Influencer marketing and Micro influencers!

There was a time when everything was measured as per the macro aspect of its impact, the major external and uncontrollable factors that influence an organization's decision making, and affect its current situation and future strategies. However, as time has progressed, micro aspects of decision making have become important in decision making. Influencer marketing is one of those strategies where macro isn't the only way to push your strategy.

According to Mediakix, influencer marketing is likely to become a $5 to $10 billion industry by 2020. The customer acquisition rate and ROI from influencer marketing is getting popular as well. Many brands take influencer marketing as a way to improve their ROI, even though they calculate ROI differently, almost every brand that performs influencer marketing knows they can create a huge impact.

Background of Influencer marketing:

In marketing terms, influencer marketing is not a new term, it has existed for centuries. Social media has modernized the concept but the use of influential figures to market products has been done before social media existed. For instance, the Queen and the Pope used to endorse medicine - for the benefit of the common people. In a sense, they were the earliest influencers, promoting the use of medicine to people who weren’t believers yet.

Coca Cola used Santa Claus as the face of the advertising campaigns, even influenced the representation of Santa Claus as well.

Who can be an Influencer?

An influencer is someone who assists in making your target audience buy from you. Influencers must have a combination of three key factors: reach, credibility and engagement. The higher these three factors, the higher the influence potential of an individual, more chances of the product being sold.

Number of followers = High impact?

On the surface area the number of followers do matter a lot. However, it's the above three factors that make the user an influencer (reach, credibility and engagement). If the user has followers and has the three factors, he can be termed as an influencer. However, if the user has less followers but same amount of the three factors, he is termed as an micro influencer.

Micro-infuencer: The advantages:

If the company knows who are the micro-influencers they want to target, micro-influencers could help reach the hard to reach section of your target audience, possibly reducing the marketing expenditure. Macro influencers may have the followers but everything depends upon the engagement that influencer has with his audience.

According to a study, 40% of Twitter users have made a purchase as a direct result of a tweet from an influencer, it’s easy to see why many brands use influencers to spread their message. According to forbes, ideal influencer marketing does not involve financial compensation. Instead, it requires understanding that influencers want to be recognized, have access to information and be the first to know of any news in their space -- they need this to strengthen their influence.

"The business objective of an influencer marketing campaign should be advocacy"

The best way to engage, communicate and build relationships with micro-influencers is to interact with them, follow them where they are and appreciate their content. Micro-influencers have specific niche audiences and are deeply connected to them, thus making them perfect representatives for a brand.

Influencer marketing is built on personal brands, which are structured around real people and have human factors. Influencers are human themselves. They can trigger both rational and emotional purchases from their audience easier, just because they are human like us.

When done with a set objective, influencer marketing is a multiplier which reduces the marketing expenses of the organisation. If a brand wants to improve perception, increase awareness and decrease costs, influencer marketing is probably the best strategy available. However, it is imperative the company does not ignore micro influencers while crafting strategies. Influencer marketing is a multiplier, a growth hack here to stay.

Sources:

https://blog.twitter.com/marketing/en_us/a/2016/new-research-the-value-of-influencers-on-twitter.html

https://blog.influencerdb.com/influencer-marketing-definition-2018/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/barrettwissman/2018/03/02/micro-influencers-the-marketing-force-of-the-future/#7b478cfa6707

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2017/11/14/what-is-influencer-marketing-and-how-can-marketers-use-it-effectively/#dc019bb23d13