The Rise of Nano-Influencers

Today’s social media environment is saturated with sponsorships, advertisements, and brand endorsements. It’s easy to find yourself wondering if the product that your favorite Instagram influencer is constantly promoting is really all that life-changing, or if it’s just paying them a pretty penny. With brands searching for a more relatable and approachable outlet to help promote their products, so begins the rise of Instagram nano-influencers.

Nano-influencers are defined as having an audience base between 1,000 and 5,000 followers. This smaller community allows nano-influencers to make a more meaningful impact in key markets such as fashion, food, or lifestyle while yielding significantly higher engagement rates than your standard verified influencers. According to a Digiday survey, nano-influencers can engage up to 8% of the audience, which is double compared to influencers with up to 10,000 followers who engage about 4% of their audience.

Small but Mighty

In addition to delivering higher engagement rates, nano-influencers are more cost effective for brands who are in the initial phase of testing an influencer marketing initiative as part of the overall marketing strategy. Not all brands can afford major influencers like Kylie Jenner, who charge anywhere up $1 million dollars for one Instagram post. Nano-influencers often require little to no monetary compensation and typically favor collaborating with brands for free products or perks.

Numbers aside, nano-influencers are in the early stages of launching their digital presence which presents a unique perspective and approach to brand collaborations. These influencers aren’t using social media to make a living, they are fresh-faced and eager to work with brands. This new-found excitement for paving their own way and make a mark within the social media space creates a willingness to over deliver for brands they work with. There is a huge payoff to this passion, with influencers generating more branded content for a longer period of time, expanding awareness for their brand partners.

Although small, nano-influencers can be very mighty in reach. This potential has sparked action from major brands like Clean and Clear who have designed campaigns around emerging influencers. Last year, Clean and Clear targeted teens through a series of videos featuring everyday teens with a growing community of followers. Designed to spark meaningful conversation, Clean and Clear’s nano-influencer strategy highlighted the voices of real teens, creating a space for authentic stories to be shared and celebrated. This fresh take on content generated a 19 percent increase in sales at the conclusion of the campaign and created a lasting impression on one of Clean and Cleer’s key audiences.

Unleashing the Power

Here at GreenRoom, we understand the power of influencers and their impact on building dynamic brand stories. We implemented this social media strategy to help expand the reach of our audio client Cleer into new, untapped markets. Instead of building a campaign with marquee influencers, we opted to promote Cleer’s products using a local fitness influencer and gym owner, Justin Azzey. With just under 3,000 followers and deep ties within the community, his reach in the fitness realm proved to be a strategic asset for growing our brand’s health and wellness audience. We were able to engage potential Cleer users in a more organic way, increasing our following on Instagram and engaging with users in new markets.

The success of nano-influencers is tied to the most powerful marketing tool of all time: word-of-mouth. When someone you trust and identify with recommends a product, you’re much more likely to trust the brand which leads to you buying their products and supporting their mission. Nano-influencers are doing just that, building trustworthy relationships with their followers and allowing brands to penetrate their target audience with more ease, changing the way brands and agencies view influencers.

Always remember, when it comes to influencers, less really is more.