By: Troy Barlow
Google in its future marketing trends and predictions highlighted the role of micro influencers and emphasized on why they matter. Read this post to know about this new marketing strategy.
Who are micro-influencers?
Micro-influencers are individuals who are specialized in their verticals and often share content on social media pertaining to their interests. They are not public figures, experts or celebrities, but they are potent social media users with a good follower base.
Micro-influencers might not possess a huge number of followers or audience, but they have good engagement with the little followers they have. They serve as a good opportunity for brands which can pursue micro-influencers to extend their reach to their target audiences.
To cite an example, a fitness influencer will have millions of followers and would be operating many fitness studios. On the contrary, a fitness micro-influencer will only have some thousands of followers, very much less than any celebrity influencer.
Though, it is noteworthy that the same fitness micro-influencer will have a decent amount of engagement on their posts in relation to the size of their follower base.
Influencer vs micro-influencer
Influencers are experts, public figures and celebrities who are top content creators with which businesses or organizations team up to promote their products and services.
The same is therefore known as influencer marketing and in the last decade, it has grown to many levels. Every big or small company looks to tie up with influencers who they think will help them in getting the eyeballs of their target customers.
Nowadays, consumers are likely to buy or try a new product when they are backed or promoted by influencers they follow or trust. This helps companies leverage the trust of influencers’ followers.
It is also a kind of word-of-mouth marketing where one or more individuals are able to establish trust relative to a particular brand, product, or service amongst a larger audience. Influencers in return get paid by the companies to post content mentioning or featuring their products and services.
Coming to micro-influencers, they do not possess a large-size audience and have moderate backing when compared to influencers. They would generally have less than 10K to 100K followers.
An SEO agency in Boise City even included micro influencers with less than 10K following (and having good engagement rate) in their social media campaigns.
Even then, their engagement with the audience is good, which offers a lucrative opportunity for companies who are looking to expand their reach and increase product or brand awareness amongst the masses.
Why they matter?
The micro-influencers have a more targeted audience, and this makes them valuable. They have better engagement rates as well. A study reported some interesting insights based on micro-influencers. Here are some key points for you to know:
- Instagram users with less than 1,000 followers are able to generate likes 8% of the time
- Users with up to 10,000 followers got 4% likes rate
- Users with up to 100,000 followers earned likes at 2.4% rate
- Users with up to 10 million followers reported only 1.7% like rate
This clearly indicates that the likes and comments percentage decrease as the number of followers increases.
Micro-influencers largely post content relative to their interest area, which ensures the audience that is more engaged and follows the micro-influencers passionately. Companies can bank upon them as they are more affordable and authentic.
Benefits of micro influencer marketing
There are some known benefits of choosing micro-influencer marketing for your brand, product, or service. Here are some of them:
- They have an active relationship with their audience
- They ensure higher engagement rate
- They are able to build great trust with their followers
- They are highly active and popular amongst niche groups
- They are very affordable as they cost less when it comes to partnering
- They cover a range of niches and interests
How to collaborate with a micro-influencer?
Collaborating with a micro-influencer can help to drive traffic and sales for your organization. The question arises how you can collaborate with one or more when needed. Here are simple steps you need to follow:
- Write down your goals and what you expect
- Start searching and choosing micro-influencers you would like to associate with
- Negotiate the payment fees
- Chalk out an Influencer Agreement Contract
- Measure and monitor results
Examples of marketing campaigns with micro-influencers
As now, you know the benefits of working with micro-influencers, let us discuss some examples of marketing campaigns which turned successful with them.
- ADIDAS, the well-known sportswear company, partnered with micro-influencers like they collaborated with Emily Joseph to promote their ‘Ultraboost shoes’. Emily, a lifestyle blogger, helped raise great engagement around the product and its features. This resulted in a good partnership for both the company and micro-influencer.
- WOW skin science company partnered with micro-influencers, which helped them improve the sales of their products as well as start conversation around their product range.
- Mamaearth, an Indian brand, chose micro-influencers for their marketing. They were able to reach many households with word-of-mouth marketing they got from such micro-influencers. They used product codes for discounts which were highlighted by the micro-influencers.
- ASOS, a retail giant, started with ASOS insider campaign where they roped in young micro-influencers to give style tips to followers and audiences. They also used their own platform to capture the interest of customers. The followers were able to purchase outfits of the day directly from the micro-influencers.
