EP397: Unlocking Engagement Why Micro Influencers Outshine the Rest

Stacy Jones: Welcome to another episode of Marketing mistakes and how to avoid them. I’m Stacey Jones and today I’m going to talk to you about three reasons why micro influencers create affordable influencer marketing that truly gets engagement influencers seem to be the hottest topic in marketing these days. Brands are paying tens of thousands of dollars, hoping to put their product, message or service into the hand of an almighty social media celebrity to take the Internet by storm and generate massive sales for the brand. Whether this strategy works for you or not, however, comes down to understanding the actual influencer landscape. First things first, when it comes to influencer marketing these days, bigger is not always better.

3
Stacy Jones: The power of influencer marketing has shifted from Megan personality into established macro influencers who have crafted their content to directly appeal to their follower base and now into the hands of their smaller, more nuanced counterparts, the micro influencer. If you aren’t quite sure who these small but powerful social players are, micro influencers are knowledgeable and passionate social media personalities. They have smaller and more engaged audiences. These influencers typically have a follower count between 1030 thousand on the high end. Although micro influencers may not have the reach of a super sized celebrity influencer, their effectiveness is not to be doubted. We’re going to talk about three reasons why micro influencers should be on every brand marketers radar. So why micro influencers? Well, to start with, content produced by micro influencers perform significantly better than macro influencers posts and so much better than celebrity influencer posts.

4
Stacy Jones: As size goes down, engagement rates go up. Think about it. When you’re on your social media platforms, you are way more likely to comment or like a post by someone you actually kind of sort of know. And the further that degree of separation goes, the less you are going to tune in and pay attention or like or post a response. In fact, influencers with the following follower base of 10,000 to 10,0000 typically garner a two to 4% engagement rate per post. Where your smaller micro influencer typically receives an eight to 10% engagement rate per post, that’s three times better. And as that following base continues to rise and also starts getting dead accounts associated with it. The like rate will continue to decrease and once you get over a million followers, that rate goes down to around 1.8%.

5
Stacy Jones: Comments are going to follow a very similar pattern to those like engagement levels. Secondly, influencers gain an audience from people that pursue them to be friends, or even more so as they grow experts in their respective field. The smaller the following an influencer has, the more trustworthy they appear, which means brands that they are going to be talking about also appear to be perceived at a higher level of trust and impact. As an influencer’s follower count increases, individuals begin to perceive that influencer as a paid extension of the brand, as opposed to a trusted expert, so authenticity can start to become challenged, making the brand influencer partnership less effective.

6
Stacy Jones: The deep connection that micro influencers are able to maintain with their fan base allows for their post to be perceived as more relatable, more trustworthy and more genuine, ultimately achieving every brand’s goal for an influencer campaign. And that brings us to what brands care the absolute most about. Some of today’s macro influencers are demanding upwards of 10,000 or higher for a single post, and celebrity influencers can be ten times that or more. Most brands simply do not have the funds to do this, making it quite difficult for them to compete in the influencer space. Why are the rates so high? Well, it’s like buying an ad on tv or a print magazine. You’re paying for eyeballs. Influencer marketing allows you to take that next step and you really should find not only the eyeballs, but those who are interacting and engaging with the content.

7
Stacy Jones: And that’s where CPM comes in. CPM again, is the cost per thousand, and there’s lots of handy calculators online. This is a dollar metric that based on the number of followers, you can narrow down what the cost should be in general to work with an influencer. Of course, if you have them create video content or a larger campaign, it’s going to take more of their time and that means it’s going to be at a higher cost. But if it’s a single post in an image or just a hashtag and a call out, it’s way less work on their behalf. Still work, but less work, and the pricing should reflect that. Fortunately, working with micro influencers can be an opportunity to overcome the potential outlay of some exorbitant costs in the influencer marketing world.

8
Stacy Jones: Because micro influencers do not have large followings, many of them charge very little per post and sometimes can even be dare I say it, free. Many micro influencers are oftentimes more than happy to work with brands in exchange for free product or early access to product releases, both of which are cheaper than paying out large sums of money upfront. So is only working with microinfluencers the answer to all of your influencer questions and concerns? Probably not, but they are certainly a step in the right direction. Like any form of marketing, working with micro influencers surely has its own challenges to overcome. But working with an agency that has the knowledge and expertise in this space will absolutely help you mitigate those challenges moving forward. In fact, you can visit my agency’s website, hollywoodbranded.com, to download our ebook on social influencer partnerships.

9
Stacy Jones: If you want some more helpful hints, visit my agencys blog dot hollywoodbranded.com where we have hundreds of articles, all created to help you become a better marketer with lots of content focused on influencer marketing. Thats it for this episode. I hope it was helpful and please let me know if you have any feedback. Ill see you next week. And as always, if you need a little or a lot of help, my agency, Hollywood branded, is here to let a hand. If you would leave a review or any questions I can address in the future, id really appreciate it as your feedback helps me know my advice is valuable and interesting to you. Have a great week.

Stacy Jones: Are you ready to make the magic of product placement, celebrity event activations or influencer partnerships help your sales? Visit hollywoodbranded.com to gain access to free content. To learn which key tactics best fit your brand. You’ll find surveys, webinars, daily blogs, ebooks and guides, all created to make sure you have access to the best possible marketing practices. Don’t forget to join Stacey Jones for our next podcast conversation about marketing mistakes and how to avoid them. Let’s make that entertainment marketing magic happen for.