How an Awful Ikea Mattress Changed Our Marketing Strategy
Last week we were excited to order a mattress from Ikea. The reviews were great; Ikea has lots of customers. The bed was supposed to be made of latex and was medium firm, perfect for my young-aged back that needed just the right amount of support. The bed was supposed to contour perfectly to my body.
Instead, I open my package and find the most sorry excuse for a mattress I have ever seen in my life. It felt like a prison bed disguised in Ikea sophistication. Ikea wouldn’t take it back, claiming it was our error. So we decided to reach out to 4Sleep to see if they could do something about our awful experience.
4Sleep didn’t have as big of a following or as established of a customer base as Ikea, but they knew that if they worked with us, we would spread the word about them and help get them more customers. They stood behind the quality of their product and we got a brand new mattress, soft like a cloud, from 4Sleep for free that I am now writing this article comfortably resting on.
So what does this mattress have to do with our marketing strategy? Well think of it this way. On Instagram, there’s a sea of influencers that we can work with to promote our brand. Instagram has the Ikeas and the 4Sleeps. They range from big to small, some with audiences in the millions and some with more modest followings in the tens of thousands.
Large influencers with follower counts in the millions call for an average of $50,000 per sponsored post. When you put all your marketing budget into one audience; a portion of them like your product, and you get brand exposure and conversions. This is still a risky strategy though. You can put all your budget into one post sponsored by a celebrity, but how do you know you will get the kind of results you expect?
You have a second less risky option. You can contact multiple smaller micro influencers and overall have a much more diverse strategy. Here’s why microinfluencers can be better for your brand:
Microinfluencers have much better engagement rates
Marketing firm Markerly found that with increasing follower rate, the percentage of engagement decreases
Experticity found that micro-influencers actually have 22.2 times more conversations than typical Instagram users because they’re more passionate and knowledgeable about a particular interest area. Thus, they are more engaged with their audiences already.
They’re much more targeted
Think about it this way. Imagine you are promoting a new diet pill through a celebrity. That celebrity may have a huge following, but not all their followers are going to be interested in weight-loss products. However, a microinfluencer that focuses specifically on her weight loss and fitness journey is more likely to have a much more engaged audience that would be interested in the same product.
They are more authentic
Micro-influencers are more likely to be real people who take time out of their busy days to post content that excites them. This is unlike celebrities who probably have social media managers. Followers are more likely to thus follow their recommendations.
They’re more affordable
Some celebrities charge up to $50,000 for promoting a single product. In contrast, micro-influencers charge $500 or less per post. Some brands work with up to 100, increasing their reach while still maintaining the engagement that’s brought to them by micro-influencers. In fact, just like we were able to get a free bed from 4Sleep, some microinfluencers will even work with you for free if you give them a sample of your product. La Croix did the same thing with their marketing strategy earlier this year.
When it comes to your Instagram strategy, it’s hard to say for certain which would work better for you. That would depend largely on what you’re trying to promote. A more mass marketable item such as a certain food or a drink may in fact work better in connection to larger influencers. But if you’re selling something more targeted, such as a cat toy, it may be better to go towards an influencer that caters to an audience that has their own felines.
Thanks for reading Mark Growth! If you’re having trouble with a terrible mattress, too, it may be time to get yourself a brand new mattress.
