How micro-influencers are becoming the driving force between customers and brands

A great strategy for companies to interact with their target consumers in a genuine and organic way is through influencer marketing. More than 53% of the world’s population utilises social media in some capacity, with daily usage averaging 2 hours and 25 minutes. As a result, social media is becoming a more integral part of consumers’ everyday life.

Influencer marketing is a growing sector of the social media business as more individuals use it often. In fact, the business is predicted to increase this year to $13.8 billion from $9.8 billion in 2020. Social influence is giving brands advantages, and those advantages will only increase in the future.

Without a doubt, influencer marketing has been extremely successful – – for influencers and companies alike. When you visit sites like Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube, you’ll rapidly notice a deluge of adverts for various goods and services. Much more adverts than the more common “paid social” or banner ads are created by regular individuals. These individuals who produce user-generated content are known as influencers and are a part of a developing trend.  

What is unexpected is not the existence of micro- and nano-influencers, but the extent to which marketers are hunting for people with less and fewer followers. While it was originally assumed that businesses would wait for someone’s following to reach the tens of thousands, the number required to execute sponsored posts is shrinking.

With the Covid-19 still in effect, the pressure to provide value is increasing. With growing emphasis on the importance of ‘authenticity over aesthetic,’ as well as the negative impacts of social media and filters on body image concerns and overall mental health, sponsored postings by celebrities and mega-influencers are coming under fire more regularly. After all, nothing beats decreasing sales data for slashing marketing spending. As a result, marketers are turning to people with a small number of followers (called micro – influencers and nano – influencers).

These are regular folks who create niche content for tiny audiences. But, what these smaller-scale influencers lack in reach, they more than make up for in cost-effectiveness and audience engagement. They’re also not used to employing commercial language. Most individuals who pay attention to nano influencers take what they say more seriously than they do bigger celebrities, and they base their purchasing choice on trusted value rather than a personality whose feed is simply riddled with paid material. Who do you trust more: a big shot or someone who’s more of a passionate amateur? In commercial situations, it’s likely to be the passionate amateur. Would you trust a friend’s recommended sunscreen or that influencer with 100,000 followers who praised another competing brand just a month back? As the following of an influencer grows, they tend to be less like an amateur and begin to use more marketing strategy terms and tactics.

Nano influencers have a deep and reliable interaction with their community by virtue of their modest size.

Take a moment to consider your closest buddies. Do you recommend products and give each other advice? A nano-influencer, as opposed to a mega-influencer, cultivates a sense of connection and community and has a more natural interaction with their followers. A mega-influencer could inundate potential clients with advertisement after advertisement. A nano-influencer is a real individual who engages in genuine interactions with other real people. Nano-influencers are perceived as being more genuine and approachable than celebrities, therefore their postings are more likely to receive engagement (comments, likes, and click-throughs) than posts from people with followings in the hundreds of thousands. According to reports, mega-influencers with over a million followers only connect with their followers 1-2% of the time, whereas users with less than 5k followers engage with their followers between 30 and 35% of the time. But there’s also the social butterfly effect to consider. Nano influencers are better at replying to their fans’ postings since they don’t have as many individuals to keep track of. This establishes a feedback loop that promotes participation.

Also, hiring nano-influencers allows new companies to test the waters without spending a lot of money. If a business is in its early stages and is unclear of who its main audience is, it may experiment by sending nano-influencers to different demographic groupings and observing where the greatest sales come from, focusing future spending to where it finds success. It’s a low-risk method that assists companies in determining who to target.

Nano-influencers may also be prolific content makers for companies that are short on time or money. Brands require a high amount of content, and the price ranges of nano-influencers enable them to generate a large volume of material. They may then utilise it in advertisements at a reasonable cost. Using nano-influencers to create user-generated content is a growing alternative for companies looking for high-quality creative assets fast and affordably. 

Nano influencers frequently work for free items or commissions through an affiliate link. This is a low-risk technique to reward the influencer in both circumstances. Giving out free things allows the influencer to work with it and generate the type of content you want. This is especially true for software, cosmetics, and sports equipment: seeing the product first-hand helps people explain it. Affiliate links are also inexpensive for micro influencers. This is due to the small number of people who are likely to click on the link and make a purchase. You, as the sponsoring firm, are only paying for outcomes.

Finally, nano influencers are an effective method for marketers to reach out to potential customers. These regular individuals have a high degree of involvement, energy, and genuineness, making them excellent candidates to support the expansion of your business. The best part about them is that they are simple and affordable to use in a volatile economy.