Why Nano-Influencers are the Friends to Have
Influencer: an ever-changing concept based on collective desires and ambitions, interests and even fantasy.
At its best, an Influencer is one who embodies the values and practices that we idealize as goals for our own lives. In the age of social media, this term has expanded and been given new life, as our exposure to different walks of life has grown 100-fold over the last 15 years. Originally a subtitle to celebrity, the term Influencer has grown to incorporate people from different lifestyles, creative practices/mediums, spiritualities, hobbies and more. On top of this, the notion of “influence” has subsequently evolved into a hierarchical pyramid, the smallest & top section containing those with the widest reach, while the bottom – the Nano-Influencers, make up the largest portion of this demographic.
What are Nano-Influencers?
Calculations from Planoly estimate that by 2022, Influencer marketing will be a $15 billion dollar industry.
Their study acknowledges the following as the categorizations of Influencers:
- Nano-Influencer: 1-10K Followers
- Micro-Influencer: 10-50K Followers
- Mid-Tier Influencer: 50-500K Followers
- Macro-Influencer: 500K-1M Followers
- Mega-Influencer: 1M-5M Followers
Based in the above categorizations, they calculate that:
- 85% of influencers have between 1000 and 20000 followers.
- Nano-Influencers have, on average, a 7% engagement rate (highest of all of the influencer categories!)
- There are 3x as many Nano-Influencers as there are Mega-Influencers (1-5M Followers).
Whereas the largest price tags for product features and endorsements come from the small top of the Influencer pyramid, the widest reach (& thus largest market base) come from the Influencers with 1,000 to 10,000 followers (the bottom of the pyramid). Concurrently, these are the people with the more vast local reach and social capital. The Nano-Influencer is the aspirational figure that is also approachable and relatable, innovative and creative, avant-garde, if you will.
Why Nano-Influencers Make Great Community Partners
If you haven’t already caught my drift (or read the title of this blog post), Nano-Influencers are certainly the friends to have. Their value is unmatched, even by the Mega-Influencers who are more household names. The locality that the Nano-Influencer possesses gives them access to their communities which can transfer into growth for your market-base and/or audience. Especially if you’re interested in word-of-mouth marketing, Nano-Influencers have a touch that seems less like an endorsement and more like a testimonial.
We all have experience with being or interacting with someone who’s always a step ahead, in the trends of the time. To us, they’re ordinary people with families and community ties. They have first-degree connections with the majority of their followers. These are the people that are well known within the niches of their communities. This gives them influence. Impact, on a deeper level, due to their social proximity to their peers. These are friends and family whom you actually know and are able to quickly provide 1-on-1 feedback and interaction with their base.
As humans, we trust based on familiarity. Because of this, word-of-mouth marketing has immense social impact, as audience members relate endorsement of a product or cause with our direct bond with the Nano-Influencer who introduces the concept to said audience member.
Budgeting for Nani-Influencers
This approach has a profound budget impact as well, for brands and organizations. The same budget spend is able to be spread among more individuals, with loyal bases, rather than singularly invested towards an endorsement from one celebrity. More diverse audience bases are able to be reached, as brands are able to target Nano-Influencers of different niches and communities.
Benefits of Nano-Influencers
Beyond the easily visible reasons, there are a few key points to why collaborating with Nano-Influencers is a wise decision:
- They are easy to work with
- Because they aren’t aiming to be professional influencers, they’re probably not engaging in intense growth-techniques, nor high-price tags for collaboration
- They aren’t stressed about the numbers, but are more so focused on engagement
- They are great for market-research
- It’s less forced advertising, and more people making recommendations on social media, which is – in fact – the purpose of social media.
- Because they aren’t aiming to be professional influencers, they’re probably not engaging in intense growth-techniques, nor high-price tags for collaboration
- They actually engage with their followers, in real-life
- They are authentic, and only promote what they actually use
- They are open to long-term, evolving partnerships with brands
Yes, another categorization in the social media world. Quite a lot of information to incorporate into your current social media strategies. However, knowledge is power, and knowing who you’re working with, along with what their reach and impact are, equip you to market in an efficient and effective, community-oriented way. Meaning it’s worth the investment to have such friends.