How Micro-Influencers Drive Engagement

This post was originally published on October 5th, 2017. Updated for September 13th, 2022.

It’s a great idea to learn the basics of influencer marketing. Delve a little deeper, and you’ll inevitably come across the term, “micro-influencer.” Here’s a breakdown of what this term means, and how micro-influencers drive engagement.

Micro-influencer Follower Count

The exact numbers vary, depending on who you’re talking to, but “micro-influencers” are generally defined as social media influencers with a following of 5,000—10,000 and possibly up to 100,000. Unlike social celebrities with millions of followers, like Kim Kardashian for example, these smaller-scale influencers have a following that almost always shares the same interests that the influencer has: and that’s an important distinction.

Benefits of Micro-Influencer Marketing

Micro-influencer marketing offers several benefits over traditional advertising and even celebrity influencer marketing:

• Micro-influencers are more affordable to collaborate with
• Micro-influencers are easier to reach directly
• Micro-influencers boast a more targeted and trusting audience
• Micro-influencers are perceived as trustworthy peers by their followers
• Micro-influencers drive far more engagement than celebrity influencers

Micro-Influencers Drive Engagement

Many brands make the mistake of thinking more followers=more engagement, but that isn’t the case. Consider this:

• After about 10,000 followers, the rate of engagement on Instagram starts to drop
• Micro-influencers receive 4x more engagement on Instagram than social celebrities
• A whopping 92 percent of consumers report trusting brand recommendations from their favorite influencer more than celebrity endorsements

The reasons for these stats make sense. If a dog toy brand, for example, collaborates with a dog-loving celebrity with over a million followers, it can reach a huge audience. However, around 90 percent of those followers may not be dog-lovers themselves. It would be far more effective for this dog toy brand to collaborate with 20 or more popular dog trainers and dog walkers, whose followers are actually dog-lovers and owners themselves.

Micro-influencer marketing was a hot trend in 2020 for a reason. It’s because micro-influencers drive engagement. You can expect this form of marketing to continue being a hot trend in 2022. There is simply no match for their authenticity and their small – but significant – band of loyal followers. If it’s social media engagement and reach that a brand is looking for, collaborating with micro-influencers is the way to go.

Into the Inbound with Technology Aloha