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Instagram is revolutionizing advertising. Perhaps never before have corporations been able to advertise so stealthily or been able to appear more neighborly. While some are comparing this to the old allegory of a wolf in sheep’s clothing, most followers are eagerly engaging with their favorite brands online.
Rather than seeing it as threatening (the infiltration of brands into our lives on Instagram) evidence points to the fact that followers have thoroughly welcomed this transition. For example, 70% of the most used hashtags are branded. This indicates that brands are driving conversation on Instagram. Users must not find this problematic, since Instagram was also recently deemed the “most-loved” brand in the world. (See our recent blog post.)
What makes this advertising so different and disarming is that microinfluencers are driving a large part of the messaging. See your friend with 5000 or so followers who just mentioned a brand? She might be part of a microinfluencer program, and you don’t even know it.
It’s the trust factor. Microinfluencers often work in niche marketing and are experts in their particular field. If they are endorsing a product or service in that field, we are more likely to trust their recommendations.
According to Forbes:
“Specifically, MediaHub reported that influencers with 1,000 fans drove 85 percent higher engagement ‘lift’ than those with 100,000 followers. These campaigns realized 10 times more efficiency than those using influencers with big followings, which made them more cost effective, the firm said. New York Times-owned social media influencer marketing firm HelloSociety, meanwhile, found that accounts with 30,000 or fewer followers are better for marketers, according to Adweek. Micro-influencers, often considered to be trusted sources, generate a 60 percent higher engagement rate than a typical HelloSociety campaign and are 6.7 times more cost-effective than big-time influencers, according to the report.” (via Forbes)
Microinfluencers are changing the trajectory of traditional advertising campaigns, and some advertisers are diverting ad spend away from Google or Facebook ads to microinfluencer agencies.
Microinfluencers are not huge celebrities. In fact, anyone can be a microinfluencer on social media if you have a certain amount of followers. Forbes describes microinfluencers:
“Unlike celebrities with hundreds of thousands or millions of social media followers, micro-influencers may have anywhere from 1,000 to 50,000, possibly more. While the exact numerical definition varies among experts, statistics suggest smaller niche players may wield more influence when it comes to effective social media marketing.”
Surpisingly, according to Forbes, influencers with followers in the 1000 range drive more engagement than influencers in the 100,000 range. They are also more cost-effective.
How much do microinfluencers cost and how much are advertisers using their budget on influencers? In one example, Forbes describes, “Quotes for well-known influencers reached thousands of dollars, compared with a few hundred for micro-influencers, according to Popilskis, who said the business dedicated 75 percent of its marketing budget to micro-influencers and 25 percent to pay-per-click ads through Google, Bing and Facebook.”
It’s probably best to work with your social media marketing agency before hiring a microinfluencer. But to get a better idea of the agencies out there, check out this list of the top microinfluencer websites.
According to Influencer Marketing Hub, here are the top 14 online influencer agencies where your brand can recruit paid influencers:
Let’s design a campaign for your organization with social media influencers. Call or message us today to get started.