Micro influencers have been getting more media attention in recent months, and for good reason. In our opinion, micro influencers are the most interesting and effective creators for most brands to partner with — particularly when it comes to micro influencers on Instagram.
These small but mighty influencers are often masterful at creating top-quality content and navigating the different elements of branded campaigns.
For brands who want to promote themselves through Instagram, however, the real value of finding the right micro influencer has everything to do with how they view — and value — their audience.
Let’s dive deeper into why micro influencers on Instagram, work so well for brand collaborations.
Micro Influencers’ ‘Sweet Spot’ Audience Size
At Sway Group, we define micro influencers as creators with a following between 10,000 and 100,000 on any given platform.
In this realm, we find that creators have worked hard to develop their own brand through compelling storytelling and engaging content.
They tend to feel comfortable in their social media presence and content niche, but even more importantly, they have built up meaningful relationships with their audience over time.
The more intimate audience connections offered by micro influencers often produce superior results to macro/celebrity endorsements. Their content is more relatable, reflecting a ‘just like us’’ mentality that provides credibility (and influence!) when it comes to sharing about products and services that are meaningful to them.
Micro influencers tend to work in tandem with their followers, developing content that is not only important to them as creators but that they also know will resonate with their audience.
Micros Offer More Real-Life Authenticity
Another unique benefit of working with micro influencers is that many of them have created a brand that genuinely encompasses all elements of who they are as a creator. To that end, they often feel comfortable sharing realistic sneak peeks into their lives that refreshingly pull back the curtain on heavily stylized, curated Instagram content.
Micro influencers frequently use Instagram’s Stories and Instagram Reels feature to be more real with their audience and share intimate behind-the-scenes moments and emotions. These creators provide a more genuine and relatable vibe for their followers, which adds to their overall ability to highlight brand collaborations through the lens of relatability.
A micro-sized social media influencer also offers far more targeting capabilities than a macro level account with sprawling audience numbers.
Influencers at the macro and celebrity levels tend to be much more focused on maintaining their content aesthetic — if they’re even personally managing their account at all. It’s well worth noting that as an influencer’s follower count rises, their rate of engagement decreases.
For brands that want to drive awareness and action with influencer content that’s more realistic, more meaningful to audiences, and ultimately more effective, micro creators are the way to go.
Micros Are Actually Marketers
Influencers at the micro level have often worked hard to cultivate an audience that cares, and many of them also understand the nuances of working with brands and networks.
Micro influencers typically aren’t brand new to paid partnerships: they tend to be familiar with post instructions and requirements as well as campaign workflows that can involve last-minute pivots.
The personal connections many micro influencers have built with their followers give them a unique understanding of what they know will do well with their audience. In fact, micros often are the ones who have the best perspective of how a brand can come to life on their feed.
At Sway Group, we advise clients to allow for creative flexibility in campaign messaging. By giving micro influencers the space to do what they do best, brands are tapping into a wealth of incredibly targeted audience expertise.
Sway Network Influencers In Action
Take a look at just a handful of micro influencers from our network that really hit the mark when it comes to influencer marketing:
Chante_AllDay
Spinachandbacon
Tiffanymamone
Fareisle
ThatsbriannabMicro Influencers on Instagram & Sway Group
For over ten years, Sway Group has been delivering best-in-class influencer campaigns for our clients, which have been shown to yield up to 3x the industry engagement rate.
We’re known for our ability to identify organic alignments between influencer, audience, and brand, and incorporating micro influencers on a wide variety of platforms is absolutely instrumental to the work that we produce.
Want to learn more about working with micro influencers? Contact us today, we’d love to share what we can do for you.
