Micro-Influencers, Mega Results

Christina
August 24, 2018
Micro-Influencers, Mega Results Featured Image

Has one of your favorite people to follow on Instagram ever convinced you to buy something?

We’ve all been there. We’ve all scrolled through our feeds to see a celebrity showing off the latest tea detox or beauty product. Hey, it worked for them, so it’ll probably work for me, right?

Influencer marketing changed how brands interact with the people that matter most to them. It provided a way for brands to integrate themselves into the lives of those we seek inspiration from. In a world where 75% of consumers are more likely to buy something based on a social media reference, influencer marketing is a tool that brands can’t afford to ignore. By definition, an influencer is an individual who has the power to affect purchasing decisions because of their knowledge of a topic or a relationship with their audience. Influencers are the big names on your feed—they could have anywhere between 10,000 and 1 million+ followers.

However, marketers have noticed that these big names don’t always yield big results. On average, influencers with over 1 million followers on Instagram get 1.66% engagement on their posts. That’s where micro-influencers come in.

Micro-influencers have less than 10,000 followers, but are experts within their field. They could be anyone, from previous customers to advocates with a more modest following on their social channels. You’ve heard the phrase “Bigger is Better,” but micro-influencers are proving that that’s not always the case, especially when it comes to marketing.

Here are the top three reasons why micro-influencers will bring your brand mega successes:

  • Less is more when it comes to credibility: Peer recommendations mean more to your audience than brand recommendations. On average, micro-influencers get 3% more engagement with their posts than mega-influencers. Their followers trust them and they’re seen as more authentic with their posts, and that means consumers are more likely to believe the hype. In general, the more followers an influencer has, the less engagement they get. Those mega-influencers with over 10 million followers don’t have that intimate relationship with their followers, and in turn, don’t yield the engagement rates needed for a successful marketing campaign.
  • You’ll reach a targeted audience: Micro-influencers have a niche, which means their followers do, too. Find the right person that posts the content that matters to your brand.
  • It’s an affordable way to market your brand: Micro-influencers tend to come at a much lower fee than their mega counterparts. Some micro-influencers don’t charge for posts at all.

Micro-influencers can be extremely valuable to your marketing campaign and ROI. The shift to social media for marketing has put the power back into the hands of the consumer. It’s all about making your brand authentic and relatable, finding the people that the consumer trusts, and creating your army of brand advocates through them. Using micro-influencers is a great way to build long-lasting relationships with the people that matter most to your brand.