Who are micro-influencers and why are they effective?

By Felicia Guthrie

We’ve given you the 411 on influencer marketing in the past, but here’s a refresher before we dig deeper into the world of influencer marketing. Influencer marketing is a form of marketing that places focus on people who are influential on social media rather than placing focus on the target market. Influencer marketing involves selling your products or services by tapping into trusted influencers and letting them sell your brand to their audience.

Not all influencers are equal though. Influencers can fall into different categories including mega, macro, and micro-influencers. In this blog, we’ll be focusing on micro-influencers and why they’re effective. First, we’ll quickly run through what sets each category apart so that you can differentiate between them.

Celebrity and Mega-Influencers: Celebrity and Mega-influencers are at the top of the category, this is because they often have millions of followers, not necessarily because they’re “better”.  Mega-influencers are usually more famous than they are influential, but may have influence BECAUSE they’re so famous. They typically have distant relationships with their audience and don’t engage in many conversations with them. They provide reach and impressions but often have diverse followers and perhaps not a particular focus. Celebrity/Mega-influencers include people like Khloe Kardashian and Kylie Jenner. They have millions of followers, have influence, and they frequently work with companies to place #ads within their Instagram feeds.

Macro-Influencers: Macro-influencers will have a follower count between 100,000 and 1 million. Macro-influencers are usually bloggers, Youtubers, professionals and other people with a passion to share what they love and how they live. They will usually have a focus on a particular passion such as fashion, beauty, health, fitness or lifestyle. Many macro-influencers consider being an influencer as their full time job and will put a lot of thought and effort into their content. Mariah Leonard (@mariahlleonard on Instagram) is an example of a macro-influencer who shares her passion for cosmetics, she has 106K followers and often works with brands like NARS Cosmetics.

Micro-Influencers. Micro influencers will typically have between 1000 - 99K followers. Mikayla Greenwood (@missmakaylag on Instagram) is an example of a micro-influencer. Mikayla has 36.5K followers and is a Digital Creator who focuses on lifestyle, beauty, and travel and partners with brands like TD Canada and Nest Fragrances. Another example is Amber Desilets (@pinkmillennial_ on Instagram), a Canadian lifestyle blogger with 60.1K followers.

MICRO-INFLUENCERS DON’T HAVE THE MASSIVE REACH OF MACRO AND MEGA INFLUENCERS SO WHY ARE THEY SO EFFECTIVE?

Micro-influencers typically have a specific passion(s) and have built a reputation among their followers as an expert, which in turn has established a form of trust and authenticity. Having an ambassador with a trusted reputation is important, 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations when making a purchase. Who better to talk about your product(s)/service(s) than someone with a loyal follower base, one who values their opinion and are looking for recommendations in your industry?

We’ve spoken about it before, bigger isn’t always better. Sure, you can work with larger influencers, but they are pricier and, while they have masses and masses of followers, they’re sometimes seen as inauthentic and just don’t have the same relationship with their followers as micro-influencers do. Rather than a pricey campaign with a mega/macro-influencer, you can use select (and multiple) micro-influencers with audiences that are more highly targeted.

Micro-influencers not only charge less than the bigger influencers, but they also have a higher engagement rate as a result of their expertise and the connections they’ve created and fostered.

Yes, micro-influencers have smaller audiences than mega- and macro-influencers, but this means that they can engage with their followers a lot more. As mentioned above, followers of smaller influencers find them more relatable, they trust and value what the person has to say, and because of that, they engage with the creator’s content more. HelloSociety found that micro-influencers are able to generate 60% greater engagement than other campaigns because they have a greater bond with their followers. When consumers trust an influencer and engage with them, you have a better chance of then converting them into a customer.

To sum it up, micro-influencers are trustworthy, relatable, knowledgeable, connected to their followers, and cost effective.Want to know more?

Click here for five steps to make sure you don’t get stuck with a bad influencer partnership that costs you more than you gain. Or, if you’d like to read other articles we’ve published on influencers, find them here.

Of course, you can always contact us at hello@songbirdmarketing to help get you integrate influencers into your marketing strategy.