Don’t forget the little guys (and girls)

Over the last few years, we’ve seen a rise in the importance of social media influencers for marketing strategies. 

Social media influencers: Social media users who have established credibility with and earned influence over their followers.  

While there are many different types of influencers, the top three tiers can be categorized as macro-, micro- and nano-influencers. 

Macro-influencers are celebrities. Think Kylie Jenner, actually just include the whole Kardashian family, and other famous people who have tens of thousands or even millions of followers. Micro-influencers are the next category, with followings between five and ten thousand, then nano-influencers include those with a few thousand followers or less. 

Brands may assume that bigger is better and that if given the opportunity, they should only work with macro-influencers but that’s not always the case. 

For example, we work with a few startup clients who have limited marketing budgets. Because of this, we focus our efforts on building relationships with micro- and nano-influencers who can become brand ambassadors. Meaning their followers fit within the target audience. 

Influencers with smaller followings tend to have higher engagement. According to PR Daily micro-influencers, “have seven times the engagement rate on Instagram as influencers with larger audiences.”

The credibility of micro- and nano-influencers is also an important consideration. Their followers see them as “normal” people, someone who is like them which builds trust and authenticity. Whereas a lot of the times macro-influencers are only posting generic brand messaging of products they don’t even use and their followers won’t consider the post to be a true reflection of the product they’re promoting - looking at you, FitTea. 

Smaller influencers also are more likely to post multiple things to their Instagram Story and account. Whereas with macro-influencers, brands only get the content they pay for (pay-to-play).

By researching and focusing on smaller, relevant influencers who are within the right demographics, we’re building relationships with potential future customers, too. While the influencers are trying to increase their status, they’re looking for new products to try and share with their followers. 

It’s a win-win.