Influencer seems to be the keyword for any advanced content marketing strategy. Is it worth investing only in wide range “kingpins” or is it better to give a chance to micro-influencers?
Influencer marketing: overfilled pond
Each new day is at least a few new influencers. The millennials dream has come true – now you don’t have to be a model or an actor to become a celebrity. Each of us carries the attributes of power with us – a smartphone – a virtual window that throws light on our everyday life.
We show the general public what we eat, what computer games we play, with whom we go to the cinema, etc. In the background of “ordinary life,” the first violin plays, of course, the specialization of a given influencer (you can be a game player, fit-blogger, parenting blogger, etc.).
On further background, we have a product exposition, marketing, and a large brand, which eagerly use the image of Internet celebrities.
“Kingpins” eat most of the budget
Remuneration of upper-shelf influencers is often the amount that can consume a large part of many advertising budgets. Influencers have their own agents who negotiate rates, lawyers who take care of the contract. It also happens that the company has to pay commissions for the Influencer service agency.
What is at stake is, of course, the reach of their own channels and social media. Influencers boast credible product placement and flexible approach to the assumptions of a given advertising campaign. However, the question arises: is the Influencer, which took part in hundreds of advertising campaigns for different brands, still believable in any new campaign?
Kingpins vs microinfluencers
Data presented in the influence.co, report from April 2017 – the highest engagement rate is reached by profiles with a range of up to 2 thousand followers. This can be a consequence of the Instagram algorithm, which, like Facebook, likes to cut off the reach in order to potentially monetize (you have reach = you have money to pay for sponsored posts).
This is not the only reason of course – an influencer that has the status of a star is not able to “statistically” bear all interactions and build commitment at the same level as smaller influencers.
Instead of investing huge amounts of money in opinion makers who were the “faces” of many brands, it is worth considering an alternative. It would be more profitable to involve several infuencers whose total reach would be the same, similar or even lower than the opinion leader who will “eat” the whole budget for activities in the blogosphere.
Microfluencers more often enter into a dialogue with fans, shorten the mythical “distance” with users, and their channels constitute a much more strongly targeted group.
In the case of wide-range influencers, the dispersion of the target is much greater and there is a risk of artificially acquiring fans with the help of bots.
Where to look for influencers for your campaign
Brands often make a mistake right from the start, involving the wrong people in their campaigns. Testing products by an accidental person does not have to but can result in campaign failure. So where to look for influencers?
Influencers can be found in literally all social media sites. There are also many platforms for which influencers can register voluntarily for their interest in cooperating with the brand.
For example, at popular Marketing Influencer Platform Reachbird.io you can either register as an influencer (free of charge) or company which would like to work with one.
Such a platform is a great place that connects influencers with brands. It allows the influencers to prepare their own offer for the brand, specifying the type of cooperation and the expected remuneration.
Brands can browse and find influencers that specialize in their business and already has followers are the perfect target audience for them. Win-win situation.