We’re well into the era of celebrity buzz and influencer-driven media outlets. So, if you want to keep your A-game on, your brand needs to make use of influencer marketing in 2018.
And before you dive into the “We can’t afford it” mode, let me say that influencer marketing isn’t just about Selena Gomez sporting Puma’s new gig for just over $30 million or Kylie Jenner building up a whopping almost-one-billion-dollar empireby sharing makeup tutorials on her Instagram.
While these top-notch campaigns may have generated huge income, small and medium size businesses (which are the majority of businesses in the world, including ours, offering 4G signal boosters) can see staggering results when using influencer marketing, too. The trick is this: micro-influencers are the new it-word and go-to! So, what’s in it for a brand?
1. Micro- Influencers have highly engaged and loyal audiences
Influencer marketing shouldn’t be about catching eyeballs; it should be about catching eyeballs that care. Celebrities may be insanely popular, and what they share may be eye-catching, but they still miss that secret ingredient that drives success: the personal touch.
In a recent study of over 800,000 Instagram accounts with 1,000+ followers, Markely analyzed how engaged micro-influencer audiences were compared to macro influencers.
What they came up with is this: the more the follower base grows, the less engaged audiences we have as a result. The same goes with comments and engagement:
Therefore, turning to influencers with multi-million user bases and paying hundreds of thousands of dollars may, in fact, be equal in results to turning to less widely known influencers who will give you way more bang for your buck.
Besides, micro-influencers have a more personal level of engagement with their audiences, and this personal touch is what drives most people to trust their promotions. In the end, the best kind of ads don’t look like ads, remember?
2.Micro-influencers are focused on a certain niche
Another thing that micro-influencers can help with is targeting a very specific audience with your promotions. Thinking wide is good for many, but if you are targeting, say, single people in their early 30s interested in sports cars, you may want to think narrow and get involved into influencer marketing that tackles your specific niche.
So, whether you’re a brand trying to attract fly fishing bloggers, cosplay Youtubers or vegan cooking Insta-fans, you get higher chances that the influencers themselves will be interested in your product, and will thus create user-generated content for people that share their passion and may well turn into product advocates for your brand.
3. Micro-influencers insure great ROI
Influencer marketing is currently one of the most cost-efficient ways of promotion. A recent study from Sway Group found out that marketers who implemented an influencer marketing campaign made around $6.85 in media value against every dollar spent.
With consumer trust in brand self-advertising continuing to decline, and reliance on word-of-mouth constantly growing, influencer marketing is truly turning into a must-have. Oh, and by the way, your competitors are probably already on it: A recent study by ANA showed that 75% of marketers are currently using Influencer Marketing.
4. Your brand can afford turning to micro-influencers
There’s no real need for your brand to blow the bank to get a single tweet or post from a macro-influencer. Given the engagement micro influencers have, their targeted nature and growing trust, you can very well use your money more wisely. An in-depth study by Sprout Social details that the average price per promotion with micro-influencers was $271, and the price for advertising with micro-influencers with a follower base of 100K is around $763 per post. Not at all bad, is it?
It all boils down to the following: you can love it, or leave it, but you better not. Influencer marketing has a huge potential of helping your business receive the exposure it deserves. And if you aren’t the one making use of it by now, your competitors probably are.
