Influencer marketing used to be a numbers game. The more followers you had, the more a brand would want to work with you – and the more money they were willing to pay. Now, the tables are beginning to turn with brands starting to focus strategies towards the qualitative rather than quantitative aspects of social media influence. Which is where micro-influencers come into play.
Recent times has seen a growing trend for companies to employ influencers with a smaller following to spread the brand’s message. It is believed those with a smaller following bring more authenticity, a unique point of view, deeper storytelling, and a more tailored audience. AdAsia Holdings CEO and co-founder Kosuke Sogo tells CNBC: "They [micro-influencers] tend to resound better with their audience, due to the more personal and more authentic connections with their followers. The ideal campaign typically includes a couple of macro-influencers to generate awareness, while micro-influencers drive action."
Micro-influencers are described as those who have a social media following of less than 10,000. "A micro-influencer could be a housewife who regularly posts her recipes or cooked dishes on social media. Her followers are more often than not personal friends or family, with an additional number coming from people who found her account," explains Sogo.
One company that has successfully implemented a micro-influencer strategy is Stance Socks, with executive vice president of the women's division Candy Harris telling Forbes: “We select our collaborators based on the story they have to tell. It’s not about numbers or their popularity, it’s about how we can take the best of what we have to offer and combine it with their unique point of view.” Stance Socks makes a heavy investment in micro-influencers to promote its brand, as well as incorporating big names such as singer Rihanna as a spokesperson.
Discussing the idea of micro-influencers further, The Digital Brand Architects weighs in, stating: “Every marketing initiative, depending on the objective, will shift. That means that a type of influencer a brand works with will also shift. Sometimes the shift calls for deep penetration with a small audience and sometimes it calls for high conversion with a large audience. And the micro-influencers aren’t necessarily cheaper just because their audience is smaller, they know they are bringing something else to the table.”
