An influencer is no longer a new or unknown term, especially if you are a part of the digital marketing world, but the same cannot be said for ‘micro-influencer. Micro-influencer marketing is slowly picking up its pace and is proving to be as successful as celebrity influencer marketing campaigns.
Why?
The people trust the opinions of people they look up to and feel will get an honest and unbiased opinion, rather than just shower praises because they were paid to.
What are Micro-influencers?
These are influencers who have 1k to 100k followers and are considered experts in their respective industries. They could be travelers, fashion experts, technical gadget gurus or fitness professionals, or anybody else who are small but niche experts who are focussed but still can connect with their audiences on a deep level and generate better engagement through their posts.
Data suggests that influencers with about 1k followers create 85% more engagement than those with 100k followers and a general trend is that as the number of followers increases the reach increases but the engagement decreases. Hence, staying somewhere between that 1k and 100k remains to be the sweet spot.
Think of it this way and it will make perfect sense. A smaller audience means more personal interactions and connections on a deeper level. That’s like finding gold in the marketing arena. A smaller number of followers make micro-influencers be treated as peers and fellow consumers of the brand, product, or service, rather than just fans. Surveys indicate that about 85% of consumers say that they trust peer recommendations over celebrity endorsements.
You may still think, why is a micro-influencer more effective than the other conventional celebrities?
The fact is because they are more accessible and relatable. People ideally would love to see themselves in these smart advertisements and a non-celebrity influencer makes it easier for them to relate to. Using micro-influencers who have a genuine appeal to your target audience not only places your product or service in front of the right people but also adds on a genuine authenticity by social proof.
What are the benefits of using micro-influencers for your campaign?
Here are some benefits of using micro-influencers for your influencer marketing campaigns.
Higher rate of engagement
As explained earlier audiences tend to engage at a much higher rate with micro-influencers which proves to be a massive benefit of engaging them for your campaign. Also as a user, it is a much better experience.
Micro-influencers can interact with their audiences more often than celebrities, through the likes, follows, and comments much faster. More engagement between an influencer and their audiences ensures a connection is established much faster, also making the influencer more relatable than celebrities.
Your micro-influencer has a higher probability to talk about common pains felt by their audience concerning your product and getting real with them in the discussions whereas celebrity or mega influencers are more likely paid much more money to do the same.
Higher engagement rates with the influencers in this category mean they are actively advocating your business and not just posting something because they have to which will slowly disappear in their heap of posts and feeds.
The gained exposure will not only help you gain attention on the business but also help in increasing sales. This means your investments will create many more connections for you if you use a micro-influencer.
Cost
If you hire a mega or a celebrity influencer, you are potentially looking at expenses around hundreds of thousands of dollars even for one post. If you are not a large business that sum may not be practically worthwhile or possible.
On the other hand, a micro-influencer is much more affordable. It is a numbers game as it depends on the followers and engagement. However, on average, the rates hover around $1,000 per post for those with around 100K followers.
While working with micro-influencers you will be able to play around with the budget as you will have the freedom to invest in a variety of spheres. You may plan to also use multiple micro-influencers to reach a wider audience to boost the engagement rate as well.
High conversion rate
Hiring micro-influencers have a much higher conversion rate. Nearly 50% of people say that they trust recommendations by influencers to make decisions on their purchases. Reviews and recommendations are very powerful tools.
As an example, you want to buy a certain shoe from a brand you have not bought before. You would want to check out internet reviews by googling the product to find out what others think about it, and may even speak to a couple of friends regarding the same.
Likewise, if you are looking for a solution to a business problem, you would normally reach out to people you know and find out if they have any recommendations for people to reach out to or consult.
While researching on your own, most likely you will be asking for references, reviews, or case studies of their service using online searches. Even at bookstores, you will find people doing a quick review search of a book before they buy it, though it is not costly. Whichever it is, basically you are looking for other people’s opinions on the matter.
Other people’s opinions matter when you are making a purchasing decision, and if the person is an industry expert (micro-influencer) the recommendation is considered to be the last word.
Niche market
Most major celebrities have a wide niche of following, they have young students, expectant mothers, working professionals, etc. following them with different interest zones and needs, whereas in the case of micro-influencers you can connect to a target audience within a particular niche.
Micro-influencers come in all variations, each having a unique style, area of expertise, brand, or appeal to a particular kind or even demographic of audiences. Consider your target buyers similar to the content you create.
What type of influencers would your audience follow? What will sit well with them and prompt them to buy your product?
These micro-influencers have a pack that follows them because their interests align with each other. To be successful with micro-influencer marketing you need to find someone who will cater to your target audience. Or you may end up wasting money trying to woo audiences who will not buy your product.
Why are micro-influencers so effective?
Micro-influencers are effective because of their relatable nature and far more trustworthiness than celebrities.
Most micro-influencers hail from humble backgrounds and can connect in a better way with their audiences through individual interactions. They understand their audiences on a personal level and understand the points of pain.
Many people follow them because they have faced or are facing similar problems and are naturally drawn to those people who have overcome them. Due to this when micro-influencers recommend a product or a service they consider that to be the last word.
They have a tight-knit fan base and are well connected with them. This engages the audiences by the personalized content produced by the influencers and creates an authentic moment for the fans. The fans also have an understanding of the products and services they use and when that matches with real knowledge on the same with the influencer it instantly strikes a chord. At the same time engaging with followers on a personal level is not difficult as there aren’t many. All of the above combined makes micro-influencers successful and micro-influencer marketing effective for your business.
You may think, even celebrities post their reviews about products. But the fact is that celebrities rarely experiment with products and most chances are that though they have reviewed it they do not use it at all. This increases if the product does not come from a brand with a well-known name.
They are just getting paid to endorse a business’s products or services and say it's great even if they are not at all sure if it is. If you like the product it's fine, and if you do not, then they don’t have any consequences to face, whereas micro-influencers with fewer followers have a lot to lose. If at all they promote a product they don’t believe in, the trust of their followers is at stake and they could end up losing them.
Conclusion
You may still ask, how do I know it will work for my business? For this ask yourself if your target customers are social media users? Do they regularly use Instagram, Facebook, or Youtube? If they do then chances are micro-influencers can do a world of good for your business and micro-influencer marketing is a great opportunity for you. It offers the possibility to connect to your audiences where they are most active. And even B2C businesses tend to make more profit from micro-influencer marketing, nothing has proved that B2B businesses can not.
In this age of influencer marketing where customers are more dependant on influencer reviews than any other marketing or advertising medium you need to shift gears and as you shift gears it will be worthwhile to shift to the right gear for best acceleration.
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