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| Are micro-influencers the next big thing for brands? Influencer marketing has taken off in recent years, with some of the world’s biggest brands tapping into the popularity of online stars. It can be a perfect tool for engaging with a brand’s audience in a less formal, sales-driven manner and offers a range of benefits for firms who do this right. Now though, companies are beginning to shy away from established stars in favour of more relatable influencers. Meaning, there is a growing sub-set of micro-influencers who are coming to the fore in helping businesses to promote their brand. What categorises a micro-influencer? According to Experticity 82% of consumers are ‘highly likely’ to follow a recommendation made by a micro-influencer, compared to just 73% who would act on a recommendation from an average person. The report says this is because influencers are generally viewed as ‘more knowledgeable’ about products than the average person, as well as being ‘more credible and believable.’ Major brands getting in on the act Even the tech giant Google made use of a range of micro-influencers to reach out to specific audiences in its campaign to promote the Google PixelBook. They reached out to DIY duo TheSorryGirls back in 2017 and offered a free laptop giveaway. The resulting post generated 11,137 likes and 7,916 comments. It was seen a great success for the brand. Meanwhile, subscription audio entertainment platform Audible teamed up with Instagram influencer Jesse Driftwood to promote the brand. He created a single post that went viral, highlighting the power of Audible as a learning tool. His sponsored post garnered more than 10,700 likes, 300 comments and achieved an engagement rate of 30%. How to make the most of micro-influencer marketing A lack of transparency and any failure to inform audiences of sponsored content increases the risk that consumers will be turned off from a brand when they realise their favourite content creator was paid to give an opinion or recommendation. In addition, while micro-influencer marketing has been shown to be more cost-efficient for brands against the larger influencers, organisations should appreciate the need to engage with a larger group of micro-influencers if they wish to make a real impact. This means spreading their marketing budget more widely, but hopefully seeing a far greater return. Finally, businesses should be aware that reaching out to audiences via micro-influencer marketing is ultimately reliant on building trust. So it’s important to carefully choose those who closely match a company’s ideals and philosophy, or run the risk of breaking that trust with the consumer.
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