In the digital landscape, influencers have become brands in their own right, honing their craft to create unmistakable identities. The days of scripted influencer content have disappeared faster than you can say “#ad,” giving way to an era of creators championing truth, trust, and relatability. 

Authenticity has become the secret sauce of driving exponential growth and brand awareness with influencer marketing. Brands innovative enough to get on board are seeing a remarkable impact on their businesses.

Authenticity flourishes when it intertwines with value and relevance. By leveraging a relevant influencer to deliver genuine value, your brand becomes an inspirational, educational, and entertaining source for your ideal audience. 

This establishes a strong connection, captivating and engaging your ideal consumers. You tap into the strong bond that the influencer has already built with their followers, expanding organic reach and locking in credibility. 

Want insider information on how to develop an exceptional authentic influencer marketing strategy? Read on to become an expert in all things authenticity!

What is Authenticity in Influencer Marketing?

Authenticity is the foundation of any great influencer marketing strategy. Blending a mix of transparency, genuineness, and relatability, authentic influencer content has the power to cultivate relationships with consumers that convert to sales. 

With influencers perceived as trustworthy sources of information, creators who are able to open honest conversations and share authentic experiences create rock-solid trust. When brands can push past scripted and staged content, they open the door to higher engagement levels, increased brand loyalty, and an association with the influencer’s positive traits.

You can picture influencers as vehicles that drive your brand message to your ideal consumer. Each influencer represents a unique style of vehicle, much like selecting a car that matches your preferences. 

Through influencer marketing, you wield the power to carefully select an influencer who embodies your brand. Just like cars ranging from classic and timeless to dynamic and modern, the choice of influencer plays a vital role in effectively conveying your campaign message.

This decision offers a golden opportunity to communicate with your ideal audience using a fresh, distinctive tone of voice.

Embrace this chance to embark on a journey of testing and experimentation, exploring voices and styles to see which resonates best with your target market just as a skilled driver maneuvers a vehicle with precision and leverage influencers to steer your campaign toward success.

Why is Authenticity in Influencer Marketing So Important?

Authenticity isn’t just another fleeting trend–it’s here to stay. With movements like the ‘de-influencing’ trend, where influencers actually dissuade their followers from purchasing a product, creating genuine connections is more important than ever. By placing authenticity at the heart of your influencer marketing strategy, you can unlock some exciting incentives.

Building Brand Trust With Genuine Content

Building brand trust has historically been the marketing equivalent of trying to catch a squirrel on a caffeine high–a fairly formidable challenge. Consumers have evolved, viewing every ad from a super-savvy perspective. Content that screams ‘ad’ will cause users to scroll past with a subtle eye roll, as they sigh, “Great, yet another annoying ad on my feed.” 

• Constant exposure to these offputting ads can erode trust with both the influencer and the brand. This is why It’s vital to instead build brand trust by communicating through genuine content, keeping the credibility of the brand and influencer intact.

One of the many ways that influencer marketing beats traditional advertising is the ability for desired traits of the influencer’s personality to be transferred over to the brand. 

Looking to make your brand appear more current, relatable, professional, or luxe? Allow influencers to infuse your brand personality with traits that align perfectly with your target audience.

Boosting Organic Reach Through Influencer Authenticity

Great influencer content is usually underpinned by one common factor–its ability to tell a story. Authentic storytelling takes the audience from a state of mindless scrolling to an active participant in the influencer’s tale. 

With the influencer’s voice as the guiding force, your audience will be taken on a personalized marketing journey, with the destination being the mention of your product or service. Whether the influencer crafts a comedy skit, opens up with an emotional story, or shocks the viewer with a dramatic narrative, the audience is hooked, hanging on their every word as the content ticks on. Effective storytelling keeps the viewer invested and watching all the way up to the end. This, in turn, boosts the reach of the content, maximizing exposure.

To further boost organic reach, strategic engagement is vital–nobody wants to hear crickets in the comments section. Encouraging influencers to create an interactive space in the comments can help increase the content’s engagement, organically skyrocketing the views and reach. 

From embracing vulnerability and opening up on a personal level to tapping into the cultural zeitgeist by jumping on trends, authenticity creates magnetic content that draws viewers to engage. 

You should also never underestimate the humble question to pump up engagement. Opening the floor with a thought-provoking question is the ultimate invitation for consumers to connect with their favorite influencers. The result? Content that spreads like wildfire.

Authenticity Vs. Popularity in Influencer Marketing

Once upon a time, followers used to reign supreme when it came to selecting influencers. But as the art of influencer marketing evolved, brands started to discover that simply having a ton of followers doesn’t immediately equal success. What’s the use of having an arena full of fans if none of them actually like the performer? 

There are some notable benefits to selecting popular, aka “Macro” influencers, such as their wide reach and engagement, providing visibility to a large pool of potential customers. However, it’s key to strike the right balance between authenticity and popularity. 

• Start by aligning your choice of influencers’ values and voice with your brand, prioritizing authenticity to help your message resonate on a deeper level. It’s also important to note that authenticity and popularity are not mutually exclusive, so keep digging for the hidden gems that are both authentic and have a large reach!

Achieving Authenticity in Influencer Marketing: Best Practices

As brands navigate the realm of digital influence, they can find themselves in a neverending search for genuine connections with their target audience. When it comes to achieving authenticity in influencer marketing, there is no one-fits-all approach. However, there are some tried and tested steps that you can take to make your influencer campaigns more authentic.

Selecting Trustworthy Influencers

We live in a world where even the most simple things carry unspoken meanings. Everything from the pair of shoes you pick out in the morning to your smartphone’s model sends a covert message and conveys a particular personality. Picture in your mind’s eye someone clad in Crocs, tapping away on an Android phone, and contrast it with someone striding in high heels while engrossed in their iPhone. It’s safe to say that these imaginary individuals embody completely different vibes. 

Consider the type of influencers that you select carefully, as the unspoken connotations of their content will ultimately play into how your brand is perceived. Don’t be blinded by dazzling numbers like high follower counts, as you can end up choosing influencers who aren’t a great fit for your brand. 

If they aren’t authentically aligned, your content will scream untrustworthy. The cardinal rule in selecting trustworthy influencers and portraying a sense of honesty is to choose influencers who would actually use your product or service. Influencer credibility is vital to any successful influencer marketing campaign. Nail this, and you’re off to a solid start!

However, don’t fall into the trap of looking for tons of very similar creators.

A common misconception that we’ve seen from brands and clients we’ve worked with is that all the influencers in their campaigns would fit a specific and narrow profile. Influencer marketing offers you an exciting opportunity to tell your brand story using a myriad of different voices.

• It’s your choice whether you want to work with a flock of parrots who all sound the same, repeating the same message in the same way, or whether you want to opt for a rainbow of diverse voices telling unique stories in alternative ways.

Finally, don’t be afraid to think outside the box when sourcing trustworthy influencers for your campaigns. Adjacent categories can open up exciting new channels with a treasure trove of influencers you may never have considered. 

For example, if you’re a beauty company that traditionally only works with beauty influencers–why not experiment with ASMR influencers? Or a fitness app could look into working with mindfulness and positivity influencers. Think outside of the box and consider what adjacent influencer niches could work for your brand.

Enhancing Authentic Storytelling Through Creative Freedom

People follow influencers for a reason. Through the influencer’s authentic voice, they look to be educated, inspired, or entertained within the context of their niche. By empowering influencers with the freedom to be themselves and express their creativity, brands can shape relevant content that resonates with their audience. 

A massive 71% of consumers stated that they prefer influencer ads that are delivered in a creator’s own natural voice. TikTok’s advice to brands is that they should ditch the script, letting influencers take the reigns. The aim here is to let influencers use authentic storytelling to craft content that makes them convert–not cringe.

Avoiding the perils of prescriptive language is paramount. Discerning consumers can immediately tell when someone has been force-fed robotic lines, resulting in an instant scroll past the inauthentic content. As with the comforting familiarity of your favorite author, you want the influencer’s tone of voice to remain consistent across their content. 

Just as you wouldn’t want your beloved Harry Potter novel to abruptly adopt the tone of a dry medical journal halfway through, consistency in an influencer’s tone of voice is key. Influencer marketing thrives on maintaining a familiar and comforting connection with followers, and any deviation from this can tarnish both the influencer’s image and your brand’s reputation.

Once you have effectively communicated your core message, it’s time to place your trust in the influencer’s innate ability to weave authentic storytelling that resonates profoundly with their devoted audience.

When collaborating with influencers, finding the sweet spot between providing adequate information and allowing them creative freedom is crucial. It’s important to equip influencers with the necessary knowledge to comprehend and effectively translate product information to their audience. 

Increasing Influencer Engagement

In the competitive world of influencer marketing, even the most exceptional influencer briefs can sometimes fall short when it comes to generating your desired level of engagement. 

To get a headstart in the race for engagement, TikTok suggests letting the influencer’s content story “breathe” before introducing your brand. Although it can be tempting to have your brand flash up in the first few seconds, effective storytelling will better captivate the viewer, keeping them invested and wanting to watch until the end. Contrary to popular belief, introducing your brand later in the content, where it’s more relevant, is far more efficient.

• Another way to tap into sky-high engagement is to immerse yourself in the subcultures and communities that your audience love.

A massive 59% of TikTok users say that they feel a sense of community on TikTok, and 77% of users claim the platform is a place for people to express themselves openly. 

There really is a strange subculture for everything that you can imagine on social media. As you explore these subcultures, you’ll discover that each niche has its own language comprised of memes, ‘in-jokes,’ and niche-specific slang. An influencer that can incorporate these gives a proverbial wink to community members, slotting your brand into their intricate world as a ‘must-have’ and drumming up engagement.

How to Create an Authentic Influencer Marketing Strategy

You now understand why authenticity is crucial in influencer marketing and know the best practices to achieve it. But how do you combine everything to create a strategy? Success doesn’t come from just partnering with influencers. You need a carefully crafted influencer marketing strategy with authenticity at its core. 

Follow the steps below to create a unique, compelling campaign for your brand.

1. Craft an Authentic Brief for Genuine Results

Your influencer brief has the potential to make or break your campaign. 

Strike the right balance by providing enough information to educate your influencers without stifling their creativity or limiting their freedom because this is where the magic happens.

2. Source Trustworthy Influencers

Sourcing trustworthy influencers is vital for your campaign’s success.

• Use influencer marketing tools to audit your influencers to ensure they align with your target audience, and remember to delve into their performance metrics.

Beyond this, monitor how their other collaborations with competitors have gone down and ask yourself whether these feel authentic. Do they genuinely resonate with their followers, or do they come across as scripted advertisements? 

3. Collaborate on Content Creation

As the first pieces of influencer content trickle in, seize the opportunity to collaborate with your influencers. Embrace their feedback and insights, ensuring that the content remains true to their authentic selves. 

• By nurturing a collaborative environment, you’ll optimize your campaign’s impact, capturing the essence of your brand while empowering influencers to shine. 

Ask the influencers whether they feel that what you’re asking them to do is authentic. If not–why? This valuable feedback can help ensure your campaign hits the mark.

4. Encourage Interactivity for Engagement

Engagement is the cornerstone of any successful influencer campaign.

• Add a little extra engagement by encouraging the influencers to interact with their followers in the comments section. 

Empower influencers with the education and tools to engage in meaningful interactions by addressing comments and questions on their posts. The key here is to let them respond authentically, as no one appreciates an AI customer service bot.

5. Measure, Analyze, and Optimize

In the fast-paced world of influencer marketing, data is your guiding light. 

• Set up a robust system to measure the quantitative results of your campaign. Dive deep into the metrics, uncovering valuable campaign insights, trends, and patterns that pave the way for optimization.

Remember, each post in the pipeline is a stepping stone toward enhancing your future content and driving even greater success.

6. Work With A Trusted Influencer Marketing Agency

Navigating the intricate landscape of influencer marketing can be daunting. That’s where a trusted influencer marketing agency like Moburst comes into play. 

With a proven track record of crafting exceptional campaigns, our team of experts will guide you every step of the way. Benefit from a wealth of knowledge and experience, ensuring your campaign stands out, resonates, and delivers. Rather than choosing a trial-and-error approach, you can trust that our team will maximize your return on investment (ROI) and provide memorable influencer campaigns with measurable results.

Conclusion

In the ever-evolving world of authenticity and authentic influencer content, brands that resist change risk falling behind their competitors. To truly infuse your brand with authenticity, connect with an influencer marketing agency and discover the transformative potential of an authentic influencer marketing campaign tailored specifically to your brand.

With our expertise and industry knowledge, we’ll guide you through the dynamic influencer landscape, helping you craft a strategy that resonates deeply with your target audience and sets your brand apart. Make sure to check out our comprehensive suite of digital marketing services to learn more.

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