Marketer’s Strategy For Micro-Influencer Marketing

Neha Puri Jan 19, 2021

In 2020, there’s no need to be a world-known actor, celebrity or an author to influence a consumers’ buying behaviour. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last decade or so, you’ve most likely heard the term “influencer” and experienced influencer marketing first hand.

While influencing consumers through social media is nothing new, it’s interesting to note that there now is a very clear segmentation that this influencer culture has inevitably given birth to. There are different categories of influencers, and although their jobs and responsibilities are fundamentally consistent, the main difference lies in the numbers.

When it comes to social media, nothing beats a sense of belonging. In a market riddled with sponsored posts and ads thrown every second, consumers have now become incredibly prone to becoming just another follower. As the discipline becomes more sophisticated, brands are increasingly becoming mindful that there isn’t one way to measure success and that there is a need to look at metrics beyond vanity and focus on true engagement and advocacy.

Queue the rise of Micro influencers – the unicorns of the industry that might have a fraction of the audience of their celebrity counterparts, but are able to directly engage, connect, and interact with many, if not all, of their followers. This is supported by the increase in search interest in the term “micro-influencer” jumping more than 10X since 2019.

The Question That Arises Now Is This:

What exactly are Micro Influencers?

Micro-influencers are individuals that have between 10,000 to 50,000 followers/audience members and are considered experts in their respective niche. Their accounts are neither full of glamour nor polished, posed, or retouched. Micro influencers are born storytellers. They tell tales to their followers on a daily basis. Categories born out of unique skills such as beauty, fitness, cooking, travel give the influencer audience more relatable stories and deeper level, hands- on interactions.

And It Actually Makes Sense Commercially Too:

Let’s say you have a quarterly budget for an influencer campaign. You could go for a big celebrity with 1 million + followers and get 1 post, which performs decently. Or, you could go for 20-30 influencers for the same price.

So, spread your net further, get a bigger reach with better engagement across a variety of different audiences.

Why should brands work with Micro Influencers?

Closer relationships and higher engagement

Micro influencers are able to interact with their audience more frequently via likes and follow, and respond to questions/comments in a quicker manner. This is an invaluable quality for brands, especially when trying to establish themselves in a cluttered and competitive landscape.

Their small yet engaged audience feels appreciated, develops a sense of loyalty and personal and meaningful relationships, and are usually open to making changes and trying new things. Brands also have an opportunity to make micro-influencer a “brand ambassador,” earning a small commission for sales generated through unique hyperlinks contained in the micro-influencer posts and bio profile

People Trust Small Influencers More

A micro influencer is almost considered a friend by most of their followers — a friend they can reach out to for recommendations. These influencers are always careful when choosing a product or service to advocate for because they don’t want to disappoint and lose their audience’s trust. This is a huge advantage for brands because their products will get an endorsement from an open audience, because of an established trust towards the influencer.

Relevant Content And A Competitive Advantage

Most micro and nano influencers make their content niche, innovative, and category-specific, allowing brands to reach different segments and better position their products. It’s also a good way to test new products or services in a new niche, as the audience reacts more, giving a chance to predict potential feedback from a larger set of audiences.

Micro influencers aren’t just for smaller companies with smaller budgets. In fact, big brands such as Spotify and Google have also seen success with these influencers as well.

With the growth of Indian regional apps thousands of micro-influencers to work closely with brands and create unique brand experiences through IGC (Influencer Generated Content).Powerful video sharing capabilities have also given the rural and regional audiences an unbiased space and platform to showcase their talent, thereby giving brands an opportunity to venture into rural india to get their message across. With brands becoming more strategic with their use of influencers, we will see fewer generic influencers and more niche-specific influencers.