Micro v. Macro: Why Follower Count Doesn’t Define Success

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Overview

New social media influencers surface every day harvesting the reach of traditional advertising campaigns within a single post. Brands aim to utilize the influence and credibility of these content creators to promote their products and reach their target audiences.

Since influencer marketing experienced exponential growth following the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, leading brands adapted by integrating social media influencers into their marketing approach. Influencer marketing is now seen as a vital, common marketing tool with 89% of marketers planning to invest in or maintain their influencer marketing efforts in 2023. The U.S. influencer market has reached $16.4 billion to date!

Brands must prioritize influencer marketing as a key strategy to effectively target the Millennial and Gen-Z demographics because they are the most active on social media. In fact, 2023 studies show that 50% of Millennials trust product recommendations from influencers and 33% of Gen Z-ers purchased an influencer’s recommended product within 3 months of the study.

At its core, this marketing strategy uses content creators’ credibility and authenticity, combined with their relationship to their followers to reach a brand’s target consumer and persuade them to purchase.

So, how do we choose the most impactful content creators to reach our marketing goals? While many brands look to follower count as a primary metric for measuring an influencer's reach, this approach can be misleading and overlook the true impact of a creator's content. In this article, we'll explore why follower count is not a reliable metric for determining influence and provide alternative strategies for selecting creators who can drive real results for your brand. There are several factors to consider when choosing the appropriate partnership. For the sake of this blog, we will be looking at Micro and Macro influencers.

Macro Vs. Micro Influencers

Celebrity endorsements paved the way for influencer marketing creating the idea that follower count was of utmost importance. It was believed that a large following meant significant influence, but as social media became more widely used and content creators sprouted across different platforms, brand’s recognized the impact of every day influencers who might have a smaller audience. Marketing strategies turned from celebrity endorsements to creator focused marketing.

While brands typically lead with the “more followers, more engagement” mentality, micro influencers have stepped in to change the game as they offer brands the opportunity to run effective campaigns by leveraging a cohesive community of followers. Micro-influencers are often viewed as credible, authentic, and intimate than macro or celebrity influencers. Follower count ensures a wide reach; however, does not always translate credibility, quality of conversation, and engagement.

Macro

Macro influencers have a large following (>100,000) with potential for reaching a wider audience and generating more views and impressions per post. Brand awareness can be a huge advantage when leveraging larger platforms and the probability of virality increases due to reach. Macros are often viewed as having more experience with brand partnerships leading to higher quality of content and professionalism.

On the other hand, macro influencers require higher budgets. They are often managed by agencies which can result in higher rates compared to micro influencers. Additionally, as follower count increases, engagement tends to decrease due to a lack of ‘tight-knit’ community and connection. Also, with a larger following it is difficult for an influencer to foster personal relationships with their audience. If you have 2 million followers, you won’t have the time to respond to all the comments on your latest makeup routine reel.

Lastly, the wider the audience the less niche the community becomes, making it harder for brand’s to reach their desired consumer. Inherently, as follower count goes up, your audience is more diversified across different categories. For example a ‘food focused’ content creator in Texas may have started with a niche, local Texas audience, but over time has grown into national food followers, sports nuts, travelers, etc. This growth is not always ‘negative’. It can be beneficial for brands to reach audiences of all interests; however, depending on the objectives of the influencer campaign, a niche community may be better suited.

Micro

Micro influencers have a smaller following (<100,000) generating higher engagement, genuine connections, and consistent conversation all at a reasonable price. Micro-influencers generate up to 60% more engagement than macro influencers due to their ability to develop personal relationships and quality conversation with their followers. More active conversation translates to higher engagement. Followers are more likely to like, comment, and share micro influencers’ content when they feel this sense of trust and closeness with the influencer.

These creators are more relatable and similar to their followers, making them more trustworthy and genuine when sharing recommendations. Micro influencers are seen as trusted friends because of the absence of an unattainable popularity, endless resources, and fame that macro influencers portray. Often these creators focus on niche content curating an audience based on a specific interest allowing marketers to easily reach their target audience. Additionally, micro influencers are more budget friendly leaving room to invest resources into multiple creators as opposed to a single macro influencer.

On the other hand, micro influencers have fewer followers meaning a smaller reach. A creator with 5,000 followers will reach less users than a creator with 100,000 followers; however, quality can be more important than quantity when it comes to making a significant impact for your brand.

Factors to Consider

Audience

When utilizing influencers as a marketing avenue, a brand’s target audience should align with the influencer’s follower demographics. Essentially, this marketing strategy leverages a creator’s platform to reach a target audience; therefore, an important factor when choosing an influencer is paying close attention to the audience they reach. Look into brand preferences, gender, interests, age, etc. to determine whether your product or service would resonate well. If the product does not align with the audience’s interests, the content will not produce desired results.

Engagement

Follower count is less valuable if the audience is not liking, commenting, and sharing content. More active conversation means higher engagement. Due to micro influencers’ ability to foster personal conversation and relationships with their followers, their content typically produces higher engagement than macro influencers. Followers are more likely to engage with content when they feel this sense of trust and closeness.

Quality of Conversation

The quality of conversation between influencers and their followers is often more important than the quantity of viewers reached. A smaller audience allows micro influencers to engage in quality conversations about advice, product recommendations, and purchase consideration. Macro-influencers have less opportunity to participate in these conversations and connections with their audience due to a higher following. Do you think Kim Kardashian is taking the time to answer makeup technique questions on her latest post? Likely not.

Authenticity

Does this influencer actually care about your product/brand? Or are they simply doing this partnership for the money? VizSense strives to work with influencers who prefer to only work with brands that they and their followers would buy from. Find influencers that know their audience, engage with them in the comments, and have a healthy mix of organic and paid content. Those are the influencers that often produce the best results when partnered with a brand that is authentic to their platform.

Goal of a campaign

It is important to keep in mind the goal of an influencer marketing campaign when selecting creators. If the goal of the campaign is to reach as many people as possible, a macro influencer-focused campaign would be the appropriate choice. If the goal of a campaign is to increase purchase intent among niche audiences while generating long-term fans, micro-influencers would be a more effective route.

Key Takeaway

Whether it be macro or micro influencers, follower count is not the only component that matters. A multitude of factors go into determining the right type of influencer for a campaign. A good understanding of audience, engagement, quality of conversation, authenticity, and the goal of a campaign is essential when crafting your influencer marketing strategy.

How VizSense Can Help

In our experience, micro-influencers tend to provide high engagement and significant impact on purchase intentions and brand awareness. At VizSense, we specialize in the micro approach to influencer marketing campaigns, yet also tap into the macro sphere when it makes sense. We believe in the importance of honing in on the authenticity, credibility, and meaningful conversations that occur on an influencer’s platform regardless of follower count. To learn more about how VizSense can help you with your influencer marketing approach, get in touch with our experts or check out our case study library!