Micro-Influencers Are The Driving Force; Embrace Them Or Die

Brands, especially in Kenya are obsessed with the “number of followers” in determining who they should work with when it comes to the amplification of their products and service. They give no damn to what one can offer if he or she does not have “numbers.”

Numbers are king. I agree. Am not disputing that. But when it comes to “choosing influencers” and on who to work with, numbers in terms of followers tend to work backward. This is confusing but if you have the patience of reading this piece, you will get the gist.

Before choosing an influencer, first, understand who is an influencer. Who is an influencer? A person or group of people able to influence a decision or tailor a conversation towards a certain subject are influencers. This is with or without huge followers.

Who is a micro-influencer? Micro-influencers are personalities on social media with the following of between 1,000 and 50,000 who are able to steer the conversation around diverse subject matters, attracting high levels of engagement.

Many brands are looking to enhance their online presence and interaction with both potential and existing clients but have no idea who to work with. This role has in the past been played by celebrity influencers like Caroline Mutoko, Xtian Dela, and Eric Omondi to mention a few.

With the increasing number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) however, most of these may not have large budgets to hire established influencers such as those mentioned. How then do these brands remain competitive with the ever-changing digital marketing trends in Kenya?

When you look at conversations across your timeline, whether Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, there are a number of personalities who can help fill this gap. These are individuals whose content attracts a high number of comments, likes, and shares on a consistent basis.

What this means is that whatever content they publish on their platforms has a higher multiplier value, ensuring higher engagement and visibility. That’s where the gold is.

Micro-influencers build upon strong personal circles whom they are more likely to influence, banking on the trust that comes with knowing someone on a personal level.

Additionally, they aren’t necessarily celebrity status so their lives are more relatable to their target audience. Conversions are therefore obtained since the target market sees the micro-influencer as just like me.

Micro-influencers are however bound to break the micro shackles with time and become highly established influencers once they greatly increase their following while still meeting high engagement targets which act as negotiating cards with brands.

According to Qoints.com, micro-influencers are defined by the following key traits:

Size of following that ranges between 1, 000 to 100, 000

High engagement rates. According to AdWeek, “Engagement driven by micro-influencers are 60% higher and those campaigns are 6.7 times more efficient per engagement than influencers with larger followings”.

Micro-influencers drive focussed content, ideally within a singular discipline, compared to diverse content driven by established influencers

Micro-influencers are more relatable and genuine and are usually readily available to engage with their audience using retweets, comment replies, and reactions.

Micro-influencers are usually more affordable than their macro counterparts, operating within the budget of most SMEs.

At the same time, social commerce, a cross-integration of e-commerce within social media functionalities is expected to rise rapidly in the next few years, according to findings by Ogilvy Social Lab.

This even as social media consumers in Kenya increasingly become unresponsive to paid advertising on both digital and analog channels.

“Social media is already a key part of product discovery with over