Like everything else in marketing, influencer marketing is rapidly evolving. It’s no longer a trendy nice-to-have. It’s now nearly a necessary digital marketing strategy for your online business.

Your potential customers want to know if they can trust you, and that's what influencers bring to the table. Brand authority measures how much customers trust you and see you as credible. Beyond brand recognition, having brand authority sets you up as an expert and a viable source of information in your field. When you have authority, you have an edge over competitors.

​Below, you’ll find information and tips for you to kickstart your brand authority.

Influencers establish dedicated communities of engaged audiences. Collaborating with influencers allows you to leverage those pre-built relationships. You aim to capitalize on their proven platform to extend your brand visibility and messaging. You can generate more quality leads by amplifying your messaging and expanding your reach through an influencer.

​Here’s what you stand to gain with an influencer partnership:

Storytelling has become most people’s preferred way to digest information. Our brains love stories, which help us connect and build relationships. Influencers are so influential because they tell stories well.

Like paling around with one of the coolest seniors during your ninth-grade year in high school, your influencer can pass the credibility and “cool” factor they’ve built up on to you. What took them years to build can take you less simply because you’ve linked up with them.

Influencers have higher engagement rates among their audience. Your presence and visibility can improve when influencers and their audience engage with you through likes, shares, or comments.

Audiences can smell a disingenuous sales pitch a mile away. They’ll be sure to tune it out, too. However, they’ll pause and may take notice when an influencer they already know and trust shares their genuine experience and satisfaction with your service or product. They start trusting your brand because someone they trust has vouched for you.

Audiences believe influencers are experts in their fields. Influencers can create informative content for you and position you as an authority figure.

Sure, partnering with influencers exposes you to more potential customers. It also helps build your brand authority, which is your credibility and how much trust an audience puts in you. Below are four tips for starting an influencer marketing campaign on your own.

Research individuals with expertise in your industry and a strong online following and presence. You’ll often begin your relationship with a potential influencer through written correspondence. Determine through these interactions whether their brand voice and knowledge align with yours.

Once you’ve identified them, you might be excited to use an influencer or two to get the ball rolling. However, you must first and foremost treat this alignment like a friendship. Fostering an authentic relationship takes time and communication.

​When possible, provide informative value on their platforms–engage with their content, share, and comment on their posts. Build that genuine connection first to lay a stronger foundation for future collaborations.

Two heads are better than one. Another fantastic aspect of having an influencer on your team is that they can help you create valuable content.

​Your influencers are likely more skilled at digital marketing as they’ve built a following by marketing their brand–themselves–well. They can help you produce engaging and informative content your audience appreciates more quickly than if you did it alone. From interviews and guest blogs to podcasts and webinars, use the platforms that align with your target audience and business goals to provide valuable perspective and insight to your listeners.

Measure the effect of your influencer marketing strategy. Check out metrics like brand sentiment (mentions of your name and overall feeling behind them), engagement rates, website traffic, and lead conversions.

​Never stop tracking and improving. You can use the data you collect to further optimize future influencer marketing campaigns. You may need to refine your influencer selection or choose alternative formats or channels and try again.

It’s nice to know there are things you can do on your own to begin harnessing the power of influencer marketing. Along the way, you may decide you need extra time you don’t have, an additional set of eyes helping you research, or extra helping hands to implement the strategies.

You don’t have to white knuckle through influencer marketing alone. A business coach for entrepreneurs can help you discover the best influencers for your business more quickly or craft a well-written partnership request.

Influencer marketing companies can do that, too, plus they have established relationships with influencers to help you quickly find your match and get going. Furthermore, they can help you promptly pivot as consumer preferences change so that your influencer marketing strategy keeps up with the times.

​While there are plenty of influencer marketing techniques you can implement on your own, you can always lean on the experts to move your business. Any way you look at it, influencer marketing is here to stay. It is another necessary tool to add to your digital marketing tool belt when you can.

Influencer marketing has changed the way businesses promote their products online. Aligning with an endorser does so much for your trust and credibility. It can help you reach more of your target audience, establish your voice and authority, and elevate your online visibility and presence. Influencers might be the missing piece of the puzzle you need to put in place to help your business grow.