How to promote your product with influencers who are trusted by customers
Influencer marketing is already a $24 billion industry. Yet CMOs face a paradox: influencer marketing is booming, but trust is falling. One study shows that while 88% of consumers say authenticity matters, nearly half believe most influencers are fake.
More than a third think influencers exaggerate the products they promote. The result is an increasingly deteriorating influence ecosystem: consumers feel deceived, influencers struggle to stay true to themselves, and managers don’t fully understand how authenticity is built.
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To solve the problem, CMOs must first understand what authenticity really means in the influencer world. Our research — including 185 interviews with brand managers, agencies, influencers and consumers across five continents — shows that authenticity is not a fixed trait. It is built in a shared way in interactions between influencers, brands, followers and agencies.
Fundamentally, authenticity emerges when there is alignment across five key dimensions:
Expertise: The influencer is seen as someone with credibility within their niche.
Connection: Followers feel emotionally invested and familiar with the influencer.
Integrity: The influencer acts with real concern for his audience, not just for financial gain.
Originality: Content reflects a distinct personal voice.
Transparency: The influencer is clear about paid partnerships and their real-world experiences.
These dimensions matter in different ways for each interested audience. Consumers primarily value integrity and transparency. Influencers prioritize originality and expertise.
Brands tend to focus on reach and message control, rather than mutual connection with consumers. However, when these priorities become misaligned, authenticity breaks down.
Brands may exaggerate scripts or push for short-term ROI, while influencers hide their financial motives for fear of being seen as “selling out” — even though transparency strengthens authenticity.
Our research explores how companies can avoid some of the side effects, such as prioritizing reach over relevance, roadmap over narrative, or excessive polish over transparency. Understanding where these disruptions occur can help brands avoid damaging critical elements of customer trust.
Expertise: from resume to consistency
Brands often associate expertise with formal credentials or awards, but followers value more the influencer’s ongoing experience with a product or service, shared consistently over time. For the public, authenticity comes not from titles, but from creators who appear regularly and with credibility in a specific domain.
Consumers in our study, for example, said they trusted amateur runners training for a 10km race more than Olympic athletes, because the amateurs seemed closer to their reality.
Some brands have attempted to partner with influencers outside of the niche they are known for, presumably to reach new audiences. Volvo, for example, hired fashion creator Chriselle Lim — known for luxury content — to promote its eco-friendly line.
But because it did not consistently engage with themes of sustainability or mobility, the campaign was criticized by followers and industry experts for lacking authenticity.
In contrast, when Canon collaborated with lifestyle vlogger Emma Chamberlain — who was not a professional photographer but used the brand’s cameras — the endorsement felt natural and credible because it aligned with her already established content and experience.
Connection: from metrics to mutuality
Brands often assess an influencer’s value by macro metrics — likes, shares, number of followers — but ignore the importance of reciprocal connection. High-performing influencers don’t just broadcast content, they maintain an ongoing dialogue: answering DMs, hosting live Q&As, and building a community. As one agency executive put it: “There is a real risk in treating influencers like statues to be admired — statues end up in museums.”
A more effective strategy is to work with creators who build community through active, two-way interaction. Sephora, for example, hosts Instagram lives with its “Sephora Squad”, where influencers offer personalized advice and answer questions in real time. This turns followers into active participants — not passive spectators.
And it turns everyday beauty lovers into content creators, potentially generating thousands of product reviews and tutorials across platforms, increasing credibility and trust beyond what superficial metrics capture.
Integrity: From Hidden Motives to Clear Disclosures
The public quickly notices when creators “push” products without conviction. But here’s the thing: they don’t necessarily care about the influencer’s self-interest as long as it’s transparent.
Our interviews with marketing executives showed how many influencer-led podcasts use platforms like Patreon to make their financial incentives clear. These executives believe this direct transparency resonates with audiences and increases authenticity.
A touch of self-awareness can also make a brand more human and trustworthy. Instead of weakening the message, it can strengthen the connection between brand, influencer and audience.
Our research shows that followers react negatively when they perceive that values have been compromised — not just when there is a category mismatch. Showing integrity—acting in accordance with values and the best interests of the public—is a distinct dimension of authenticity.
Originality: from scripted control to narrative freedom
We found that influencers build authenticity through a distinct voice and unique storytelling style. Originality in storytelling is a key dimension of authenticity, but brands often impose rigid scripts or overdo the sales messaging.
One influencer explained her refusal to comply with a client’s request to include numerous affirmations in a video: “It didn’t do justice to our creative intentions.” The problem wasn’t just creative frustration, but a misalignment with her authentic voice and style.
Another influencer interviewed, but whose name we cannot mention due to a confidentiality agreement, described how she suggested to Starbucks a series of Instagram stories showing how she prepares the brand’s coffee at home, instead of a traditional advertisement. By staying true to her own style, she preserved her originality and the organic concept exceeded expectations.
Brands can also go overboard when trying to insert their own message or products into an influencer-led campaign. Soft drink brand Poppi found this out the hard way in a recent Super Bowl campaign.
They sent vending machines to several influencers’ homes, and the resulting posts ended up very similar. Media coverage criticized the approach as “extravagant,” “unrealistic” and overly scripted.
Transparency: from impeccable messaging to real-world reactions
Consumers don’t expect perfection, but they do want honesty. Yet many brands still fear that admitting flaws or showing competing products will weaken their message. Irony: This impulse to try to over-polish often produces the opposite effect, damaging the influencer’s credibility and the brand’s trustworthiness.
Influencer Victoria Magrath demonstrates this kind of flexibility by promoting Redken tools while still using her own Dyson dryer — showing that both have a place in her routine. Small admissions of weakness can also make positive statements more believable.
Our research shows that when consumers encounter subtle, low-impact negative information, they are less likely to continue fault-finding. Thus, paradoxically, a small imperfection can reduce uncertainty and reinforce authenticity.
