Justin Kline is the Co-Founder of the influencer marketing firm, Markerly.
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It’s long been established that working with popular influencers is one of the best ways for brands to connect with their audiences on a more personal level. Traditional advertisements are more distant and less personable. People have been trained their whole lives to be wary of advertising tactics, often tuning them out the moment they come across one.
That’s what makes influencers so powerful. People feel a special connection to the influencers they follow. They feel like they know them more so than they know a faceless brand entity. Even though they’ve never met and likely never will, there is a relationship between an influencer and a follower—people are more inclined to trust and listen to someone who they have a relationship with. So, when a trusted influencer endorses a product, brand or service, their audience is more likely to listen and consider what they have to say than an audience simply watching a traditional advertisement.
With this in mind, it’s no wonder influencer marketing has become the name of the game in the social media age, with brands clamoring for partnerships with the biggest names on TikTok and Instagram.
But is the biggest influencer really the best influencer?
Not usually. Sure, your brand may be tempted to pay large sums of money to partner with a social media star with millions upon millions of followers, but just because you’re hitting lots of eyeballs doesn’t mean you’re hitting the right eyeballs. At a certain point, social media stars get so popular that they amass followers who might have little interest in what they have to do or say; they just want to be part of the crowd or stay up to date on what the star is up to. So, when your brand shells out serious cash to post about your product, it’s entirely possible that it will be seen and ignored by millions.
In short, the biggest influencer isn’t necessarily the right influencer. More and more savvy brands are beginning to see the value in micro-influencers. These are folks with much smaller but more passionate and concentrated followings. These influencers have a specific niche that they operate within and their fans come back to them time and time again for their expertise, passion or skill within it.
If your brand makes music gear, you might think you’d want your products displayed by the biggest rock stars you can find on social media, but the reality is, many of their followers likely aren’t musicians and, thus, won’t take any interest in your products. Now you’ve spent all this money, and you didn’t even hit your audience. Instead, consider working with several micro-influencers within the space. Their fans trust them. They’ve built a relationship with them over time and know that a genuine product endorsement from them really means something. They know they wouldn’t just take the cash and sacrifice the integrity of their content.
You’re more likely to make contact with real musicians who would be genuinely interested in your gear when you work with micro-influencers who have a reputation for really caring about the craft. This goes for all industries: art, automobiles, books, fashion, beauty, you name it.
Yes, you can make a big splash with a big name, and depending on who your competitors are working with, you might even be tempted to. But if your brand is looking to make a real connection with its intended audience, you may find more success by taking your time and identifying the right influencers who have amassed a modest but dedicated fan base. This is where you’ll connect with an audience who is truly ready to hear about what your brand can offer them.
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