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

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

Why science brands use influencer marketing

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

• Creators make science feel like play. A kit sells when a kid is shown building something that works. 26 of KiwiCo's last 49 sponsored posts show a build or STEM project, like a wooden ukulele or a motorized spin-art machine.
• Experts make a subject worth learning. People who want to learn science follow the people who explain it well. 9 of Brilliant's last 47 sponsored videos came from SciShow, and another from Forrest Valkai, "a biologist who teaches science on the internet".
• Curiosity makes a good gift. Parents and gift-givers buy science products as an experience instead of another toy. 10 of Nat Geo's last 50 sponsored posts pitch it as a gift or a holiday subscription.
• Earth Day gives science a news hook. Moments like Earth Day give creators a reason to talk about nature and science that week. 10 of Nat Geo's last 50 sponsored posts celebrate Earth Month.

Top science brands using influencer marketing

These are the most-searched science 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. National Geographic: a creator cohort and gift subscriptions

12 of Nat Geo's last 50 sponsored posts carry #NatGeoCollab, mostly from its first Creator Cohort, a group of creators who post about geology, archaeology and animals. Another 19 promote its shows on Disney+ and Hulu, from Limitless with Chris Hemsworth to Epic Food Journeys. Its creators are based in the US (22), the UK (4) and Canada (3), 47 posts were disclosed as paid partnerships, and none use a code.

• Creators: @teddysphotos (47.9M), @rockmanethan (130k) and @sophia__renee (176k) are among the creators who've posted for National Geographic.
• How posts were disclosed: 47 paid partnership, 1 ambassador, 1 gifted, 1 unspecified

What to take from it: Sell curiosity, not the product. @sophia__renee pitched a Nat Geo Kids subscription as "the gift of curiosity instead of toys", and the post got 909k plays from a creator with 176k followers.

2. KiwiCo: parents filming kids build at home

KiwiCo's last 49 sponsored posts split between two ages: 22 push its Panda Crate for babies and toddlers, while others show older kids building STEM projects. 9 posts include a code, usually for 50% off a first crate, and 2 announced it's now sold at Target. 33 of its creators are in the US.

• Creators: @emilymariko (2.0M), @dunnfamilyfun (137k) and @lets_create_and_celebrate (19k) are among the creators who've posted for KiwiCo.
• How posts were disclosed: 44 paid partnership, 2 ambassador, 1 gifted, 1 affiliate, 1 unspecified

What to take from it: Show the kid building it, then using it. @lets_create_and_celebrate's daughter built a motion-sensing spider from a KiwiCo crate and used it to prank her brother, and the post got 683k plays from a creator with 19k followers.

3. Brilliant: science YouTubers and one standing offer

All of Brilliant's last 47 sponsored posts are YouTube videos, mostly from science, engineering and coding channels like Sabine Hossenfelder, Scott Manley and The B1M. Nearly every one reads the same offer: 45 give 20% off an annual Premium subscription, and 39 add a 30-day free trial. 46 were disclosed as paid partnerships, and none use a discount code.

• Creators: @SciShow, @SabineHossenfelder and @StuffMadeHere are among the creators who've posted for Brilliant.
• How posts were disclosed: 46 paid partnership, 1 affiliate

What to take from it: Sponsor creators whose own projects show the skills you teach. @StuffMadeHere read Brilliant's offer in a video about building an autocorrecting mini golf club, and it got 156k likes, the most on Brilliant's page.

What the top science brands have in common

Looking across all 146 posts, four patterns stand out:

• They pay per post. 137 of the 146 posts (94%) were disclosed as paid partnerships, and only 3 as ambassador posts.
• Smaller creators get more out of their audience. Across 77 Instagram posts with visible likes, creators under 50k followers got a median of 2.1% of their followers liking the post. For creators above 50k, it was 0.6%.
• Some creators come back. 25 of the 109 creators posted more than once.
• Views don't follow follower count. A creator with 13k followers got 1.9M plays for Nat Geo, and one with 19k got 2.2M for KiwiCo's Atlas Crate.

How to run a science influencer marketing campaign

Here's how to run a campaign step by step, using what the top science 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 science brands' posts show both goals at work. KiwiCo's first-crate discounts and Brilliant's free trials are built to drive sign-ups that week. Nat Geo's creator cohort and its Disney+ show posts are built for reach.

• Sales: track revenue per creator with a unique link and code.
• Awareness: track views, saves and reach per post.
• Subscriptions: if you sell a subscription, like KiwiCo's monthly crates, track new subscribers per creator, not just first orders.

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 15k followers asking parents whether they'd rather give "another gift card at the next birthday" or a KiwiCo crate got 1.3M plays, because their followers are parents shopping for kids' gifts. On Instagram, creators under 50k followers got about three 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 (parents of curious kids, homeschool families, adults teaching themselves physics or coding) 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 "parents who film science experiments with their kids", and Modash's AI creator search surfaces matching creators on the platform you're searching.

• Check who else they've posted for. @my_busy_kid posted for both KiwiCo and CrunchLabs. Modash shows which brands a creator has already posted sponsored content for.

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

3. Choose the deal type

The top science brands pay per post. Nat Geo, KiwiCo and Brilliant disclosed 47, 44 and 46 of their posts as paid partnerships, and none of them used affiliate deals at scale.

• Gifting works for kits and gear creators will actually use with their kids on camera, like a new crate or a telescope.
• Paid posts suit dates that have to land on time, like Earth Day, back to school or the holidays.
• Affiliate works for subscriptions people keep paying for, like monthly kits or a learning app, where a creator earns on every sign-up.
• Ambassador deals suit creators who teach science every week. Almost none of the top science 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 science

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

• Build and test. KiwiCo's creators film their kids building a kit and then putting it to work. Ask for the finished project in action, not just the unboxing.
• Explainers. Brilliant's YouTubers answer a science question, from life on Enceladus to tattoos and the immune system, then read the offer. Put your product next to a question it helps answer.
• Gift guides. Nat Geo's and KiwiCo's creators pitch a subscription as a gift that beats more toys. Time these for birthdays and the holidays.

Whatever the format, check every science claim with the creator before it goes live, and ask them to show what's inside the kit or lesson on screen.

5. Launch with tracked links and time-limited codes

The top science brands lead with a first-order offer instead of a code. Brilliant pointed viewers to a link with a free trial, and 9 of KiwiCo's posts offer 50% off a first crate. Nat Geo used no codes at all.

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 science brands rebook some creators: 25 of their 109 creators posted more than once. Nat Geo's Creator Cohort members came back for Earth Month a few weeks after their first posts. In science, a creator who keeps teaching on camera builds the trust that makes a learning product worth paying for.

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 crate, a new experiment or a space event to film, so their posts don't repeat.

Where science creator programs go wrong

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

• Skipping the age range. A kit that's too hard frustrates the kid and the parent who bought it. Tell creators the age range and ask them to say it on camera, so the right parents buy.
• 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 science, that could be a new kit, a seasonal project, or a new course to try.
• 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 kit or course to your creators before it launches.
• Getting the science wrong. Science audiences fact-check, and one wrong claim in a post takes over the comments. Send creators the key facts behind the product and review the script before filming.

FAQ

How much does science 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 science influencer marketing?

Instagram carries most science creator work, and 99 of the 146 sponsored posts we analyzed for the most-searched science brands ran there. YouTube matters too: all 47 of Brilliant's posts were YouTube sponsorships, and in our survey, marketers rated TikTok videos the highest-performing deliverable (53.2%).

Which science brands use influencer marketing?

National Geographic, KiwiCo and Brilliant are the most-searched science brands in the US, and all of them run active creator programs. See the breakdown above for who each one works with.

Should science 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 science posts we analyzed, creators under 50k followers got about three 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 science 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 science 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 science influencers to see who's already out there.