But how do you develop lasting, meaningful relationships with influencers? And better yet, how do you know this partnership will be worth the investment?

This strong connection will be the result of creating a strong brand persona and understanding your influencer’s brand. Once you have a strong brand persona, you can align it with the influencer. Does this influencer positively represent your brand? Do you both uphold the same values? Are you both motivated by the same principles? What goals do you both want to achieve? When it’s an authentic relationship, it will only develop and deepen over time, ensuring your investment in them was well spent.

Additionally, you may not always pair well with an influencer and that is okay. This is why your branding is so important. Your social media presence should be a direct reflection of your brand. Can someone who visits your page immediately recognize what your brand symbolizes? Making sure the influencer knows your brand’s persona at the onset will help clarify any questions they may have surrounding your company.

More and more brands are making the shift away from paid advertising towards influencer collaborations. This is because most consumers seek authenticity. This only comes from real time recommendations, rather than traditional online advertising. They trust someone’s altruistic review, rather than an ad that was paid for. Therefore, most brands find a better return on investment when allocating a larger portion of their budget towards influencers verses paid advertising.

The best brand and influencer matches are achieved when you create a strong brand persona, do your homework on the influencer, and educate your influencer on your brand. Fostering meaningful relationships between brand and influencer will be key to enlarging your social media presence. So remember… Your brand should influence the influencer!