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7 Benefits of Working with Micro-influencers

Beatrix Potter

In this day and age, as people are becoming more and more skeptical regarding traditional advertising methods, famous companies or smaller businesses need to reinvent their strategies and find ways to make their self-promotion more authentic. This is where so-called micro-influencers come into play.

A lot of brand names used to prefer working with famous celebrities with a large number of followers, through methods such as product placement, but over time people have become more apprehensive towards this promotion strategy. It seems like the tide is turning, and more and more companies seek for the increasingly numerous benefits of working with smaller influencers.

Difference between micro-influencers and celebrities

Being an “influencer” has become the newest trend this century. It is a lifestyle many people turn to, and as an Awin study states, “social media influencer” is the second most popular career option for people aged 11 to 16. Anyone can be a social media influencer these days, although people tend to call people with less than 10,000 followers micro-influencers.

These micro-influencers make up the majority of influencers on most digital platforms, and while their number of followers is small, their influence is quite big. In fact, because they have fewer follower bases, these small-time influencers have the tendency to be more engaged with their audience on a daily basis. This cannot happen with people with huge follower bases, as they cannot interact with all of them constantly.

Another thing that sets apart smaller influences and social media celebrities is that the first category tends to be more relevant to a more specific industry. Micro-influencers tend to be experts in niche categories, and their audience is also made up of people interested in that niche. Bigger celebrities will not have followers that are as invested in specific aspects of their brand.

Why do companies prefer smaller influencers?

1. Cost-effective

First and foremost, many brands nowadays turn to micro-influencers as opposed to celebrities because they are highly cost-effective. Celebrities tend to charge a lot higher fees for their collaborations, which is a lot of the times not worth it for the value of the work they can deliver.

Any brand should include micro-influencers in their business strategy, as it will give long term benefits for their budget. The same amount of money they put into a top-tier influencer to promote their products through a single post could be used to pay a larger number of smaller influencers. By doing this, brands have a higher chance to reach a wider audience, a more engaged audience, and thus allowing them to build a genuine fan base.

2. Scepticism of the public over celebrity promotions

Not so long ago, promotions made by celebrities used to be highly effective. However, in recent years, the culture around celebrities seems to have diminished, as people became more and more skeptical. People nowadays seem to have become aware of the fake aspect of sponsored promotion, and instead prefer promotions based on actual preference. It is proven that once a smaller influencer crosses the line of 1 million followers on social media, most people will brush off their posts as sponsored deals rather than genuine passion.

3. They seem more genuine

People with only a few thousand followers generally give the impression of being genuine, trustworthy people, as they provide more authentic and relatable content to their audiences. Fans tend to engage more with an influencer if they have a certain aesthetic to their content, if they connect to a more personal level and if their tone is authentic, friendly, and engaging. They can also spread the message a company intends to send in a cleaner, more genuine way.

As they are sharing their personal content, micro-influencers show their appreciation towards their growing community more, and they are highly likely to attend certain events and interact with their followers by replying to their comments or messages. For someone whose posts get around 300 comments every day, it becomes increasingly harder to engage every single person on a personal level.

4. Smaller influencers have more specific content

Micro-influencers tend to have a niche audience, meaning a smaller number of followers, that is more connected to the specific topics the influencers represent. These follower bases will tend to have a lot of people usually engaging in similar content, and part of a similar demographic profile, assets which are really useful for companies looking to promote specific products.

“Smaller influencers often allow companies to target audiences interested in that niche. Not only that, but since the influencers themselves are familiar with that particular niche, they can provide detailed descriptions and recommendations for the products themselves. This makes for a better, more genuine promotion, which really helps in the long, as the relevance of the promoter to the brand is key in any marketing scheme,” explains Adam Kirrian, a social media writer at Assignment Writers and UKWritings.

5. It is easier to find genuine brand fans

When a smaller influencer is involved with a niche topic, chances are they may already be fans of the brand a company is trying to promote. This is particularly good for any business because it doesn’t take any time to convince them to help you promote your products. In fact, a lot of the times smaller influencers do promotions by themselves without the companies’ knowledge, so it is worthwhile to find someone who is already promoting the desired product.

6. They are better to work with

Typically, micro-influencers tend to be more engaging on a personal level, which makes it easier for businesses to establish personal connections to them.

“A lot of the times, businesses claim that smaller influencers go above and beyond to satisfy the needs of their client, as they show their gratefulness towards the people that notice them and value their work. They also claim that it is easier to contact them and that they tend to be more open to explore the tasks they are given and provide out-of-the-box content,” says Hillary Ian, a blogger at State Of Writing and Oxessays.

7. Great for small businesses and startups

Unlike big companies, which have bigger budgets and can afford to hire anyone to promote their content, smaller companies have to find cheaper options in order to compete with the big leagues in the market. This is not a problem since small business owners or startups can rely on micro-influencers who closely relate to their brand to work with, on a smaller budget.

This is great for anybody who is just starting up in the business, as it no longer means that only big brands and names compete in the market. In fact, starting with smaller fan bases can be a good thing, as you establish your relevance to the market while building up a reputation among the consumers, without having to spend a lot of money on promotion.

As it seems, there are many benefits to working with smaller influencers rather than people with large follower bases. Nowadays, people are becoming less and less interested in the traditional advertisements, resorting to Adblock software most of the time, so using micro-influencers can become the new, more creative method to reach your target audience, without seeming forced.