Currently, Influencer Marketing is one of the most effective techniques to publicise a firm’s goods and services via social networks. It means that you can reach your target and thus boost sales.
Opting for a strategy with micro-influencers is increasingly common. Why? Because these persons connect with their audience more strongly than a macro-influencer can, thanks to their emotional discourse, the user feels closer to them than he or she would to a celebrity with hundreds of thousand of followers.
And the fact is that actions with big have become less effective. Why is this? The fact that Chiara Ferragni, Lovely Pepa and Dulceida show a product on their networks and it sells out has led to a host of this kind of tie-ins with celebrities that have this profile.
The result has been that the natural touch and close connection with followers has been lost, as the profiles of these persons on social networks have turned into a continuous advertisement. Followers don’t like it when they are constantly being hassled to buy items and experiences. So, if one sets up a collaboration with a macro-influencer, the ROI may turn out to be much less than expected.
WHAT IS A MICRO-INFLUENCER?
We are talking about influencers with a community of between 5,000 and 100,000 followers on Instagram who address niche audiences in fields such as sport, fashion, beauty, travel and nutrition. They stand out because they are so knowledgeable about the topics they talk about on their social profiles.
Their followers are very loyal and interact constantly with the content and postings and, what is more, the influencers demonstrate that they are close to their community by always responding to comments or questions. This means they have a close and fluid relationship with their followers, because there are far fewer of them, and this is easy to manage in contrast to macro-influencers.
Thanks to this connection that they establish with their followers, they have more engagement and a more palpable influence. Achieving an engagement ratio of 8% compared with the top influencers who have over a million followers and hardly manage to engage with 1.7% of them, according to data from a study by Digiday.
Thus, micro-influencers impact on a smaller number of people, but they do so in more familiar and striking way. Users have more trust in the recommendations of a “flesh and blood” person that they identify with than they do with a person who has thousands of followers and a completely different standard of living.
Influencers of this kind use social networks especially to display videos. So, Youtube and Instagram, in particular Instagram Stories, are their chief tools to disseminate content and reach their community.
ADVANTAGES OF SETTING UP MARKETING ACTIONS WITH MICRO-INFLUENCERS
- They are more profitable:the influencers with the most followers are those that charge the highest rates to work with brands. However, one cannot be 100% sure that these collaborations will generate conversions. This is a ROI issue, a risk that we will not get close to the expected results.
Setting up collaborations with micro-influencers means a much lower cost, and also means one can better measure conversions and the engagement that is achieved by the content generated about the business, service or product.
The investment will be much smaller than with a macro-influencer, and the scope and impact of the message will be greater, thanks to the higher percentage of engagement that these profiles obtain. What is more, the message about your product or brand will sink in more deeply and will be taken into account to a greater extent, as it will not be just another message among the host of collaborations that macro-influencers make.
So, if you have a local business, don’t go for a large-scale influencer; it is better for you to work with a larger number of micro-influencers who are in your geographical region and your sector. With a much smaller outlay you can become better known in your environment and this means more conversions. - They are more authentic, down to earth and real:micro-influencers build up ties and a close and accessible relationship with their audience thanks to an emotional, humanised discourse, one that is natural and unscripted. In this way, they show themselves just as they are, mainly through Instagram or Youtube.
When one sets up a collaboration with an influencer, one must let them have as much freedom as possible so that the influencer creates the content, infusing it with his or her personality. Influencers know their audiences perfectly, so they will know the best way to reach them and ensure that the message achieves the impact the brand or firm they have set up a collaboration with is hoping for. - Credibility and trust:the fact that their audience feels that they are so close and real means that they trust them and perceive them as “down to earth” people who are giving their opinion on a product or service. Users trust micro-influencers because they identify with them, they see them as a model to emulate as they display habits and a routine that are similar to their own. Occasionally, the connection and relationship built up can be so close that the audience trusts these influencers’ opinion almost, as much as that of their family members or friends.
- A less ad-like feeling:micro influencers are users who share their daily lives, as well as the services and products they like. So, when they promote something, they do so naturally and completely in context, so that it is coherent with many more contents that are similar and with related topics. Furthermore, they generate very carefully staged content in which they infuse special enthusiasm and to which they give their whole personality, showing these products because they like them, not in a forced way because they are getting paid for it. Hence, they do a lot more than simply sell, they add value and generate positive dispositions.
Thanks to all these advantages, we see how establishing a strategy with influencers like these is a good way to increase sales for a business and publicise a brand among its target market.
At Lifting Group, as experts in Social Media strategy, we already implement the strategy with micro influencers as one of the key elements of building and maintaining the online reputation of some of our clients.
