Investing in an influencer marketing campaign is the digital version of word of mouth marketing. Companies provide products or an experience for a digital thought leader to share through sponsored posts. Due to the wide reach and generated content from partnering with an influencer, influencer campaigns have become a key pillar of social media marketing.

Why is working with influencers so popular?

One of the biggest reasons why influencer marketing on Instagram is so effective is because it eliminates the barriers of traditional ads which is what the majority of digital marketing relies on. Influencers allow businesses to engage with their audiences in a less direct, noninvasive and more authentic way – what we call, native advertising. By brands partnering with relevant influencers, their story can be told in a more authentic way. This helps the brand to gain trust in a way that a direct sales message never could.

Why should I consider micro-influencer marketing?

Let’s look at the trends we discovered about Instagram influencers. Instagram users with over 1M followers, only make up 1.9% of the entire user base. These would be considered your ‘macro’ or ‘mega’ influencers and include celebrity influencers.

While these highly coveted influencers may have massive followings, they would not be able to reach a targeted and relevant community. If your brand wants to gain a new, highly engaged audience, you may need someone else with high engagement rates that are relevant to help your product or service get cut-through. Enter micro-influencers.

Micro-influencers make up 2.7% of total Instagram users.

By now you’ve probably heard of these influential individuals with smaller communities. Micro-influencers typically have between 50,000-100,000 followers, and despite their smaller followings – are “actually attracting much higher engagement and conversion rates than highly influential users.” according to Adweek. Even though they make up a tiny percentage of the Instagram population, they have powerful, highly engaged communities.

So what makes micro-influencers more effective than a macro-influencer?

Here are 5 reasons to consider a micro-influencer campaign:

1. Micro-influencers have smaller, more targeted audiences

You would be surprised by how niche an audience can get. From mummy-bloggers visiting a holiday park to tradesmen who love talking about their van-racking, finding influencers to work with and that serve your niche is easier than you might think.

2. They’re more credible and authentic

The audience of a micro-influencer has often followed them for a considerable amount of time and is invested in their life in a similar way to how you would be curious about a product recommendation from a friend. Micro-influencers value their community and won’t peddle ineffectively products for the sake of it (usually!)

3. They don’t play hard to get

Getting an influencer to post content related to your product/service can be hard work. Usually, micro-influencers are honest about what they need in terms of finance for a project to work and because they are building a reputation, won’t mess you around.

4. They are more cost-effective than big-name influencers

While a macro influencer might have a larger reach in terms of followers, micro-influencers have higher engagement and this can propel a piece of content to have greater visibility and be more trusted. There is higher value in trusted content but because the reach is lower, the cost of working with a micro-influencer is far less.

5. They deliver higher engagement and drive more conversions

In a nutshell, micro-influencers are more like ‘real people’ – therefore they are more relatable and more authentic.

So there are your five reasons for finding micro-influencers to partner with. Nano-influencers are those with 10,000 followers or less. This audience can vary in terms of engagement as they are just getting started but if you can find a good fit for your product then they are definitely worth establishing a relationship early.