Small communities, big participation. Here's why the future is microinfluencer marketing
Influencer marketing is now a popular practice among brands in digital marketing to make themselves known online and create affiliation.
An influencer is, by definition, a person with a more or less large audience who is able to influence the opinions and behaviors of a specific target consumer group.
Microinfluencer marketing is based on the same assumptions as influencer marketing, but on a micro scale. Currently, there are many brands that are looking with increasing interest at microinfluncer marketing: although it may seem counterintuitive to entrust the promotion of one's brand to an influencer with a smaller circle of followers, the advantages of this option are several.
Let us try to summarize them.
Why is the future of microinfluencer marketing?
Entrusting the sponsorship of one's brand to a person who is not merely "famous," but considered credible by his or her followers because he or she is an expert in a particular field and super partes with respect to brands, has undisputed advantages:
- Allows you to address a specific target audience, akin to brand values
- Acts on consolidating brand reputation, because the trust that followers have in the influencer automatically transfers to the brand
- It increases not only visibility but also, and more importantly, the perception of emotional closeness to the brand
These are some of the reasons that, among others, make choosing an influencer better in many ways than choosing a testimonial.
Top influencers are distant from consumers
However, the public's perception of top influencers has changed a great deal in recent times: increasingly hired by big brands, with so many followers that direct community management and one-to-one interaction is impossible, top influencers are increasingly perceived as distant from their audiences, and less and less reliable because they are "bought" by brands.
The prime example is that of Chiara Ferragni: her success, which began with a blog, has reached such levels that the 30-year-old from Cremona has become a successful entrepreneur, now perceived as distant and unreachable by her fans.
A micro influencer is more authentic
A micro-influencer, on the other hand, unlike a top influencer, is still considered a member of the community: he or she is a person with whom to interact on a direct, daily basis, in a reciprocal relationship much like one has with a friend. In short, a micro-influencer is yes an expert, but he or she is above all perceived by the community as "one of us."
Microinfluencers get more likes and comments
For this reason, even if a microinfluencer's fanbase is smaller in size than that of a top influencer, the level of community engagement is greater because it is easier for followers to converse with a person who is perceived to be similar to them.
As this study by Markerly, an influencer marketing platform, shows, the engagement rate decreases as the number of followers increases:
- 4% likes for communities between 1000 and 10k followers
- 2.4% for communities between 10k and 100k followers
- 1.7% for communities between 1mln and 10mln followers
This means that a community is more cohesive the more restricted it is, and that an influencer's ability to penetrate decreases as the number of his or her followers increases.
A microinfluencer's target audience is more specific
Microinfluencers often remain microinfluencers because they choose to specialize in an area so specific that it is niche. One example among many? Julien Miquel has "only" 42k followers on Instagram, but is considered one of the top international influencers in the wine industry. Identifying microinfluencers in one's market sector allows brands to optimize their efforts and resources by targeting a narrow but on-target audience instead of "shooting" in the heap.
Hiring a microinfluencer costs less
Last but not least, the cost of a microinfluencer is affordable for most brands. Hiring a top influencer on Instagram can cost thousands of euros per shot, prices that drop to a few hundred euros if we are talking about microinfluencers.
With the same budget available, one can opt for a microinfluencer marketing campaign, which allows one to engage a much larger number of influencers, ensuring a much higher penetration rate into each influencer's individual target communities.
Do you still doubt that the future is microinfluencer marketing?
Giuliana Gugliotti