Are Micro Influencers More Powerful Than Mega Influencers?

Written By
Mike Landry

2

Published On
Jan 31, 2017

ARE MICRO INFLUENCERS MORE POWERFUL THAN MEGA INFLUENCERS?

When putting together an influencer marketing campaign, your first instinct for your brand may be to find one relatable influencer with a large following to broadcast your message and brand. Your other option is to find a handful of other influencers with smaller followings (with as many followers combined).

To answer this question (in general) we looked at this hypothetical:

If a brand could choose between having their message broadcasted by 1 person with a million followers, or have their message broadcasted by 1 thousand influencers with an average of 1 thousand followers at the same price, which would they choose?

We think the answer in most cases, if all things were equal, is that a brand would benefit more from the thousand micro influencers. That said, there are two sides to a coin…

THE MEGA INFLUENCER

Dealing with one personality means that the logistics of campaign creation are easier to manage. One person, one account, and one schedule makes for easier administration than dealing with a handful.

Lightening the administrative load further, a mega influencer is also more accustomed to entering into deals and collaborating with brands and won’t need as much hand holding. They also know what is expected.

Aside from the following, their name recognition also makes them more attractive to brands and in some circumstances will make for better content/creative because of who they are.

Taking all of these positives into account may make them a lot more expensive on a “per-thousand” followers basis.

THE MICRO INFLUENCER

Here are the positive features of going the Micro Influencers route:

> Micro Influencers are more trusted by their followers and enjoy a deeper connection

> Micro Influencers can serve particular niches that a Mega Influencer would find difficult

> Micro Influencers do not post about products and services as often

> Micro Influencers share followers with one another which creates an ‘everybody is talking about it’ effect. This creates more trust and enthusiasm around a brand

> Micro Influencers may be more affordable on a per thousand followers basis since being paid to post isn’t something they are too familiar with and unlike a Mega Influencer, they don’t have to make it count for as much

> The CPE (Cost per engagement) is lower in campaigns that use Micro Influencers.

Now of course, the Con, whether you choose to manage 5, 10, or 20 micro influencers, opposed to one is a lot more work. That’s when you may want to consider working with an agency like ours, who specializes in Influencer Marketing programs, and will take the burden of managing / communicating with many influencers off the task list of the brand/agency. This makes the utilization of many micro-influencers a lot more appealing.

Whether your plan is to leverage the audience of Mega or Micro Influencers, you want to ensure that you foster strong relationships between the brand(s) and the influencers themselves; in order to build a propensity to work with you on-going, and promote your products and services as life-time brand ambassadors.

We write more about how we do that in our blog: “How To Keep Your Social Media Influencers Happy”

Mike Landry

Michael Landry is the Director of Strategy at The Influence Agency, and has a passion for great advertising that produces sales, awareness and impact.

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