🎓 Micro-influencers drive more sales (+ a surprise 🔥)

If your product is hedonic (e.g. fashion, high-end electronics), promoted posts from small influencers (10k to 100k followers) drive more sales than those of large ones (>1m followers).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                [🎓 Micro-influencers drive more sales (+ a surprise 🔥)]( If your product is hedonic (e.g. fashion, high-end electronics), promoted posts from small influencers (10k to 100k followers) drive more sales than those of large ones (>1m followers). [Thomas McKinlay]( Dec 14 [Comment]( [Share]( New to [Ariyh](? Join 7,592 evidence-based marketers for 3min insights 💡 based on research 🎓 to grow your business 📈 If you find these insights useful please share them with your colleagues and friends, Ariyh grows thanks to you! [Subscribe now]( 📣 Launching today Ariyh is a place where experienced marketers hone their skills to the frontiers of knowledge. You are ambitious evidence-based marketers who deliver results, not fluff. 91.7% of you have some level of on-the-job marketing experience, with 66.4% of you comfortably able to execute advanced marketing campaigns*. At the same time, many of you are managers of large or small teams, CMOs, CEOs, and startup founders. You are looking for exceptional marketing talent that is very hard to find, especially in these times. But this talent is right here among Ariyh’s 7,592 evidence-based marketers. 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It might have some [response bias]( but hey what can you do ;) **Prices at launch are $115 for a standard posting and $295 for a premium one (featured in the newsletter). Use the coupon HIRING by the 9th of January for 20% off. --------------------------------------------------------------- 📝 Intro Influencer marketing agencies have published quite a few content marketing pieces that claim that micro-influencers are more effective than macro-influencers (e.g. [this article on Forbes]( or [this one on Adweek](). Of course, it’s clearly in their interest to say that - and we have no certainty about the quality of the stats they provide. But hey, just because it’s sketchy data doesn’t always mean it’s wrong. Here’s what the peer-reviewed scientific evidence shows (spoiler: they were partially right). P.S.: Talking about influencers, remember that [storytelling friend-like influencers are better at driving sales](. --------------------------------------------------------------- Previous insight: [High referral rewards = worse customers]( (100+ more insights [here]() Micro-influencers drive more hedonic products sales than macro-influencers Impacted metrics: Customer acquisition Channels: Influencer marketing For: B2C. Can be tested for B2B Research date: October 2021 📈 Recommendation If your product is hedonic (e.g. fashion, high-end electronics, premium hotels, restaurants), micro-influencers are more effective at increasing sales than mega-influencers. If your product is utilitarian (e.g. basic kitchen appliances, motels), the influencer’s size doesn’t matter. 🎓 Findings - Micro-influencers (10k to 100k followers) are more persuasive than mega-influencers (more than 1m followers) when they promote products. - The effect only works if the product is hedonic (e.g. a decorative candle) or described as hedonic (focus on the experience and emotions it gives). There is no difference between influencer following sizes if the product is utilitarian (e.g. an insect-repellent candle). - For example, as part of 4 experiments, people - Rated a hot chocolate from Dunkin’ Donuts 11.9% better and said they were 13.3% more likely to buy it when they were told the fictional influencer promoting it had 64,100 followers (vs 6.4 million followers). - Said they were 41.1% more likely to buy a coffee maker that was described as hedonic (“A fancy high-end coffee maker, but hard to use”) if it was promoted by a micro(vs mega)-influencer. There was no difference if the same coffee maker was advertised as utilitarian (“Basic, easy-to-use, reliable coffee maker”) People’s intention to buy when shown a post promoting chocolate (hedonic) or bottled water (utilitarian) on the Instagram accounts of [@negin_mirsalehi]( (mega-influencer) or [@hellorigby]( (micro-influencer) --------------------------------------------------------------- New here? Subscribe for the latest marketing research 💡 from top business schools 🎓 in 3min practical insights 📈 [Subscribe now]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🧠 Why it works - We perceive micro-influencers as more authentic (i.e. original and genuine) than mega-influencers. - That feeling spills over to the product being promoted. - When the brand of a product is more authentic and feels like “the real thing” we like it more and are more likely to buy it. ✋ Limitations - The researchers did not analyze nano-influencers (less than 10,000 followers) or macro-influencers (between 100,000 and 1 million followers). It’s unclear how authentic each of those feel, but it’s likely a spectrum of fewer followers = more authentic, more followers = less authentic. - This study only looks at the impact of influencers’ follower size on their perceived authenticity, on average. Influencers have different relationships with their audiences and can be more or less authentic no matter their size. - The analysis focused on Instagram. Other platforms were not directly tested. 🏢 Companies using this - Plenty of companies, typically smaller brands, work with micro-influencers. For example: - [@didieryhc]( has promoted [Van Houtte Coffee]( - [@nnekaj]( has promoted [Hanahana Beauty]( - Occasionally, large companies collaborate with micro-influencers. For example: - [@miettedierckxhas]( promoted Coca-Cola ⚡ Steps to implement - If your product is hedonic or you describe it as hedonic, choose the influencers you will work with based on your campaign objectives. - If you are looking to simply grow awareness, working with mega-influencers may still be the easiest option. - If you are looking to grow sales or improve perceptions of your product, micro-influencers are more effective. --------------------------------------------------------------- 🔍 Study type Lab and online experiment 📖 Research Park, J., Lee, J. M., Xiong, V. Y., Septianto, F., & Seo, Y. (October 2021). David and Goliath: When and Why Micro-Influencers Are More Persuasive Than Mega-Influencers. Journal of Advertising. [[Link to paper](] 🏫 Affiliations Sungkyunkwan University, University of Auckland, and University of Queensland. South Korea, New Zealand, and Australia Remember: This is a new scientific discovery. In the future it will probably be better understood and could even be proven wrong (that’s [how science works](). It may also not be generalizable to your situation. If it’s a risky change, always test it on a small scale before rolling it out widely. --------------------------------------------------------------- 🔥 Featured hand-picked jobs A selection of the best of the best marketing opportunities out there. - ColorElephant - [Product Marketing Manager]( (Remote) - Amenitiz - [Head of Content]( (Barcelona) - Lean Labs - [Head of Growth Marketing]( (Remote) - SUKU - [Product Marketing Specialist]( (Remote or Miami) - Thinknum - [Growth Marketer]( (New York City) - Aryel - [Marketing Manager]( (Milan) View other hand-picked marketing roles, or post your own, on [Ariyh’s Job Board](. --------------------------------------------------------------- Rate today’s insight to help me make Ariyh's next insights 🎓 even more useful 📈 How was today’s insight? 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