Influencer Marketing: The Authentic Approach
Published on 28th February 2025By Esther Matthews, Senior Social Account Executive
Influencer Marketing. Whilst often perceived from the outside as unrelatable celebrities and false lives, influencer marketing offers an authentic approach to forge genuine relationships between brands and creators who have built trust with their niche communities. It has become a core part of how social operates and how brands establish their tone. However, with so many collaborations happening, it's important to understand how to do it effectively. This piece explores the evolving nature of influencer marketing, examining the factors that contribute to genuine connection, the limitations of solely focusing on follower counts, and the long-term benefits of prioritising trust and meaningful relationships.
The Numbers. What do you really need to consider?
It's not all about followers. Whilst a strong following is absolutely essential, there is a misconception that follower numbers are the deciding factor when partnering with talent.
Whilst Mega influencers (1m+ followers) certainly hold their place in an influencer strategy for their wide-scale recognition and reach, the number of followers that influencers hold aren't everything. Rather, the strength of engagement rates and average views are key considerations when deciding to partner. This is often where Nano (0-10k) & Micro (10k-100k) influencers are essential to strategies. Holding a smaller audience means they have developed a trusted community, by creating consistent, niche content that attracts people with shared interests. This accessibility makes followers feel seen and valued, reflected by increased engagement.
Nurturing Relationships & Forming Trust
Across the board, social media and relationship building goes hand in hand, but in Influencer Marketing specifically, relationships are the key driver for successful and impactful collaborations. In order to successfully partner within this space, it's all about trust, genuine love and interest for the brand. Pairing with advocates and fitting into their niches will achieve goals of reaching likeminded audiences.
Trust also filters down to the ways in which influencer management is handled. Authenticity is key, and audiences are becoming more and more savvy to forced collaborations and oversaturated ads. Whilst sometimes brand legalities and preferences can be tricky to navigate, it's all about the influencer feeling trusted to weave in key messages while also keeping with their natural content style that their audience know and love.
Data & ROI
Notable for its power in awareness strategies, data & ROI are transforming influencer marketing into a highly measurable, results-driven channel. Looking beyond surface-level metrics, influencer marketing allows us to delve into reach, engagement and follower demographics, allowing the filtration of campaigns to target specific audience groups. Additionally, influencer marketing allows us to track performance metrics such as likes, comments, shares, saves and even direct conversions to understand cost per reach.
Future of Influencer Marketing
It's easy to assume that as a highly populated space, influencer marketing and its authenticity is slowing, but in fact, this is quite the opposite. The more the influencer space develops, the more opportunity there is for partnerships with emerging talent.
With so much variety, it all boils down to who you want to work with and how you can position your brand through these representatives. Is there a way to foster relationships from the get-go with smaller upcoming creators who are in your space? Or is it about connecting with established macro influencers who are notable fans and actively engaging in your brand? Perhaps you wish to fulfil an ambassador route with a mega talent. There are people to match with even the most niche of brands and ideas.
We will continue to see the rise of longer-term relationships, hugely popular for the trust they generate, take Liz Earle and their partnership with OG UK Influencer Zoella as a key example of nurturing a relationship from the beginning stages and growing towards ambassadorship, positioning themselves as a lifelong partner. However, one off smaller campaigns still hold their place. These campaigns offer the flexibility to experiment with new concepts, create buzz, and tap into niche audiences without long-term commitments. When executed thoughtfully, they allow brands to partner with influencers whose audiences might not traditionally align with the brand but share a common interest or passion. This approach can also lead to an organic sense of surprise and discovery, which amplifies both brand awareness and audience trust.
Whilst influencer marketing can be extremely successful for driving sales, it's all about ensuring the trust is already built with the influencer and that you're continuing to hit the right audience.
Wrap Up
So, when it comes to influencer partnerships, a few questions to consider are:
Who, where and what are we trying to focus? - Audience age, locations and content niches.
Does the talent have a genuine interest and love for our brand? Are their community already engaged in this?
How can we create a voice for the brand through a true representative?
What is the purpose of our campaign? Can we reap the long-term benefits of building a relationship with an influencer or should we create something out of the ordinary for a one-off collaboration?
