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\xa0Six stats on the importance of trust in influencer marketing

\xa0\u201cOnly 22% of brands are trusted.\u201d (Havas Media)

\xa0That\u2019s a frightening metric for any marketer. Without establishing trust between your brand and your audience, it\u2019s nearly impossible to market your product or service. So marketers are faced with the difficult question of how to create and maintain trust with their audience.

\xa0\u201c61% of women said they won\u2019t engage with an influencer\u2019s sponsored content if it doesn\u2019t feel genuine.\u201d (Bloglovin)

\xa0Trust and authenticity are critical for engagement in any influencer campaign. Without trust, the content that you\u2019re hoping will build engagement won\u2019t feel genuine and won\u2019t resonate with your desired audience.

\xa0Low trust equals low engagement, and a pattern of this can erode an influencer\u2019s audience over time. While this report references women specifically, these principles are applicable across the influencer marketing sphere.

\xa0\u201c43% of millennials rank authenticity over content when consuming news.\u201d (Forbes)

\xa0According to a survey of 1,300 millennials carried out by Forbes, young people prioritise trusting a company or news site before they will look at any content it produces. As Dan Schawbel of Forbes wrote, \u201cMillennials connect best with people over logos.\u201d

\xa0If trust isn\u2019t established, millennials may not even interact with your content. An influencer can get a lot of attention, but the only attention that matters for your brand is authentic, genuine interaction that builds trust between you and the audience.

\xa0\u201c60% of YouTube subscribers say they would follow advice on what to buy from their favourite YouTube creator over a traditional celebrity.\u201d (TheYouTube Generation Study)

\xa0Celebrity spokespeople have long been considered a surefire way to build positive associations for your brand among your target audience. H&R Block wants to establish trust with their audience, so they recruit Jon Hamm to be their spokesman.

\xa0But savvy brands are turning to influencers on YouTube and other channels who have built audiences related to a shared set of interests. These placements are more authentic, and drive more brand-relevant recommendations than the generalized appeal of celebrity spots.

\xa0\u201c83% of consumers trust recommendations from their peers over advertising.\u201d (Nielsen)

\xa0Consumers take recommendations from their peers much more favorably than the \u2018recommendations\u2019 they see in ads. They trust the opinions of their friends because they know they\u2019re both unbiased and providing recommendations that are personalized to the individual. Influencers fit this bill nicely.

\xa0The best influencers turn down deals that don\u2019t have a natural fit in their feed and approach branded deals without bias. Either they already love a product and are happy to endorse it, or they agree to test the product and give an honest review or endorsement.

\xa0If you find the right influencers whose personas fit your brand values, targeted to your area of interest, the recommendations they share are more personalized for their audiences.

\xa0\u201c54% of consumers believe the smaller the community, the bigger the influence.\u201d (Technorati)

\xa0Although influencer marketing can help you reach a larger audience, ultimately, that audience doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s not the right audience. It is more valuable to show your brand to 30K likely buyers than it is to show it off to 200K totally uninterested viewers.

\xa0Finding influencers whose content and style perfectly match your brand, no matter their follower level, is a much smarter strategy than just getting as many eyes as possible. Influencers with smaller followings may have a more relevant, engaged and trusting audience because they haven\u2019t \u201cblown up\u201d yet. Check the comment sections on a Kardashian-branded post and you\u2019ll see what I mean.

\xa0To build trust with your audience, you don\u2019t need to reinvent the wheel. But you do need to foster trust between your brand and the influencer \u2014 trusting them to make content that will capture your brand values while also engaging their followers in the best way.

\xa0You can take advantage of existing marketing principles to build a playbook to engage your audience. Make use of peer recommendations from authentic influencers to drive engagement with your brand.

\xa0Brian Zuercher is CEO & Founder of SEEN, and a contributor to Search Engine Watch.