Celebrities endorsing brands and products is a century old practice. Understandably, it is only wise to spread the word about your brand through someone who has a pool of fans and followers.
The biggest development that has impacted the market in a real big way in the last two decades is the digital boom. When we try to understand the practice of brand endorsement in the view of digital revolution, there are interesting things to be noted.
Celebrities’ presence on social media by default renders a huge line of followers. With the addition of the most dynamic medium, digital transactions have bred a fresh set of internet celebrities who enjoy an enormous set of followers through their blogs and social media profiles and also successfully impact the purchase decision of their followers. Hence, these internet / social media celebrities have come to be known as influencers. The practice of getting these influencers to endorse your brand and products through their blogs and social profiles has come to be known as influencer marketing.
With influencer marketing on the rise, small businesses are finding it more and more difficult to get their brand endorsed by celebrities and big influencers on the digital platform. There are a couple of main reasons for that. One, the cost of big influencers are rising beyond affordability, and two, it is not possible for big influencers to cater to every brand.
Thus, small businesses are turning to micro-influencers to redeem themselves. This is proving to be a very effective ploy.
Micro-influencers?
Micro-influencers are internet celebrities too. Their followers count up to a few tens of thousands, but unlike big influencers, the count is usually not in millions. These micro-influencers regularly post about a niche topic (fashion, technology, travel, cooking, etc).
The reason why more marketers are turning to these micro-influencers is the whooping success that these influencers have driven in the past couple of years.
Benefits of working with Micro-influencers
#1 They are affordable
Perhaps the most worrying part of a small business is a budget constraint, and that’s exactly where micro-influencers fit the best. Unlike celebrities and big influencers, they do not cost you a fortune. Hence, you get a chance to vouch for a better ROI.
#2 The engagement quotient
The most important factor that determines success in social media is engagement, and that’s where these micro-influencers make the cut. The very fact that micro-influencers do not have a huge following gives them the opportunity to drive more engagement among their followers. For a marketer, it is more beneficial to reach an audience of thousands and drive high engagement than failing to engage a set of million followers.
________________________________________________ Micro-influencers generate nearly 22.2 times more conversations with their followers on Instagram than mainstream influencers or average users. ________________________________________________ – Study by Experticity
#3 A highly targeted set of followers
As discussed earlier, micro-influencers cover a very specific field of interest. Thus, their set of followers is constituted by people aligning with that specific interest. Celebrities and big influencers, on the other hand, have followers coming from all groups and communities and hence, render a heterogeneity factor. As a marketer, I would always be looking to target audience as specific as possible. If I am selling tea, I’d like to reach out to people interested in food and beverages. A micro-influencer in that category provides me with the perfect opportunity.
#4 Micro-influencers are more passionate
Micro-influencers of the category your brand can be categorized under are passionate about the category. Thus, a good product of yours will very naturally keep them enthusiastic. That will directly have an impact on the kind of campaign they will eventually run for you.
Final thoughts
On discussing various aspects on the practice of influencer marketing, a few points are to be remembered for why it is a good idea to work with micro-influencers. They are passionate about your product, their followers constitute the right kind of audience you are looking for, they have a better engagement rate with their followers, and they come cheap. I guess these are good enough reasons for you to give a shot at it.
Willing to run your first influencer campaign? We are here to help.
Cheers!
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