What is influencer marketing and how could it help your business?
Influencer marketing has been part of the mainstream marketing mix for some time now, and it has changed almost beyond recognition. We’re no longer talking about A-list celebrities posting glossy endorsements for eye-watering fees. Today’s influencer landscape is populated by content creators who have built genuine followings across platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. These are people with a real forte in their niche, and who have audiences who listen to them and trust their recommendations.
The question for businesses in 2026 isn’t whether influencer marketing works. It’s whether your strategy is working.
How does influencer marketing work?
In simple terms, influencer marketing is a partnership between a brand and an individual who has built an engaged social media following. The influencer promotes or endorses the brand’s products or services to their followers, lending their credibility and reach in the process.
Many early influencer campaigns often relied on big followings alone. But the most effective strategies today are far more nuanced. It’s now much more important for brands to think carefully about audience alignment, engagement rate, content authenticity, and the long-term fit between the influencer’s values and their own.
Influencer marketing in 2026
It’s important to recognise that there are many types of social media influencer. At one end of the scale, micro-influencers are people who have an established social media audience; they have an authentic voice in a niche market. Partnering with these individuals can be cost-effective and generate highly targeted engagement with people who are genuinely interested in a product or service. At the other end of the scale sit the iconic ‘personalities’ and celebrities who have millions of followers, stimulate high levels of engagement, and most probably come at a big cost.
However, what’s changed most significantly in recent years is the spotlight that audiences have placed on authenticity. People can spot a transactional, paid-for post from 100 miles away, and they respond to it accordingly, whether that’s with scepticism or negativity. But the flip side is equally true. When a recommendation feels genuine, audiences respond with real enthusiasm, trust, and action.
In any business relationship, we seek out business partners whose objectives align with our own. If the objectives of both parties are compatible and both stand to benefit from the relationship, they are likely to form a successful partnership. The same applies when seeking social media partners.
The creators who deliver real results are those whose endorsements feel genuine, because they are. When an influencer has a real connection to a product or place, when they’ve genuinely experienced it and found something worth sharing – their content carries credibility that no amount of fancy adverts can replicate. The best influencer partnerships are built on mutual fit.
Absolute’s influencer marketing case study: Whalesborough Resort and Monty Halls
In the past, we’ve had the pleasure of working with Whalesborough, a family spa and farm resort on the north Cornish coast, to develop an influencer campaign. Whalesborough is a brand with a strong environmental ethos. The resort is committed to achieving Net Zero in the future and are keen to move towards complete self-sufficiency in power and produce.
The influencer we identified was Monty Halls; marine biologist, journalist, TV broadcaster, and best known for his BBC Great Escapes series. Environmental issues have been central to Monty’s work throughout his career, so he had an organic connection to Whalesborough’s sustainability mission.
Monty and his family were invited to visit Whalesborough and the campaign produced three pieces of content on the Whalesborough website: two blog pieces and a video personal account by Monty himself. The campaign also included social media activity across Monty’s platforms. With 10,000 followers on Facebook, 20,000 on X, and 11,000 on LinkedIn, Monty’s reach spans an engaged, audience with a genuine interest in nature, sustainability, and the outdoors. Precisely the audience Whalesborough wanted to speak to.
What made this campaign particularly effective was that Monty’s content didn’t feel like an advert. His account of the family’s stay was candid and personal. It read as the recommendation of someone who had genuinely loved the experience, because he had!
This is what influencer marketing and authenticity in content creation looks like in practice.
Is influencer marketing right for every business?
The honest answer is no. A great example is London Diamonds, who have built a marketing strategy that actively calls out the influencer model. How? Their social platforms are filled with anti-influencer messaging across organic content, stories, reels, and paid ads. Their view is simple: their customers are people who have worked hard and are spending real money on luxury jewellery. The idea that someone might receive the same piece for free, simply by virtue of having a social following, doesn’t sit well with their audience. Rather than ignore that tension, London Diamonds lean into it, and it works for them!
It’s a reminder that influencer marketing is a tool, not a must. For some brands, particularly those serving high-value, discerning customers, the freebies-for-followers model can undermine brand perception rather than strengthen it. The best marketing strategy is the one that’s right for your brand, your audience, and your values. Even if that means consciously choosing not to work with influencers at all.
Is influencer marketing right for my business?
Influencer marketing may give the impression of being limited to a small number of sponsored ‘freeloaders’, but in Absolute’s opinion, it has the potential to be a sophisticated and effective marketing process under the right circumstances. One from which both brands and influencers rightly expect to benefit.
A suitable fit between the objectives of both parties is essential to the success of influencer marketing; the foundations of the relationship must be built on mutual ground. In the same way that your business would vet any potential supplier, prospective influencers should be able to show why they are the right partner for your brand. A clear sense of your own marketing objectives will support the process.
