Is Bigger Always Better?
It isn’t hard to see why people are easily impressed by mega influencers. They come with an audience in the hundreds of thousands. Their posts receive thousands of likes and comments. But have you ever stopped to look at the benefits of working with micro influencers?
Micro influencers usually have an audience of 100k – 10k or if we’re talking about Egypt 50k-5k. Micro influencers don’t have as many followers as mega influencers, so upon first glance, may not appear to be as impressive. There are, however, many unique benefits to working with influencers. Here are just a few.
At the end of the article we highlight how you can find micro influencers for your campaign.
1) High ROI and Engagement rate
When deciding where to put their money, smart marketers have long since known that they shouldn’t just pay attention to follower count. After all, a large follower count just tells you that many people have decided to follow a creator. To make things even worse, creators may purchase fake followers (you can find out how you can spot fake followers here).
What if an influencer’s million followers all follow a thousand accounts each so never see their posts? What if an influencer’s audience is inactive? That’s where engagement rate comes in.
Put simply, an influencer’s engagement rate tells you what percentage of their followers actively comment on and like their content. The instagram algorithm prioritizes posts with high engagement rates. This is one of the best objective benefits of working with micro influencers. Small creators are known to have much higher engagement rates. For example, one of our youngest influencers Yasmina El-Abd with just over 30k followers has an engagement rate in the double digits, 16.5%. It’s not uncommon for mega influencers to have engagement rates that dip below 3%.
When all is said and done, if your goal is engagement, you get more bang for your buck working with smaller influencers.
2) Closer to Their Audience
As creators grow larger, the line between influencer and celebrity starts to blur. When you’re one of two hundred thousand followers, it’s hard to feel connected to a creator. You know that they won’t be able to notice your likes and comments. Not in the same way a smaller creator would.
Smaller creators usually have much more personal relationships with their followers. They likely reply to all their comments and have perhaps had one on one conversations with them before. This means that one of the benefits of working with micro influencers is that they have a much higher level of trust and credibility with their audience.
If you want audiences that trust an influencer’s recommendations, then micro influencers are the way to go. Our latest campaign for Ski Egypt for example has exclusively featured micro influencers.
3) More Authentic
There’s a certain charm to lower budget content. Many artists and filmmakers deliberately create works that look more ‘amateur’ or ‘small budget’. On a psychological level, these media feel more real. Like something we ourselves could have produced. The unfiltered look indicates that whatever we are watching is just that, unfiltered.
This is just as true with micro influencers. Micro influencers don’t always have the very best cameras, editing software, or production budget. This gives their content a unique look. Instagram, after all, was built with filters that make photos look older and damaged. This is one of the counterintuitive benefits of working with micro influencers.
A grainy selfie-shot video can be better at turning an audience to customers than a perfectly edited and scripted video.
4) Smaller Niche
What’s the difference between Starbucks and the small Qahwas that line the streets of Cairo? Well, everyone knows starbucks. Starbucks is consistent. Everyone drinks Starbucks. Busy business women and mall-wandering friend groups alike. Even dogs drink starbucks. But you know what? Starbucks can’t even spell your name right. The local Qahwa on the other hand has everyone’s orders ready on their tables before they arrive. Everyone knows one another as well as the owner. They’ve been serving one or two drinks for the past decade but that doesn’t matter. People don’t go there for the drinks. They go there for the community. They go there to watch football, play backgammon, and discuss the latest events. It’s niche.
Influencers aren’t too different. Sure, everyone knows the big influencers. Your mom probably heard of them, your younger sibling likes their every post. You probably enjoy their travel content. But would you go to them for a burger recommendation? Nope! You’re more likely to check out The Hungry Giraffe who posts recommendations of food spots from around Cairo.
This is one of the built in benefits of working with micro influencers. They usually have a smaller focus on a specific interest. The people following them are more likely going to fit within a specific niche.
5) Easier to Work With
Micro influencers are always excited to grow and work with new brands. They’re usually happy to work with new brands as each collaboration is a step forward. Micro influencers also care about building connections with brands. Since they’re juggling less collaborations, they may also be easier to communicate with. So one of the benefits of working with micro influencers is simply that you may have a smoother experience.
How you can find micro influencers in Egypt
Egypt has hundreds of awesome micro influencers. Because micro influencers are smaller, however, they may be harder to spot. One way to find micro influencers is to ask friends interested in different industries such as fashion or food if they follow any.
The best way to find micro influencers in Egypt, however, is to visit Trendster’s influencer search tool. You can adjust the sliders to find influencers based on everything from size and industry to marital status and age.
If you’d like to learn more about selecting the perfect influencers for your campaign, send us an email at info@trendster.io or reach out to us on social media!
