2017: The Year of Micro-influencers

In the nascent world of influencer marketing, most companies are still coming to terms with the idea of paid social media “influence” content. While the trendsetters – often those in the fashion industry – run ahead, a majority of the rest of American companies are running to catch up and identify a few key influencers they can bring to their side.

But as influencer marketing evolves, it seems that focusing on one major, albeit important, influencer may not be the way to go. This year may be the year we see the rise of “micro-influencers,” Tribe founder Jules Lund told Ad News.

“In the past, campaigns consisted of one influencer. 2016 it was in the tens. 2017 it will be in the hundreds,” he said. “2018 it will be in the thousands. All the while getting more meaningful as it shifts from celebrities to everyday citizens being rewarded for celebrating the brands they already use and love.”

It sounds complicated, but marketing automation platforms are beginning to evolve to allow companies to manage influencer marketing, and with these solutions, it will become easy to add smaller (and perhaps more specialized) influencers to the mix. Choosing more specialized influencers will help companies bring more value to certain segments of their audience, according to Tribe CEO Anthony Svirskis writing for Ad News.

“The smaller the tribe, the more potent the influence,” he wrote. “Micro-influencers have cultivated a level of trust with their community that celebrities can only dream about. They’ve built their tribe one by one, post by post. And since micro-influencers are everyday citizens, they tend to invest a higher level of passion and creativity in their content, resulting in higher levels of engagement.”

While celebrity influencers will always be sought after, they’re not going to be able to speak to the needs of the entire marketplace. Segmentation has always made sense in marketing, and it makes sense in influencer marketing. Micro-influencers will likely be able to create more targeted content which will resonate better with some prospects, leads and viewers.

“Micro-influencers will also help solve an even greater problem for marketers than just ‘reach’; the ability to generate high quality content to use as marketing collateral in social media advertising,” wrote Svirskis. “An omnipresent problem as smaller brands turn their attention to micro-advertising through social platforms.”

Micro-influencers can also help marketers address the issue of frequency; social media marketing requires a regular stream of content, and relying on one individual to post regularly is unrealistic. It may also lead to repetitive and less interesting content or burnout by followers of that influencer. The goal, ultimately, is regular high-quality original content, and the more places you can access that and bring it to your followers, the more influential it’s going to be.