Promoting products has largely become reliant on authenticity, so it comes as no surprise that partnering with micro-influencers can be a very valuable tool to enhance your business’ strategy for a variety of reasons. They can help brands achieve their marketing objectives, boost brand’s credibility and drive conversions whilst being cost-effective compared to other marketing channels.
But in order to know how to incorporate them into your strategy effectively, let's go back to basics…
What is a micro influencer?
Influencers are typically categorized into one of the following: nano influencers, micro influencers, macro influencers and celebrities.
Typically a micro influencer has roughly between over 10k and under 100k followers. Where macro influencers generally have a wider audience, micro influencers typically have a niche and more engaged audience, which can be beneficial from a brand perspective so the content is seen and interacted with by the target consumers.
While many brands opt to use macro influencers because of their names and their ‘fame’ in the influencer industry - it doesn’t always mean that the desired results are guaranteed. In fact, sometimes opting to both macro & micro influencers in your campaign or no macro influencers at all, could be largely beneficial. So let’s take a look at what value micro influencers bring to the table…
Micro-influencers have an engaged following
As we mentioned before, typically micro influencers have a more targeted and intimate audience. They usually produce what is being considered as highly relevant content, which is preferred by social media algorithms, therefore they often see a higher engagement rate on their content. Engagement is an important KPI for all brands because it shows that your content aligns and connects with the audience. As a result, micro-influencers’ content reaches a higher percentage of their audience(relevancy -> engagement -> reach).
The end result is that a higher percentage of their target audience are engaging and interacting with the content through likes, comments and shares. This is exactly what brands are looking for in their influencer partnerships - working with influencers who can market their products to the most relevant audience in the most engaging, action-driving way.
Micro-influencers have a niche audience
Micro-influencers tend to have a niche following, meaning that brands are able to reach a target audience of those who actually are interested in their product or service, or share the same values as them. So, if you are a fitness brand, you could work with health & fitness influencers to promote your new product so that it is seen by people who share the same interests and therefore may be influenced to buy it.
This factor becomes even more important in professional-focused products, where brands are struggling to get to their target audience in a reliable and authentic way. Think, for example, about a product for IT professionals. Naturally, when this target audience makes a decision about whether or not to purchase the product, they will be much more incline to making a purchase decision if they see someone they consider as “their own”, a part of their community, recommend this product rather than someone who they don’t know (would that be an influencer from a different vertical or an actor for hire that reads the lines in a commercial ad).
Micro-influencers have affordable rates
If you are trying to be cost-efficient with your budget, using micro influencers within your strategy is a beneficial tool to keep your spend low whilst still getting optimal results and performance. You can work with a few micro influencers for the same cost as working with one macro influencer, and you’ll likely achieve wider reach and target the exact audience you want. So really, it’s a no brainer!
We’ve seen brands shift their budget from huge influencer partnerships and production companies towards micro-influencers as they yield much better ROI than working with macro-influencers and celebrities and hit the exact target audience with the right messaging.
Content is more authentic
Micro influencers tend to create more niche authentic and relatable content - so instead of wasting money on huge productions to create out-dated and stale content, let the influencers create content that is more attractive to their audience. When buying, consumers now value authenticity and trustworthiness the most, therefore brands need to strategically respond by ensuring this is relayed and aligned within their brand partnerships model.
Moreover, by partnering with the right micro-influencers for your brand, you will be able to organically present the pain points that your product solves, as those micro-influencers are real people that understand your field of business and the actual struggles it faces. This adds another layer of trustworthiness and empathy to the content, which in turn will translate into engagement and conversions.
Key Takeaways:
Overall, the selection of your influencers and execution of your influencer marketing campaign solely depends on the desired goals for your business. However, it’s important for brands to realize the power and value that micro influencers hold and how utilizing them can have an important impact on brand awareness and growth too.
With the growing impact of influencers on purchase decision-making on the one hand and the increasing customer sensitivity to inauthentic advertising on the other hand, micro-influencers give brands a unique way to engage with their audience organically and effectively.
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