonal campaign, a brand that already has repeat buyers | High fee against orders if the audience is broad | | Mega | Over 100,000 | National brand awareness | Sales rarely cover the fee, often promotes many brands | In 2025 only 34% of companies chose creators by follower count, down from 75% in 2024, and 93% look for a person who fits the brand. Nano influencers grew the most: 31% of companies now include them in campaigns. ## UGC: videos from creators that you publish yourself UGC (user-generated content) is a video or photo a creator makes for you, which you then publish: in your ads, on the store's profile or on the product page. You pay for the content and for the right to use it. A video the influencer posted can also become an ad if your contract grants that right. Reviews from real customers are the third kind of user content; see the guide to [customer reviews in an online store](https://cloudcart.com/en/blog/customer-reviews-online-store). Important: under Art. 68g, item 27 of the Bulgarian Consumer Protection Act (in force since May 28, 2022) it is banned to commission another person to write fake reviews or recommendations. A UGC video in which the creator poses as an ordinary customer without having bought the product can fall right into that. ## How to choose an influencer: 7 checks before the first message The right influencer has an audience that looks like your buyers and a record of campaigns that sold. Check these 7 things before you ask for a quote: - The audience is yours. Ask for a screenshot of their insights: country, city, age, gender. Followers abroad rarely order from a Bulgarian store, unless you ship to their country. - Engagement is real. Read the comments under the last 10 posts. Questions like "how much is it?" are a good sign; identical emojis from empty profiles are a bad one. - Story reach. Ask for the average Story reach over the last 30 days. It shows how many people actually see a post. - How many brands they promote. 76% of companies in the MSL survey name the same faces advertising everything as a problem. - Have they worked with a competitor? 55% of companies want a creator with no competitor in their portfolio. Agree exclusivity for the campaign period. - Past campaigns with a code. Ask for numbers from a campaign with a promo code: how many times the code was used. - Do they mark ads? Look at 5 older paid posts. If there is no "ad" label or paid partnership tag, the risk is yours too, because you fund the campaign. Searching Google for Bulgarian influencers mostly returns directories, surveys and agencies, with no list for your niche. It is faster inside the apps: search the words of your niche in Bulgarian on Instagram and TikTok. Your own customers with active profiles are your closest nano partners. ## How to pay an influencer: 5 models and the order math Influencers are paid a fixed fee, in product, a percentage of sales through their code, or a mix. Rates are negotiated case by case: the Bulgarian market has no official rate card, and 69% of companies in the MSL survey think fees are too high for the results. | Model | How it works | Fits | Watch out for | | Fixed fee | A sum for an agreed number of posts and formats | Macro and mega profiles, launches | All the risk is yours if no orders come | | Product for a post | You send the product, the creator shows it | Nano profiles, testing a new product | Still a commercial message, it must be marked as an ad | | Percentage of sales | Commission on every paid order with their code | Micro profiles with proven sales | Count only paid orders that were not cancelled | | Fee plus percentage | A lower fixed fee and a commission above an agreed number of orders | Long-term partnership | Write the threshold and period into the contract | | UGC package | A sum for a set number of videos plus ad usage rights | Creatives for Meta and TikTok | Usage period and channels | Before you accept a fee, work out the break-even orders: orders needed = fee ÷ profit per order, where profit is what is left after the product, shipping, fees and the code's discount. Worked example: a €300 fee, a €45 average order including VAT, and after the product, packaging and the 10% code discount €12 is left per order. The campaign needs 25 orders to break even. Tax treatment depends on whether the influencer invoices as a company or signs a civil contract as an individual; settle it with your accountant first. > 0% commission The whole percentage goes to the influencer When you pay a share of sales, every extra percent taken by the platform eats your margin. CloudCart takes no commission on sales on any plan, so the math in the example stays as you calculated it. How a zero-commission store works → ## Influencer contract: 9 points to put in writing The contract says what the influencer posts, when, how the ad is marked, who can use the content and how they are paid. Include: - Formats and number. For example 1 video (Reel or TikTok) and 3 Stories with a link sticker, on which profile and on which dates. - Message and creative freedom. The key product facts and the claims that are off limits. - Ad disclosure. An obligation to write "reklama" (Bulgarian for "ad") at the start and to switch on the platform's paid partnership label on every post. - Review before posting. A deadline by which you check facts, prices and the code in the video. - Code and link. The personal code (MARIA15), the discount, its validity and the UTM link the influencer uses. The code is yours, and you switch it off. - Payment. Amount, percentage, which orders count (paid, not cancelled, not returned within the 14-day withdrawal period) and the payment date after the campaign ends. - Statistics and rights. Reach and clicks 7 days after the post, and where and for how long you may reuse the video. - Exclusivity. No ads for competing products during the campaign. - Health and green claims. A ban on false claims that the product cures illnesses (Art. 68g, item 17 of the Consumer Protection Act), on generic environmental claims without proven performance, and on "carbon neutral" claims based only on offsetting emissions (items 29 to 31, in force since September 27, 2026). ## How paid influencer posts must be disclosed under Bulgarian law Every paid post, including one paid in product, must be recognisable as an ad from the start. In Bulgaria this follows from two laws and from EU rules: - Consumer Protection Act (ZZP). Under Art. 68g, item 11 of the ZZP (in Bulgarian) it is a misleading practice in all circumstances to use editorial content in the media in a campaign funded by the trader without making that clear in the content. Since September 27, 2026, under Art. 210b, companies face a penalty of up to 4% of their turnover in Bulgaria for the previous financial year, or €5,000 to €50,000 when there is no turnover data. Individuals are fined €1,000 to €25,000. - Electronic Commerce Act (ZET). Under Art. 5(3) of the ZET (in Bulgarian), commercial messages online must be easy to recognise as commercial, show clearly on whose behalf they are made and state clearly the terms of discounts and prize games. The code in the Story needs clear terms: percentage, validity, products. - The EU rule behind it. Item 11 of the Bulgarian blacklist comes from point 11 of Annex I of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive 2005/29/EC , so the same principle applies when you work with creators in Romania, Greece or elsewhere in the EU. The European Commission's Influencer Legal Hub sums it up in its [Disclosure dos and don'ts](https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/28ddc0cb-8097-455c-b1e1-c28599011ef8_en?filename=Disclosure+dos+and+don'ts.pdf): | Do | Don't | | "Ad" in the language of the post (in Bulgarian, "reklama"), at the start of the caption or on the first frame | A label only at the end, behind "more", or only in the profile bio | | The platform's paid partnership label where there is one | Only tagging the brand with @ | | A label on every post, every Story and every video | Vague hashtags such as #gifted, #partner, #ambassador | | Written text, visible against the background | Only a spoken mention, or text in a colour that blends into the background | For a Bulgarian audience, an English "#ad" alone is weak disclosure: the label should be in the language the followers read. TikTok's [Branded Content Policy](https://www.tiktok.com/legal/page/global/bc-policy/en) (the version in force from October 30, 2026) treats both a gifted product and a post earning commission through a promo code as branded content. The policy bans branded content for weight-loss products, nicotine products, medicines, teeth whitening and hair growth, so check the category before you sign, especially in cosmetics. ## How to track influencer sales: a personal code and a UTM link Influencer sales are measured with a personal discount code, which counts orders, and a UTM link, which shows revenue by campaign. Only 17% of companies in the MSL survey measure the sales from their influencer campaigns. ### A personal code for each influencer in CloudCart - Create the campaign. Open Marketing → Discounts, click + Add discount and choose Discount code (PRO) . - Add a code for each partner. In "Codes management" click + Add code : MARIA15 at 15%, IVAN20 at 20%. A code is up to 20 characters, letters and digits only, and unique across the whole store, so two partners can never get the same code. - Set dates and limits. Start and end date, total number of uses and uses per customer. - Test it in the cart. Enter the code from another browser. Shoppers can type it in lower or upper case; the store recognises it either way. - Track the uses. The uses column in the code list counts orders in the statuses you chose for reporting (by default paid, completed and shipped). A cancelled or returned order releases the use, so the count is a clean basis for commission. The whole list exports to CSV. Discount code (PRO) is on the CC Pro and CC Master plans, according to the [plan feature table](https://cloudcart.com/en/pricing). On Baby Pack and Starter Pack give each influencer a separate promo code discount: the table allows up to 3 on Baby Pack and up to 5 on Starter Pack. All discount types are covered in the article on [promo codes and discounts](https://cloudcart.com/en/blog/promo-codes-discounts-online-store). ### A UTM link for every post UTM parameters are tags at the end of a link that tell you where a visitor came from. Use one lower-case vocabulary for all creators: your-store.com/page/maria?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=influencer&utm_campaign=maria_launch CloudCart saves the UTM tags with the order and shows revenue in Analytics → Sales by Source / Medium, down to each utm_campaign. On the [pricing page](https://cloudcart.com/en/pricing), "UTM tracking" is ticked for CC Pro and CC Master. The Product discounts box in the same [Analytics](https://cloudcart.com/en/analytics) shows uses and the total discount given for a code on products, and Order discounts does the same for a code on the whole order. The vocabulary is explained in the guide to [GA4, Tag Manager and UTM parameters](https://cloudcart.com/en/blog/ga4-tag-manager-online-store). The link leads to a landing page from Marketing → Landing Pages: the product from the video, the code, answers to questions from the comments and an order button. Landing pages with the visual builder are 5 on Baby Pack, 10 on Starter Pack, 100 on CC Pro and 250 on CC Master. The "Landing pages by sales" report in Analytics shows the revenue that started on it. For Bulgarian shoppers, the landing page should also show the delivery they expect: to an Econt or Speedy office (the two main Bulgarian courier networks), a BOX NOW parcel locker or a home address, and cash on delivery next to card payment. > CloudCart Pay 0% transaction fee on card payments through Dec 31, 2026 Shoppers from a Story buy on their phone and want to pay by card right away. CloudCart Pay is card payment built into your store, with no transaction fee until the end of the year. How CloudCart Pay works → ## An influencer campaign step by step: the first 30 days Treat the first campaign as a test with 3 to 5 micro or nano creators and a target in orders. - Days 1 to 3: goal and math. Pick 1 product with a good margin and enough stock. Work out the profit per order and how many orders cover the budget. - Days 4 to 7: shortlist. List 10 profiles using the 7 checks, ask 5 of them for insights and quotes. - Days 8 to 10: contract and materials. Sign with 3. Prepare the code, the UTM link, the landing page and a short brief with the facts. - Days 11 to 21: product and posts. Allow at least 7 days of use before the review, then post on different days so you see each creator's effect, with the "reklama" (ad) label on every one. - Days 22 to 30: results. Compare the code uses and revenue by utm_campaign with the same period without a campaign. Keep working with those who sold. 55% of companies and 55% of influencers in the MSL survey prefer a long-term partnership to a single post. Codes and reports can also be created with one sentence to an [AI assistant connected to your store](https://cloudcart.com/en/offer/ai) with a PAT token: "Create code MARIA15 for 15% off, limited to 200 uses, valid until the end of the month." > New store €1/month for the first 3 months Your first influencer campaign needs a store with a landing page, a code and card payment. For new stores created by Dec 31, 2026, the first 3 months on any plan cost €1 a month, with no code needed. Create a store for €1 → ## 4 mistakes when working with influencers - Choosing by follower count. A profile with 200,000 followers in another niche sells less than one with 10,000 in the right one. - No code and no UTM. Without them you only know the likes, and likes don't pay the fee. - A link to the home page. The shopper from the Story wants the product from the video and gives up if they have to hunt for it in the menu. - Hidden advertising. A post without "ad" at the start is a risk for the store that paid for it too. ## Frequently asked questions **Does influencer marketing work in Bulgaria?** In the MSL Sofia and Pragmatica 2025 survey, 33% of Bulgarian consumers had bought a product after influencer content, and 72% of companies include micro influencers in their campaigns. Instagram is the main channel, followed by Facebook and TikTok. **How do you pay an influencer?** With a fixed fee, product in exchange for a post, a percentage of sales through their personal code, or a fee plus a percentage. A company influencer issues an invoice; with a private individual you sign a civil contract. Check the tax treatment with your accountant before signing. **Do influencers in Bulgaria have to say a post is an ad?** Yes. Under Art. 68g, item 11 of the Consumer Protection Act, a post funded by the trader must make that clear, and under Art. 5 of the Electronic Commerce Act online commercial messages must be easy to recognise. Write "reklama" (Bulgarian for "ad") at the start and switch on the platform's paid partnership label, also when you pay in product. **How do I know how much an influencer sold?** Give them a personal discount code and a UTM link. In CloudCart the code's uses count only paid, completed and shipped orders by default, and Analytics → Sales by Source / Medium shows revenue by utm_campaign. Questions about setting up codes or a landing page for your campaign? Write to [support@cloudcart.com](https://cloudcart.commailto:support@cloudcart.com).