6 Ways Brands Can Establish Influencer Trust

In the last decade, influencers have thrived in tandem with the explosion of social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch.

Each of these platforms have created their own rising influencers, all of whom come with their own niche audiences and unique approach to content.

Unsurprisingly, e-commerce companies have increasingly looked to partner with popular influencers, particularly if these personalities are aligned with a brand’s image.

In many cases, these partnerships have led to brands defining what content was successful — what they perceived as a valuable influence, strategy, and creative direction — rather than letting influencers lead the way.

This created a power imbalance that stripped away the spark and personality from influencer content — and eroded trust between two entities that should be working toward the same goals.

Still, creating a more balanced marketing ecosystem is possible. Here are 6 ways brands can establish influencer trust

Give creative control back to influencers.

Brands are best served when they’re flexible and let influencers take creative lead.

This isn’t always easy, since brands are often inclined to duplicate a successful strategy, rather than devise something entirely new, and it can be difficult to relinquish oversight of content.

However, it’s helpful to view the brand-influencer relationship like a trust fall.

Influencers know their audiences inside and out — and, more importantly, are aware of what kind of tone and content resonates best with their audiences.

Providing influencers the leeway and freedom to express themselves creatively could yield results that are actually more valuable than anticipated.

View influencers in the same category as scientists and explorers

Influencers share many traits with scientists and explorers: curiosity, creativity, a willingness to take risks, and a love of experimentation.

The latter characteristic is especially relevant for brands, because an influencer may bring innovative ideas to the table, such as an audience-tested, multi-platform content strategy that reinvents industry best practices.

Unique ideas should always be rewarded, not dismissed.

View the influencer as a partner.

In performance-based marketing, brands are (rightfully) looking for a tangible return on investment from influencer partnerships.

However, viewing this relationship purely through the lens of analytics or dollar signs can be a costly mistake.

The most successful brands treat influencers as partners.

In practice, they’ll take to social media and celebrate milestones in an influencer’s life, such as a birthday or the birth of a child, and then take these digitally-rooted relationships offline for meaningful in-person experiences, such as events.

That mutual respect creates a strong bond that ensures both sides are more inclined to work together to make a partnership succeed.

Create long-term monetary opportunities for influencers

Years ago, brands could ask influencers for exclusive rights to use content for a year or even in perpetuity.

That doesn’t fly these days, because there’s just too much backend value tied to unlimited licenses.

However, brands and influencers can come to a happy medium, and implement a traditional licensing model to create accountability and define industry standards around the use of likeness, audience, and content creation.

Setting favorable terms — for example, making sure usage and compensation is tied to the performance of that content — incentivizes the influencer, and recognizes the long-term value of their work.

Make diversity a priority

We live in a world that’s a mixture of cultures, trends, and styles — and the savviest brands these days work with influencers that reflect this diversity.

After all, potential customers can be anywhere.

Brands that think their products or services are geared only toward a specific demographic — and market them as such — could be limiting their growth by ignoring potential new audiences.

Providing transparency to influencers is key.

Chances are, brands want to work with an influencer because of who they are — not because they want to mold them into someone else.

In that spirit, brands attain better performance results when they focus on educating their influencer partners about the value of their products and services.

Of course, finding the perfect influencer for a particular marketing campaign can take time.

Luckily, experts at places such as performance-based marketing agencies can help identify the right partner — and create valuable, long-lasting partnerships for both the brand and influencer.

Contact Dan Albert at [email protected] to learn more.