The goal of influencer marketing is to forge connections with content creators to get social media posts on behalf of your company. This is often a transactional relationship, with brands exchanging money for social media content, or product, which is known as influencer gifting. While it is a transactional relationship, the goal should be to create a long-term partnership that benefits both parties. If brands build strong relationships with influencers, they can become long-term brand ambassadors.

Once you’ve created partnerships with brand ambassadors, it might be a good idea to relinquish some control. If you find a trustworthy, consistent influencer that’s generating results with a desired target audience, doing what you can to continue that partnership is critical. These types of ambassador relationships can be difference makers for brands, and there are a lot of different benefits to giving your ideal brand ambassador a higher level of control.

While it is never easy to relinquish control, especially in social media marketing, where many feel reputation-conscious, it can be a good idea when influencer marketing. Giving a high-quality creator the ability to decide what they post and how they post will also require you to incentivize the influencer by offering them a higher share of the revenue generated from sales or a larger base fee. But in doing this, you can drastically improve your content marketing campaigns. Let’s look at why you should give trusted brand ambassadors more control.

More Authentic Content

The biggest reason influencer marketing works is the authentic relationships that influencers have curated with members of their following. People trust influencers; they like them. Each influencer has their own voice. When brands are too controlling over the sponsored social posts, it comes across much more like an advertisement than an influencer recommendation. Ideally, you’d want it to seem like the influencer likes your product like they are happy customers of your brand.

The statistics bear out the fact that people trust influencers. According to Business Wire, 61% of people trust influencer recommendations, while only 38% trust a brand on social platforms. 82% of people have purchased or considered purchasing a product after an influencer recommendation.

If the brand ambassador is given more creative control, the posts will be more natural and authentic. They will come across as genuine recommendations rather than sponsored content. The more restrictive you are with your brand ambassador, the less natural the posts appear. If authenticity is a determining part of why social media creators are liked by the average person, letting these creators post authentically will drive success.

More Engaged Influencer

If your social media strategy is based on content creators posting on your behalf, it is best to lock in these influential people. A post from social media influencers that are engaged, with a clear stake in the process, will come across a lot better than a less interested influencer posting on their social media channels. Many companies go wrong in their campaigns because they target influencers that aren’t the right fit and don’t care for their products. This reflects in the work that the influencer does.

If you are working with someone who has become an important part of your marketing strategy over a long period of time, incentivize them to be more engaged. Some influencers will go above and beyond to deliver results for you because it has a clear benefit to them. Ambassador marketing works because it utilizes influencers in a mutually beneficial way. The more you give influencers, the higher the likelihood of initiative and growth. Some influencers will post user-generated content featuring your brand of their own accord because they have a portion of the proceeds going to them.

Influencers are Social Media Experts

This one should be obvious, but many brands fail to factor this into their thought processes. The reason influencers have acquired such a massive audience on the social networks they use is because they understand social media. They have high-quality communication skills and understand what plays. Traditional advertising assumes that the brand would know better than the celebrity endorsing them. On social media, this might not be the case.

Influencers are literally social media professionals. It is a good idea that you allow for some input and control from the people you’ve recruited to work on your behalf for a social media strategy. Even if you are a social media marketer with years of expertise, an influencer will understand what their audience likes much more than you will. Factoring in the ideas of the brand ambassador you are utilizing will lead to more authentic endorsements.

In any competitive industry, relying on the know-how of those who have succeeded makes sense. Influencers are experienced at social media marketing and have managed to sell a product, themselves, to a large number of people. By giving your brand ambassadors more creative control, your marketing team will receive the expertise of those with high-level experience using social media accounts to connect with others. 

If you are looking to partner with a top influencer marketing agency with strong connections and great experience, Influence Hunter may be for you. Influence Hunter is an influencer marketing firm that has helped brands across industries create high-performing and customizable campaigns that deliver on strategic goals. Whether you are interested in YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok influencer marketing, we are the team that can help you succeed. Contact us today to find out how to launch your influencer marketing campaigns into the stratosphere.