What Do Micro-Influencers Want?
An In-Depth Look at the Desires of Today’s Tastemakers
Influencers (used here interchangeably with the word creators) have become today’s trendsetters and opinion makers, prized for their creativity, expertise, and unique points of view. YouTube now hosts some of the most innovative shows around, and beauty, fashion, and lifestyle influencers are the digital era’s answer to women’s magazines. YouTube tutorials have even replaced traditional methods of learning a new skill.
I recently researched what is most important to micro-influencers, defined here as creators with 10,000–200,000 followers. Within that range, I surveyed verticals ranging from cryptocurrency tutorials to parenting vloggers to beauty experts. Here are influencers’ top social media goals:
Over 75% of micro-influencers are searching for a better way to make consistent income and monetize efficiently.
1) Over 75% of micro-influencers are searching for a better way to make consistent income and monetize efficiently. Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to generate income directly or easily on social media; even amounts made on YouTube can be painfully small — as little as $1 per 1,000 views. Currently, there are several solutions for influencers who are looking to earn money from their content:
- Third-party platforms which offer a way for fans to support creators and purchase tiered content.
- Influencer-designed products. Influencer-designed products can be quite popular with fans. Take the Bad Yogi, Erin Motz, who has some 42,000 Instagram followers and 55,000 YouTube subscribers, and sells branded apparel. For most micro-influencers, though, creating products can be an inefficient use of time due to their relatively small potential market, and it remains to be seen if micro-influencer-designed products are an effective business model.
- Advertisements or sponsorships. Influencers can also be tapped as brand ambassadors. While many creators enjoy this sort of support, a vocal minority dislike being dependent on third-party sponsorships. Plus, several have reported spending too much time managing the influencer marketing platforms, with an ROI too low to always make it worth their while.
2) Creators love building communities. Influencers’ social media pages are hubs for like-minded people around the globe. Instagram and YouTube are popular platforms where fans can easily respond and react to influencers’ content and one another’s comments. Still, there is no such thing as “one size fits all.” (Even Nas Daily, a major influencer, famously eschews YouTube in favor of Facebook in order to better connect with his fans around the world).
Social media isn’t currently designed to facilitate direct, private communication — as the name suggests, it’s made for social sharing. Fans may send their favorite creator a question, only to hear the response in a public YouTube video, if at all: micro-influencers receive hundreds if not thousands of comments for each post, and are unable to answer them all.
3) Micro-influencers need a better way connect with their fans on an individual level. Creators put their blood, sweat, and tears into their channels and work hard 24/7, always learning and constantly thinking about new ideas. For some, social media blossomed out of a personal passion, whereas for others, social media became a natural extension of their day jobs.
Regardless of how they developed their followings, the vast majority of creators feel a very powerful bond with their fans. Fans are also eager to connect with their favorite creators more deeply and personally. Despite a desire on both ends to build a stronger connection, influencers of all sizes report being unable to stay on top of all their fans’ comments and questions. Some creators can afford to hire assistants. However, this comes at the cost of potentially sacrificing their personal connection with their fans.
4) Micro-influencers want to increase fan engagement, which allows them to strengthen their relationship with their followers while simultaneously commanding higher rates from advertisers. Companies will typically prefer to work with influencers with high fan engagement rather than basing their decisions purely on the number of followers. Fan engagement is actually something that micro-influencers excel in, but this intimacy is hard to maintain as their followings grow.
In recent years, social media has exploded, becoming the place where people can express their creativity, share ideas, give and receive advice, and build a community. Unfortunately, social media platforms overall have not kept up with the growing needs of micro-influencers and their fans who would benefit from a streamlined solution for connecting with and supporting one another.
