Working with micro-influencers is the new black. Everyone is doing this but should you?

When it comes to planning an influencer marketing campaign, there are different factors to consider: who is your target audience, does the content quality of an influencer meet your expectations, are your brand values aligned with the influencer’s tone and voice, what social media platform are available, have you researched the cultural and local specifics, etc.

And on top of all these questions, you also have a choice between working with macro-influencers, who have massive reach, or micro-influencers, who have a niche audience.

What’s the difference between macro- and micro-influencers?

The difference between the two is in the number of followers.

Depending on the social media platform, micro-influencers usually have between 10,000 and 100,000 followers while macro-influencers can have up to 1,000,000 subscribers.

But these two tiers are not of the same size. According to Statista, only 24% of Instagram profiles have more than 100,000 followers. 67% (more than double!) have 1,000-100,000 followers.

Since there are fewer macro-influencers, they tend to be in higher demand compared to micro-influencers. That’s why there are higher costs and competition in macro-influencer marketing.

Why do brands choose macro-influencers?

Working with macro-influencers has several benefits:

• Macro-influencers usually have a team and, as the result, more resources to polish their videos, photos, texts, etc. That’s why their production is usually of high quality.
• Macro-influencers know the advertising industry. There are probably many brands reaching out to them which means that they already know what it’s like to work with a brand on an advertising campaign.
• Macro-influencers can help you reach a wide audience. If your goal is to increase brand awareness, they are your go-to partners who have hundreds of thousands of followers.

Why do brands choose micro-influencers?

Micro-influencers don’t have as many followers as macro-influencers do but they are also very popular among brands of different sizes:

• Micro-influencers don’t have a team of professionals working on their content. Their content is usually perceived as more authentic and has higher engagement rates.
• Micro-influencers don’t have agents and a long list of brands reaching out to them. This shortens the negotiation process and opens doors for exclusive partnerships.
• Micro-influencers have a community of loyal followers and established authority in their industry. This makes it easier for brands to reach even a very niche market through partnering with a micro-influencer.

There are different ways to categorize influencers in tiers but based on our experience, we recommend brands to partner with micro-influencers who have between 5,000 and 50,000 followers. This size helps to maximize engagement rates and focus on a specific target audience.

Should your brand partner with micro- or macro-influencers?

As you can see, working with macro- and micro-influencers has different benefits: it all depends on what your goal is. But we recommend a balanced approach: partnering with influencers from both tiers can help bring better results for your campaign.

If this sounds overwhelming, you can also consider involving an agency. Outsourcing influencer marketing can help you not only maximize your marketing efforts but also let you focus on other tasks.