Micro-influencers

Several years ago, people were still asking: what is a digital influencer? Now, the role of influencers on social networks is no longer questioned. Their degree of influence has been studied and confirmed through numerous fruitful influencer campaigns.

Firstly, we have a tendency to think that an influencer is defined by the size of their community. However, it would be reductive to qualify an influencer as “micro” based solely on the number of subscribers they have. Several factors characterise micro-influencers and distinguish them from macro-influencers:

• The size of their community (reach): micro-influencers generally have fewer than 50,000 subscribers on social networks. Although this figure isn’t official, it gives a good indication of the follower threshold that distinguishes them from macro-influencers.

• Audience: micro-influencers are often specialists or even experts in a specific field such as sport, fashion or travel. They usually have little difficulty promoting a product or brand associated with them thanks to the affinities that they naturally have with them. As for macro-influencers, they target a wider variety of consumers through their sponsored posts.

• Risks: All influencers are liable to using “fake follower” techniques, but micro-influencers are those whose performance must be scrutinised more closely.

• Engagement: levels of engagement with the publications of micro-influencers are on average higher than those of celebrities and stars of social networks. This can be explained by the fact that their audience is made up purely of web users interested or even passionate about their favourite subjects.

• Cost: Micro-influencers must often compensate for their lack of contract-drafting experience with strong follower engagement. Macro-influencers are, in principle, already used to digital influence contracts and have a low CPM (cost per thousand impressions).

• Values: micro-influencers also see themselves as being very close to their community. This not being excessively large, they generally take the time to interact with their subscribers. This is why they are often seen as being more accessible and authentic, which creates a positive image. On the other hand, their reputation and impact as a Key Opinion Leader is often not as strong.

Given the traits that characterise them, working with micro-influencers is a solid strategy for any business wanting to develop awareness of their product or service among a target market or as part of a more comprehensive digital strategy. For example, a ready-to-wear brand may choose to collaborate with fashion micro-influencers in line with their image and their sphere of influence. In fact, this type of collaboration offers different advantages available with this category of influencer:

• Undertaking an influencer campaign with micro-influencers lets brands more easily and accurately reach the people that they want to reach by segmenting their audience.

• Micro-influencers are generally less demanding than macro-influencers in terms of remuneration and rates, as their strong presence on networks increases their degree of competitiveness. Sometimes they will accept non-monetary remuneration (free products, invitations to events etc.). However, to ensure that a campaign runs smoothly, it is best to link the brand to a micro-influencer with a contract and to offer them remuneration, even if the value remains symbolic.

Collaborating with a micro-influencer can then prove to be a shrewd choice when the aim is to carry out a targeted campaign. Please note that it is also possible to work with several micro-influencers on a single campaign in order to increase the visibility of the product being promoted or if the communities that you want to reach complement each other and therefore belong to different influencers.