Small but mighty: Micro influencers pack a marketing punch

One of the earliest maxims in marketing has been the need for a universally known entity to help sell wares or services. Put someone everyone knows — or better, loves — and ride their reputation to more engagement and sales. It remains a potent and popular formula, tested and true enough, but new methods for getting the word out are emerging.

Increasingly, the face of influencer marketing is not determined by broadest reach, but deepest. Customers are turning to those they perceive to be more knowledgeable, more authentic: micro influencers.

The role of micro influencers in marketing is growing fast. They can cut through the noise of traditional marketing, and speak directly to their customer’s needs. This holds as true for web hosting and office supplies as it does for clothing, cars, and cosmetics.

Micro influencers offer a living, dynamic factor in modern marketing, making them a powerful asset for all kinds of brands.

Micro influencers: Organic reach, authentic voice

Social media influencers — people who use their online following to connect with others and share content, and who develop followings that can be both large and devoted — are at the center of this new marketing paradigm.

There are many types of influencers. Generally, anyone with a million or more followers will be considered a mega influencer. These are usually celebrities, politicians, athletes, or other famous people.

Micro influencers have between 10,000 and 100,000 followers. They generally aren’t celebrities or broadly famous. Rather, they’ve built their own following and brand in their own niches, and possess both expertise and credibility.

Micro influencers arguably wield the most organically generated, yet upscaled reach, balancing both numbers and reputation.

B2B marketing benefits: Making the right connections

For B2B marketing, which targets at a smaller, more niche market, micro fluencers offer the most direct punch. They have the in-depth experience to speak expertly, and the reach to make that credibility  work.

1. A highly engaged, loyal audience
2. More precise targeting
3. Lower cost, better ROI

Working with credible, plugged in, and creatively empowered micro influencers opens up firms to more better and more accurate data and closer contact to their customer bases and cultures, leading to better engagement.

Finding the right micro influencer

Mainly, it comes down to expertise and credibility, with the former directly affecting the latter. Someone who’s acquired a deep and sustained knowledge in their space, and has the skills to share over social channels will grow their bases organically, with no help needed from larger marketing or advertising forces.

In general, people are always seeking the real: Real people and real values. They want true engagement with the product, and real connection with the people and companies behind it.

Realness and authenticity, in short, are what micro influencers offer, and what clients and consumers increasingly desire. Does this person know their stuff? Can they actually help me? These are the questions that customers and clients ask, and that good micro influencers can answer believably.

The human core of marketing

Influencers and influencing is here to stay, even and especially as who they are changes.

The current trends point upward for micro influencers in marketing, whether in B2B or direct-to-consumer spheres. The environment is shifting to rewarding expertise and commitment in its worlds of direct engagement such as marketing, and micro influencer marketing in particular.

Understanding why and acting accordingly is essential for marketing today, particularly for those in the B2B space.