Learn the difference between Micro-Influencers vs. Macro-Influencers.
Trust and credibility are the souls of every successful business. Every interaction customers have with your business shapes how credible and trustworthy they find you. With influencer marketing, you can establish your brand’s credibility and win customers’ trust from the outset.
And the benefits of having an influencer marketing strategy are second to none.
According to a survey, 93% of marketers have used influencer marketing once. And more than 66% of brands are expected to increase their budget because of the success of their campaigns.
Influencer marketing relies only on influencers’ words. Their audience trusts them and trusts everything that the influencer recommends. And brands ride on this trust. It helps them reach the audience that they miss via their marketing and advertising efforts.
Are you struggling to navigate the influencer marketing world and don’t know which influencers you should choose? Good news, you’re not alone. It can be a bit challenging to figure out the best fit for your business.
Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered. In this blog, we’ll discuss the two types of influencers — micro and macro. And will also help you determine which one you should go for.
Hop into our macro vs. micro-influencer marketing guide!
Micro-influencers vs Macro-influencers for marketing
Who Are Micro-Influencers?
Micro-influencers are social media content creators who stick to a particular niche or topic. They share their views, opinions, and recommendations about niche-related products or services with their followers.
The spectrum of followers for micro-influencers is quite broad. It lies somewhere between 10-100 thousand.
And because their content is niche-oriented, micro-influencers are considered to be experts in their fields. This means whatever these influencers post, the audience trusts it because they know it’s coming from an expert.
But every coin has two faces. Let’s look at some of the pros and cons of using micro-influencers for your campaigns.
Pros of Choosing Micro-Influencers
Credibility
We have already mentioned that the audience of micro-influencers trust them because they’re experts in the field. And the other major reason for this credibility is that the audience can relate to their content.
Let’s say someone’s (micro-influencer) hobby is fishing, and they have used gear from various companies. When they post reviews about these gears, the audience will trust them as they know it’s the experience talking.
Highly-Targeted Niche Audiences
Micro-influencers have highly-targeted niche audiences. Let’s say if someone is posting fishing-related content consistently, then people who are interested in fishing are most likely to follow them. A fishing gears brand can reach out to such an audience to target a very specific audience.
Good Engagement Rates
Because the audience can relate to the content and influencers themselves, they engage heavily with the content. They ask questions in the comment regarding products, ask for tips, and much more.
Here are some noteworthy statistics:
- Campaigns with micro-influencers produce a 60% higher engagement rate compared to macro-influencers.
- They cost almost seven times lower per engagement.
- They produce 22 times more weekly conversations.
Availability
Micro-influencers are almost available for their clients and audience. They consistently engage with the audience in the comment section, clearing all their doubts. Moreover, they attend events to further push the brand and product they are working with.
Cons of Choosing Micro-Influencers
Limited Reach
Micro-influencers have a small audience which leads to limited reach. They might not be the best option for you if your goal is to spread brand awareness.
Difficult to Identify
Finding a micro-influencer whose audience aligns with your goals is an arduous task. You also have to ensure their content is good quality, has a high engagement rate, and is affordable. All these factors in a single influencer — tough job!
Decreasing Content Quality
The demand for influencers is increasing rapidly. And micro-influencers tend to work with multiple brands at once. And they sometimes end up compromising the content quality in a bid to keep all their clients happy.
Fake Followers
In a bid to collaborate with brands, some micro-influencers use unscrupulous means. They buy fake followers. And though the follower count becomes relatively large, the engagement remains very low. You are better off without such influencers.
What Are Macro-Influencers?
Unlike micro-influencers, macro-influencers are well-known by social media users. They’re household names or some celebrity. They have a large follower base, ranging from 100k to even millions.
They are the ones who set the trends on social media. The same trends that micro-influencers follow to promote your brand and products. However, the audience demographics of these influencers are quite diverse, so targeting a particular set of audiences becomes difficult.
The growth rate of macro-influencers in terms of followers and collaboration is consistent. But if they don’t have another title (celebrity, TV actor, author, etc.) attached to them, then their connection with the audience is fragile, leading to a low engagement rate.
That said, let’s look at some pros and cons of choosing macro-influencers.
Pros of Choosing Micro-Influencers
High Reach
Macro-influencers are an excellent option for brands who want to improve their brand awareness. These influencers can reach a broad audience with just one post. Their reach is 22 times more than that of micro-influencers.
Professionalism
Most of the macro-influencers are managed by agencies that are very professional in the way they deal with brand collaborations. They have some set “terms and conditions,” and if both parties agree, the deal goes smoothly.
Brand Exclusivity
Macro-influencers bring brand exclusivity. They’ll work for you for a fixed time where they’ll not collaborate with any of your competitors. And the collaboration will make your brand appear cool and credible to the influencer’s audience.
Less Risky
As we mentioned, micro-influencers can have fake followers. But that’s not the case with Macro-influencers. They are genuinely popular because of their career and guarantee a good campaign reach.
Cons of Choosing Micro-Influencers
Lack of Trust Among Audience
The audience finds it difficult to trust macro-influencers. It’s because most of the recommendations are staged. They feel that the influencer is only promoting the product for the money, and it might not be worth buying. The lack of a personal angle is also a significant factor in this lack of trust.
High Charges
These influencers charge pretty high because of their popularity and name in the market. The cost per post depends on the influencer, the platform, and the size of the audience promised by them.
Inaccessibility
Due to the fact that macro-influencers are managed by talent managers, it can be hard to get them on a call. They get multiple requests for collaboration, and the brand has to really stand out to their attention.
Irrelevance
A lot of time, macro-influencers promote products that do not fit in their niche. And these campaigns act as just another ad because it’s irrelevant to the audience.
One such influencer marketing example is when David Beckham collaborated with AIA Hong Kong in the “What’s your Why?” campaign. The audience didn’t find it relevant, resulting in a lower engagement rate.
Micro vs. Macro Influencers: Key Differences Between the Two
There’s a huge difference between how micro and macro-influencers operate, cost, and produce returns. This sends marketers into a dilemma over which one of these two they should work with. From a distance, macro-influencers might appear to be more effective, given their huge following and wide reach. But things are not that straightforward.
Here are some parameters that’ll help you determine the winner of “Macro vs. Micro-Influencers” for your brand:
Macro vs. Micro-Influencers: Engagement
Micro-influencers have a significantly higher engagement rate across social media platforms. According to a report, micro-influencers generate 7x more engagement compared to macro-influencers.
And not just a high engagement rate, micro-influencers are also the fastest-growing category of influencers. On the face of it, the lack of followers might put you in doubt. But they are only followed by the users who are genuinely interested in their content, which pretty much makes up for the low follower count.
Moreover, a stat also claims that the engagement rate of social media influencers decreases with the increase in followers.
Let’s check ourselves!
Here’s the social media account of Komal Pandey, an India-based fashion influencer. She has over 1.8 million followers on Instagram.
If you check her profile, her likes count ranges somewhere around 70k to 100k. Here’s one of her posts where she got around 65k likes.
Having 65k likes on a post is not a small number, mind you. But if we compare it to her follower count, the number of likes is only 3.6 percent.
Komal Pandey is a macro-influencer. Let’s look at a micro-influencer from the same region and industry. Soundarya Thakur has 151k followers, and her posts generate 10k to 15k likes.
Here’s one of her recent posts that generated over 10.6k likes. This is quite low compared to the number of likes that Komal’s post generated.
But this result flips as soon as we compare the ratio of like to followers. Soundarya (micro-influencer) has more than 7% likes with respect to a 151k follower count.
This was just one of the countless examples of micro-influencers having more engagement than macro-influencers.
Macro vs. Micro-Influencers: Reach
Reach is where micro-influencers don’t even come close to macro-influencers. Macro-influencers can reach hundreds of thousands of social media users with just one post.
This gives them the power to convey a brand’s message to a large target audience. If you want to gain the same reach with micro-influencers, you’ll have to partner with a lot of them.
So for brands who intend to use influencer marketing for brand awareness and increase visibility, then macro-influencers are the better choice.
Macro vs. Micro-Influencers: Affordability
Macro-influencers offer a magnificent amount of reach. But despite that, the cost of working with them does not always fit in the budget of startups and small businesses.
The New York Times published a report that said Youtube influencers with 3-7M followers charge $187,500 per video. Instagram influencers with the same number of followers charge somewhere around $75,000 per post.
But in the case of micro-influencers, the cost of an influencer marketing campaign is pretty low. For an Instagram or Facebook post, more than 80% of micro-influencers charge under $250, which fits into the budget of almost every small business.
So what do these differences in cost tell you?
Let’s say an Instagram influencer with 500k followers charges you $1500 for one sponsored post. By paying the same price, you can work with 5-6 micro-influencers who have around 100k followers. You not only get the same reach, but because they are micro-influencers, the engagement rate will also be high.
Macro vs. Micro-Influencers: Relevance
One of the biggest benefits of working with micro-influencers is that their post reaches a highly-relevant audience, improving the ROI of your influencer marketing campaign.
Because they are followed by users who are actually interested in their content, therefore, they generate highly-qualified leads too. They make conversion easier for you compared to macro-influencers.
For example, if you’re a restaurant owner with a high budget and want to promote the place and the menu, collaborating with someone like Amanda Cerny (actress) or Jordan Peterson (Author) would be a huge mistake.
Their audience doesn’t follow them to see food or restaurant reviews. They follow them for completely different reasons. So the campaign will most likely be a failure.
Instead, you can collaborate with micro-influencers like Jack’s Dining Room. They don’t have as many followers, but all 6,708 of them follow the account to see food-related content. It’ll cost you way less and make your campaign a success.
Micro-Influencers vs. Macro-Influencers: Trust and Authenticity
According to a report by TapInfluence, influencer marketing campaigns generate 11 times more returns than traditional advertising. The reason it works so well is that customers trust other customers more than a brand when it comes to making purchase decisions.
When influencers reach the macro level, they become somewhat of a celebrity. And brands have been using celebrity advertising for a decade. But now, it just doesn’t work like it used to. People are more likely to buy products that are endorsed by a non-celeb influencer.
However, this doesn’t imply that macro-influencers are inauthentic. They are still a better option than going with celebrities.
So both in terms of trust and authenticity, micro-influencers win the race!
Who Should You Work With?
Now, we have seen the pros, cons, and differences between macro and micro-influencer marketing. So which should you go with? The below factor in mind while picking one:
Consider brand goals
You need to consider what you want to gain out of the influencer marketing campaign.
You might want to increase the brand visibility, awareness, reach, or traffic. Or you might be looking for more conversions and sales.
Suppose it’s the former, then macro-influencer marketing is good for you. But if you want to drive more sales, then micro-influencer marketing will be a better option for you.
Keep your budget in mind
End of the day, even if you think macro-influencer marketing would be good for your brand’s success, but your budget doesn’t allow you, then there’s no other option.
So before you start shortlisting your influencers, know that your budget is one of the most critical factors that decide who you get to work with.
Consider your audience
You must consider the audience you want to target with your influencer marketing campaign.
If it’s a niche audience, for instance, painters, a micro-influencer will produce better results for you. It’s because when a painter sells to other painters, the conversation is more relatable. They know that it’s coming from a reliable source.
But let’s say you’ve just launched a beverage for all ages. Then what you want is brand awareness. If people don’t remember you, they won’t ever buy you. In such cases, macro-influencer marketing is a better option.
The Verdict on micro-influencers vs macro-influencers
In this blog, we discussed what micro and macro-influencers are. What are the pros and cons of macro vs. micro-influencer marketing, what are their differences, and who should you work with?
You have to know your audience. When you know who you want to target, you can pick the type of influencer that best hits the target. You also need to consider who’s more relatable for the audience.
With Radarr’s social listening feature, you can reach the influencers who are already talking about you. And by using sentiment analysis, you’ll be able to identify the ones who are sharing positive reviews about you.
Want to know more about finding the right influencer for your campaign? Read Here!
