Influencer Marketing: Should You Go Macro or Micro?

What is Influencer Marketing? 

If you’re looking for a way for your brand to cut through the noise and stand out on social media, then developing and budgeting for an influencer marketing strategy should be an essential part of your digital marketing plan. Just as magazines and the brands of old utilized models and movie stars to promote their products, the rise of social media has put the power of influence into the everyday social media user.

Starting and maintaining an influencer marketing strategy doesn’t require a large budget. Many brands have launched and scaled successfully through an influencer-only approach to marketing. Therefore, as long as you have products to gift, any business can start exploring the world of influencer marketing.

Types of Social Media Influencers

When you are thinking of an ‘influencer’, who comes to mind? It may be a movie star, a model, a YouTuber, or a comedian. Regardless of who you thought of, influencers come in a variety of disciplines and areas of media. While every brand would love to work with the newest and most popular celebrity in Hollywood, don’t discount the power that smaller, more niche accounts can have in persuading a potential customer.

Micro-influencers (<20,000 followers)

           Micro-influencers can be broadly categorized as having a smaller following and a more niche audience. While they generally have a smaller reach, micro-influencers have proven to have a more engaged following than larger influencers. This is because many micro-influencers are everyday people who create content that is not only relatable but also aspirational for the viewer. Since micro-influencers are perceived as more trustworthy and honest, using them is a great way to gather reviews for a new product or showcase a new way to solve a problem.

Using micro-influencers as part of your overall influencer strategy is becoming more important by the day. In a 2022 YouTube Culture & Trends Report, 65% of Gen-Z respondents agreed that content that is personally relevant to them is more important than the content that many people are talking about. While we may enjoy keeping up with the lives of the latest YouTube/TikTok/media sensation, many people also turn to social media to help them solve a problem or learn something new.  

Macroinfluencers (500K+ followers)

           If you are a brand that has a larger marketing budget or wants to drive brand awareness, marketing teams should be looking at influencers and celebrities with larger audiences. Be advised, however, that a larger audience will come with a higher price point. Additionally, audiences for larger accounts are typically more selective and harder to persuade than niche accounts.

           For this reason, it’s important to choose quality brand ambassadors that align with the product through the brand voice or messaging. This allows there to be less friction between the audience and the brand message because the partnership already feels natural. A great example of a cohesive partnership is the partnership between Taco Bell and Pete Davidson to reintroduce their breakfast product food items.

Picking the Right Influencer and Ambassador 

When you are working with a limited marketing budget, picking the right ambassador may feel like finding a needle in the haystack. During these moments, it’s important to double down on your brand’s target audience and brand messaging to pick a partnership that feels most natural.

Beyond the audience similarities that enjoy Pete Davidson and Taco Bell, this partnership felt authentic and natural because of the history of interactions between the two. Davidson already had an affinity for the brand when he began tweeting breakfast ideas for the Taco Bell menu – which they later adopted. While Davidson’s suggestions ended up being too adventurous for the market, Taco Bell used this development blunder as a marketing story-telling opportunity and to cement their relationship with Pete Davidson. The revamped (and simplified) Taco Bell breakfast menu features a side of tongue-in-cheek apologies delivered in Davidson’s signature deadpan tone. He positions himself as the martyr for Taco Bell’s mistakes which feels natural to his self-deprecating comedic style.

Even if you aren’t a brand that has a marketing budget as large as Taco Bell, you can still utilize strategies to grow brand awareness through macro influencers. Some influencers are open to equity or will agree to multi-month content partnerships. However, the best campaigns include a macro- and micro-strategy as the content they create can capture the audience at different customer stages.

The Perfect Time to Start your Influencer Marketing Strategy 

Developing an influencer marketing strategy can be a low-cost method and an easy start-up to gain followers for your online community. Even with a little-to-no budget, you can utilize your current customer base to create social content by offering free products, exclusive discounts, and other gifts.

An influencer strategy not only can assist with growing a social media presence but can also be tapped for research and development projects as they can provide first-hand experience and preliminary reviews on a new product. Should budget be a concern, start with a small group of niche creators or customers who will work for lower budgets or free products. Don't be afraid to try out new ideas since smaller creators are more prone to capitalizing on newer trends and trying different content styles out to stand out online. 

Most importantly, the effects of influencer marketing take time. Results cannot always be realized and measured overnight as buyer’s decision process isn’t always instantaneous. Pair your influencer marketing strategies with other marketing initiatives to maximize the visibility of your brand.