Influencer marketing – why it should be part of your digital marketing strategy

Influencers have been taking over the (social) world one sponsored post at a time. The phenomenon began in 2009, with the likes of Zoella, Alfie Deyes and Tanya Burr turning a hobby on YouTube into full-fledged careers.

From then, brands have relied on Influencers to sell their products, push their brand and give credibility. However, in the wake of the Molly-Mae ’24 hours in a day’ fiasco, brand partnership trends are increasingly leaning towards Nano & Micro Influencers tie-ups – creating a shift from big pay, ‘fame’ campaigns, to more relevant, ‘findable’ campaigns for your brand.

The Year of Nano & Micro Influencers

Nano and Micro influencers are classed as influencers with a following anywhere between 10K – 100K. While they don’t have as big an audience pool as the wider known influencers, they have incredibly niche, more engaged communities. A 2019 survey by Adweek found that 49.3% of people had made a purchase based upon an influencer’s recommendation and that 44.2% of respondents generally trust the recommendations from influencers.

With the Nano and Micro names, their audiences are more likely to trust them, as they come across as more authentic, not just saturating feeds with whatever paid partnership they’ve got big bucks for. Authenticity on social media has become a growing influencer marketing trend, so focusing on creators who foster real relationships with their community, will actually help boost your engagement.

How audiences want to engage with influencers in 2022

These days it’s not about always throwing money at the big time ‘fame’ campaigns. To zone in on audience targeting, influencer campaigns need to be relatable and relevant.

Your followers want to feel a sense of community on your platform, and who better than an influencer they already know, and who fits with your key messages. Working with influencers you audience are familiar with will also put a ‘human face’ to your brand, making a change from followers staring at logos or product shots.

It’s not one size fits all

If you use more Nano and Micro influencers, your budget will stretch further. That’s a no brainer.

Having a collective, as such, working for your brand will mean you’re appealing to different (but brand-relevant) audience sets. Having a set of influencers who discuss different themes on their platforms will also ensure you tap into your target audiences daily interests.

The way people use and consume information is different across all platforms, so there may be a pool of influencers who can have bigger impacts on certain platforms. As audiences we tend to scroll and flick through the social media channels, so to make sure you’re seen everywhere, the brand partnership brief should go beyond just a post on their Insta. It keeps your campaign on people’s minds, making you more findable across all platforms.

Those interest verticals are not a one size fits all either, so multiple influencers are more likely to relate to your broader audience, for example if you’re a homeware brand, you might have a band of first-time buyers, but also a band of more experienced homeowners, and these categories may not relate to the same one influencer.

Can we finally say goodbye to the big buck budgets?

It’s no secret that not investing in influencer marketing is an epic fail, in this day and age. But you don’t have to panic and go for the big buck campaigns with the big buck faces. *Sigh of relief.*

Really knowing who your audience are and what they like will lead you towards nano and micro influencers who resonate the most with the people who consume your content and who they really do engage with.

Plus, if you’re not sure how to find these influencers, working with a shit-hot Digi PR agency can help you find the perfect pairing…