Noticed a downtick in sponsored content shared by influencers when coronavirus first emerged? As brands reallocated their funds to stay afloat, influencer marketing had to take a back seat. According to Socialbakers, sponsored content and brand engagements on Instagram in April 2020 was 37% lower than the previous year. Things have since improved, with most brands being conscious of the influencers they engage, and you should too.
Change in influencer marketing approaches
Influencers can be categorized into 4 tiers - mega, macro, micro and nano influencers. Each tier has its pros and cons, and differ in the size of their follower range. Mega influencers are celebrities with the most number of followers. Macro influencers are those with a minimum following of 30K. Micro influencers typically have 5K to 30K followers, and nano influencers are individuals with a following of 5K and below.
Image: Socialbakers
As seen from the data above, there was a rise in engagement of micro and nano influencers most likely due to cuts in marketing budgets amid the pandemic.
Image: @thechoyalicious / @heyitsfel / @mysweetlittletooth
Majority (40%) of the brand engagements at the start of 2020 involved micro/macro influencers with followers ranging from 10K to 50K. Following closely behind, the engagement of micro/nano influencers with less than 10K followers increased from 20% to 30% in the course of 5 months.
While macro influencers with significantly larger followings received the least brand partnerships, they still play an important role when it comes to driving awareness for specific industries like luxury brands and high ticket items. Take Eugena Bey (@itzeugena) for example. She collaborates with various luxury brands which she constantly promotes on her social media. In doing so, brands can tap on Eugena's like-minded followers that look up to her, and aspire to be equally cool and elegant.
Nano and macro influencers motivate purchases in different ways. Consumers turn to nano influencers for more authentic reviews, but look up to macros who curate more appealing content and are seen as KOLs.
Image: @gigaexperience / @emily.eatingthyme
92% of marketers find influencer marketing effective. However, influencer marketing campaigns are exceptionally effective for brands with less than 10K followers on Instagram. This means that the brand message posted by an influencer generally receives more interactions than one that’s shared by the brand.
Benefits of nano influencers
Niche audience
Of the 4 tiers, nano influencers typically receive the highest engagement and are the most successful at getting their followers to take action (i.e. make a purchase). Despite having lesser followers, nano influencers have a close-knit relationship with their followers who share the same interests as them. Hence, they are more receptive to branded content shared by the nano influencer.
Trustworthy
As nano influencers connect with their followers (consisting mostly of friends and family) on a deeper level, their followers have greater faith in them as compared to celebrities whom they’ve never met. Nano influencers come across as more relatable, which increases their credibility score. Furthermore, most of them are not pressured to share inauthentic content since they do not rely on the postings for a living.
While spending is expected to return to pre-virus levels gradually, most consumers are still conscious of their spending and would only buy products they truly believe in, highlighting the importance of authenticity.
Budget-friendly
Engaging large-scale influencers come at a high price but in recent times, brands are forced to find alternatives and engage influencers with a smaller following due to cuts in marketing budgets. That said, making the switch has its benefits too.
Nano influencers are more effective when it comes to call-to-action. Better yet, brands can effectively achieve their marketing objectives at a fraction of the price. Simply put, the budget for 1 macro influencer can easily accommodate 50 nano influencers who can spread the word to each of their tight-knit community.
How to achieve more with less
Awareness
If you’re raising awareness for your brand or product, our team of experts would recommend campaigns to support your pre-launch, launch and relaunch. When Chope Deals released their bubble tea promotion, we helped them raise awareness with over 500 Instagram story postings in a day.
In 2020, we activated our base of Nano and Micro influencers to do an Instagram shout-out for Pepsi’s new lime flavour through 2 campaigns - a time-limited promotion, followed by their giveaway.
Familiarity
As the Marketing Rule of 7 states, consumers need to see your product/brand for 7 times before making a purchase. To do this, we recommend running traffic driving campaigns with multiple influencers.
We’ve run multiple campaigns with ShopBack to raise awareness of their promotions and product, and garnered a large number of posts over a long period of time. As a result, our users’ followers would be more aware of, and inclined to try ShopBack themselves.
Consideration
To win the fight against your competitors and be considered by consumers, you’ll need a sizable number of authentic testimonials, which we can easily obtain with our base of up to 25K influencers.
On top of social media postings, we run review-specific campaigns as well. To increase the number of reviews online, our users were required to share their honest thoughts about TIGI hair products on Watsons’ site.
Purchase
Authenticity is highly valued by consumers, which is why giving them access to genuine reviews is crucial. For most of our campaigns, our users are required to share their thoughts on the product in their social media postings. Leaving no stone unturned, Facebook and Google reviews can be an option too.
To raise awareness and generate as many authentic reviews for Simple Skincare’s new product line, Daily Skin Detox, our users are required to test the products themselves before sharing their thoughts on Instagram.
Loyalty
Struggling with customer loyalty? We can help you run and manage ongoing influencer programs easily with our back-end system and user-facing mobile application; all you need to do is approve the posts.
In the process of sharing about brands they love, our users themselves have become loyal fans. According to a poll we ran, one user became a Nando’s and Rohto regular after joining their campaigns. She mentioned that she “loved the food after trying it for the first time.”
Keen to learn how exactly to reach your goals effectively with influencer marketing? Redeem a free consultation with our team of experts today to receive your very own marketing plan.
📬💌
Find out how to leverage the fastest growing network of influencers in Asia!
Free Consultation
Keep up to date with industry trends 📬
Subscribe to our newsletter and receive the latest updates from Partipost!
Your name
Your email
Subscribe