Essentially, any collaboration type could be a sponsored post, and often the top social media influencers and bloggers would only promote a product if it is a sponsored post. Sometimes even in addition to being gifted a free product they would expect payment for a blog post for example.
Here are some ideas for a sponsored post to get the creative juices flowing!
Product review (you ship the product to the influencer, usually to keep, and they will endorse it in a blog or social post)
Store tour (have the influencer visit your shop/factory and share photos of their experience)
Workshop (you create an event and invite influencers to be part of it and share experience on their social media channels)
Giveaway competition (blog or social media based, arrange a giveaway for their followers)
Contribute a blog post of your own (eg you could write a story on a particular trend in the market relevant to your category, to be published on their blog)
Image share (they share your company's product shots in a blog or social post to promote it)
Photo content creation (gift a product and ask them to style, photograph and share the photo)
Video or GIF content creation (gift a product and ask them to style, photograph and share in a creative video or gif)
Tip - Often the most successful sponsored posts are those which don’t come across 'salesy' and suit the influencers' regular tone of voice and posting style. Why not ask the influencer if they have any creative ideas of their own for promoting your product that fit in with their own style?