Most construction influencer marketing advice stops at "work with micro-influencers" and "be authentic". We wanted to see what the biggest construction brands actually do, so we pulled the 50 most recent sponsored posts for each of the most-searched construction brands in the US and looked at who posted, how each deal was disclosed, and which posts took off.

Here's why construction brands work with creators, the commonalities in their strategy, and a step-by-step way to run your own campaign.

Why construction brands use influencer marketing

Creators do a few things for construction brands that ads and product pages can't:

• Tradespeople trust other tradespeople. A boot or a drill sells when someone who does the job every day says it holds up. 22 of Red Wing's last 48 sponsored posts mention a trade, from electricians and carpenters to welders and concrete workers.
• A long test proves durability. Workwear buyers want to know how gear holds up after months, not minutes. Carhartt asked a creator with 227k followers to work in the same outfit for six months and report back on how it held up.
• Projects show what a tool can do. A finished project shows a tool's value better than a spec sheet. 36 of Ryobi's last 49 sponsored posts mention a DIY project or renovation, from a fireplace mantel to a bedroom media wall.
• New lines need people they fit. Women in the trades often work in gear cut for men. Timberland PRO launched its first women's line through women creators, like a woodworker who said finding workwear that fit her "has been a challenge… not anymore".

Top construction brands using influencer marketing

These are the most-searched construction brands in the US, according to Ahrefs. Deal types show how each post was disclosed (for example, with a paid partnership label or an ambassador hashtag). Creator tiers: micro 10k–50k followers, mid-tier 50k–500k, macro 500k+.

1. Carhartt: workwear tested on real projects

7 of Carhartt's last 50 sponsored posts went live on one day in March, 6 of them launching its women's line with creators like an electrician, a carpenter and a goat farmer. Another 5 launched its new work denim on one day in October. @jennaphipps posted 4 times about renovating an abandoned home in its gear. 48 posts were disclosed as paid partnerships, 29 of its creators are in the US, and none use a code.

• Creators: @thompsonwoodworks (1.3M), @karlythesparky (365k) and @jennaphipps (2.4M) are among the creators who've posted for Carhartt.
• How posts were disclosed: 48 paid partnership, 2 affiliate

What to take from it: Pick creators whose project followers already track. @jennaphipps has worn Carhartt through two years of renovating an abandoned home, and her four posts got between 1.3M and 2.3M plays each. Her six-month overalls update got 87k likes.

2. Ryobi: DIY renovators and giveaways

17 of Ryobi's last 49 sponsored posts were labeled as gifted, the most of the four, many of them tools sent to home renovators in the UK. 5 posts are giveaways, and 5 mark 30 years of its 18V ONE+ battery fitting every tool in the range. Its creators are based in the UK (15), the US (10) and Canada (3), and only one post includes a code.

• Creators: @dadsocial (6.0M), @houseprojectuk (405k) and @krugerconstruction (3.3M) are among the creators who've posted for Ryobi.
• How posts were disclosed: 29 paid partnership, 17 gifted, 2 unspecified, 1 ambassador

What to take from it: Show the tool doing a job nobody expects. @krugerconstruction hooked a Ryobi drill to a trailer mover to shift a loaded trailer he and a coworker couldn't budge by hand, and the post got 21.8M plays, the most-viewed across all four brands.

3. Red Wing: tradespeople and in-store fittings

8 of Red Wing's last 48 sponsored posts send followers to its Ultimate Fit Experience, a free in-store 3D foot scan, and 6 use the line "the hard way" from its "Made the Hard Way" campaign. 11 of its 27 creators posted more than once, the most of the four. Its creators are based in the US (16), Canada (2) and Germany (2), and none of the posts use a code.

• Creators: @krugerconstruction (3.3M), @themexicancarpenter (159k) and @slimbrick (60k) are among the creators who've posted for Red Wing.
• How posts were disclosed: 45 paid partnership, 3 ambassador

What to take from it: Rebook the tradespeople whose followers do the same job. @slimbrick posted six times for Red Wing, and his post about doing things "the hard way" got 1.5M plays from a creator with 60k followers.

4. Timberland PRO: woodworkers and job-site days

16 of Timberland PRO's last 49 sponsored posts mention woodworking, and @oakandfeatherdecor alone posted 7 times while cutting signs and truck-shaped backers in its gear. 3 posts in October 2025 pushed its new Boondock Ultralight boot. All 49 were disclosed as paid partnerships, 24 of its creators are in the US, and none use a code.

• Creators: @thelawntools (1.8M), @oakandfeatherdecor (117k) and @alan__barlow (43k) are among the creators who've posted for Timberland PRO.
• How posts were disclosed: 49 paid partnership

What to take from it: Ask for a day on the job, not a product shot. @alan__barlow's blue-collar day-in-the-life post got 833k plays, about 19 times his following of 43k.

What the top construction brands have in common

Looking across all 196 posts, four patterns stand out:

• They pay per post. 171 of the 196 posts (87%) were disclosed as paid partnerships, and only 4 as ambassador posts.
• Smaller creators get more out of their audience. Across 168 posts with visible likes, creators under 50k followers got a median of 1.0% of their followers liking the post. For creators above 50k, it was 0.4%.
• They rebook trades creators. 36 of the 131 creators posted more than once, and four creators posted for two of the four brands.
• Views don't follow follower count. A creator with 234k followers got 5.7M plays for Red Wing, and one with 175k got 2.9M, more than any of its creators with 800k followers or more.

How to run a construction influencer marketing campaign

Here's how to run a campaign step by step, using what the top construction brands do at each stage.

1. Pick one goal and one metric

Decide what the campaign is for before you pick a single creator, because the goal changes who you book, how you pay them and what you ask them to post. The top construction brands' posts show both goals at work. Red Wing's fitting posts and Ryobi's Home Depot deal posts are built to drive sales that week. Carhartt's renovation series and Timberland PRO's woodworking videos are built for reach.

• Sales: track revenue per creator with a unique link and code.
• Awareness: track views, saves and reach per post.
• Store visits: if buyers try your product in person, like Red Wing's in-store boot fittings, give each creator a booking link and compare fittings booked per creator.

Pick one metric per campaign so you can compare creators fairly afterwards.

2. Find and vet creators who fit your brand

Follower count is the last thing to filter on. A creator with 39k followers who runs a renovation crew thanked his team for keeping jobs on track while he was home with his newborn, and the post got 659k plays for Red Wing, because his followers are the tradespeople who buy work boots. Across all four brands, creators under 50k followers got about two and a half times the likes relative to their audience.

Our survey found niche micro-creators are outperforming mega-influencers: nearly 60% of marketers said niche influencers performed better in 2025 than in 2024.

• Write down who buys your product (electricians, first-time renovators, women in the trades) and look for creators living that life.
• Search Modash's database of 380M+ creators and filter by audience demographics (age, gender, location), bio keywords, engagement rate and fake-follower checks.
• Or describe that creator in plain language, like "electricians who film day-in-the-life videos on job sites", and Modash's AI creator search surfaces matching creators on the platform you're searching.

• Check who else they've posted for. @karlythesparky posted for both Carhartt and Red Wing. Modash shows which brands a creator has already posted sponsored content for.

You can also find construction influencers for free, for example by searching the hashtags your buyers follow.

3. Choose the deal type

The top construction brands pay per post. Carhartt, Red Wing and Timberland PRO disclosed 48, 45 and 49 of their posts as paid partnerships. Ryobi is the exception, with 17 posts labeled as gifted.

• Gifting works for tools creators will use on their next project, like the saws and sanders Ryobi sent to UK renovators.
• Paid posts suit launches that have to land on a date, like a new boot or a women's workwear line.
• Affiliate works for gear people replace often, like work pants, socks and gloves.
• Ambassador deals suit tradespeople who'll wear your gear on the job every day. Almost none of the top construction brands do this, so it's an easy way to stand out.

Commission-only is getting harder to sell, though. Over 23% of marketers in our survey said creators would take performance pay only if a flat fee came with it. If you run tiers, the average commission tiers in our affiliate research were 10%, 14% and 19%, and brands with more than one tier had more active affiliates.

4. Brief the content formats that work in construction

The captions from the top construction brands point to three formats that carry most of their creator content:

• A day on the job. Red Wing's and Timberland PRO's creators film a shift as an electrician, a welder or a framer with the boots on. Ask for the job, not a product shot.
• Project builds. Ryobi's creators build something start to finish, like a fence or a giant Santa's mailbox. Ask creators to name each tool as it comes out.
• Long-term wear tests. Carhartt's creators show their gear after months of renovating or farm chores. Send product early so creators can show how it held up.

Whatever the format, ask creators to name the exact model ("Boondock Ultralight", "18V ONE+"), film it on a real job, and wear the safety gear that job needs.

5. Launch with tracked links and time-limited codes

The top construction brands send people to a store or a fitting, not a code. Only 1 of the 196 posts includes a code. Red Wing pointed followers to its in-store fittings, and 5 of Ryobi's posts name Home Depot.

Codes also leak. In our affiliate marketing research, 47.6% of marketers said they struggle with code poaching, where a creator's code ends up on coupon sites.

• Give every creator a tracked link for everyday posts, and add a code only for launches and sales.
• Put an end date in the caption so followers know the offer won't last.
• If creators use "comment for the link", make sure the link they send by DM is their tracked link.

In Modash, each creator gets a tracked link and a code tied to your Shopify data, so sales from DMs, bios and stories all count toward the right person. Commission is calculated on net revenue after refunds and returns.

6. Rebook your best creators

The top construction brands come back to the same people: 36 of their 131 creators posted more than once. Ryobi booked @krugerconstruction five times, each with a different tool, from a salt spreader to a carpet cleaner.

Most marketers want to do more of this. In our influencer marketing trends survey, over 60% said they plan to invest more in long-term partnerships, but only 54% actually ran more of them last year.

• Start new creators on a single post, then offer a longer deal to the ones who hit your metric from step 1.
• Use revenue per creator, not likes, to decide who gets rebooked. Modash's campaign dashboard shows revenue, orders and ROAS for each creator.
• Give rebooked creators something new each time, like a new tool, a new job site or a seasonal project, so their posts don't repeat.

Where construction creator programs go wrong

The top brands avoid a few mistakes that trip up smaller programs:

• Booking creators who don't do the work. Tradespeople can tell when a creator has never framed a wall or pulled wire, and the comments will say so. Book creators who work in the trade or are in the middle of a renovation, and let them show real jobs.
• Offering commission-only deals to established creators. In our survey, 63% of marketers said influencers were open to becoming affiliates in 2024. In 2025 that fell to 26%. When you reach out to established creators, offer a flat fee plus commission rather than commission alone.
• Running the affiliate program on autopilot. In our affiliate research, marketers who were "very involved" with their affiliates had 71.5% of them active. "Very hands-off" marketers had 10%. Affiliates post when you give them a reason to, so check in every month with something new to share. For construction, that could be a new tool, a seasonal project, or a store sale.
• Sending affiliates old product. 93% of marketers gift products to affiliates, but almost 30% don't refresh them when something new launches. Send every new tool or boot to your creators before it hits stores.
• Showing unsafe work on camera. A post with a saw running and no eye protection, or a job site in sneakers, gets called out fast and puts your brand right next to it. Brief creators on the safety gear each job needs and check footage before it goes live.

FAQ

How much does construction influencer marketing cost?

It depends on platform, following and engagement. Micro-influencers often work for free product plus a fee in the low hundreds per post, or an affiliate commission. Larger creators charge more. Many brands start with gifting plus commission to test fit before committing to flat fees. To estimate what a specific creator is likely to charge, drop their handle into our free Instagram influencer pricing calculator.

Which platform is best for construction influencer marketing?

Instagram carries most construction creator work, and every sponsored post we analyzed for the most-searched construction brands ran there. TikTok is worth testing too: in our survey, marketers rated TikTok videos the highest-performing deliverable (53.2%).

Which construction brands use influencer marketing?

Carhartt, Ryobi, Red Wing and Timberland PRO are the most-searched construction brands in the US, and all of them run active creator programs. See the breakdown above for who each one works with.

Should construction brands work with micro or macro influencers?

It depends on your goal. A launch chasing awareness leans bigger, a conversion play leans smaller and more trusted. In the construction posts we analyzed, creators under 50k followers got about two and a half times the likes relative to their audience size, so most brands should build their base with micro-influencers (10k–50k followers) and add bigger names for launches.

How do I measure construction influencer marketing?

Track sales per creator with unique links and codes, then compare revenue against what you paid (fees, product and commission). Our engagement rate calculator and fake follower checker help you vet creators before you spend, and our guide to influencer marketing ROI covers the full calculation.

Start your construction creator program

Find creators, manage relationships, pay them in 180+ countries and 36 currencies, and track every sale through Shopify – all in one place, with no fees taken out of creators' pay. Try Modash free, no credit card required – or browse the top construction influencers to see who's already out there.