Thanks to the ubiquity of smartphones and the increasing popularity of social media platforms across the digital landscape, advertising spending has shifted towards social influencers, creators, online publications, and celebrity endorsements. This new wave of content creators has secured the attention of every brand’s target audience.
The challenge for advertisers is figuring out how to navigate these uncharted waters in order to seize new opportunities by creating compelling content with top creators, engaging audiences on issues they are passionate about, and taking advantage of reliable social influencers and content solutions that deliver against their goals.
In recent years, we have witnessed the rise of online influencers who have progressed from a micro level by creating content that reflects their unique voice and resonates with their followers, catapulting them to internet celebrity status. However, delivering an authentic marketing message to millions of followers often gets lost in the noise. But niche influencers with smaller audiences and higher engagement bring something new to the table.
Defining “Niche” in the world of Influencers and the value they offer brands
Niche influencers, or “micro-influencers,” are experts in a particular lifestyle, belief, background, community, or experience and often have a smaller following, ranging from a minimum of 500 to 50,000 followers. However, they have a reputation for being authentic due to their genuine enthusiasm for their niche. This credibility attracts highly engaged followers who trust recommendations, making it easier for brands to drive conversions with relevant products or services.
Niche influencers provide targeted awareness and engagement, leading to optimised spending. They also boast higher conversion rates thanks to personalised content and messaging.
However, don’t underestimate their content or value. Niche influencers can also create specialised content that delves deeper into specific subjects and quickly breaks down complex information for everyday consumers to understand. Although they have a smaller pool of followers, it’s crucial to remember that they have a highly engaged audience who actively seek their opinions and reviews.
For example, a client in the finance industry had a goal to increase awareness of their financial offerings among a wide audience. Since financial topics can be difficult to understand, we engaged with “financial gurus” to make the information easy to understand for the general public. One of these experts, who specialised in financial advice for women-specific finance services, created an Instagram Reel that was 12 times more successful in terms of views than her organic videos. This shows a great example of “bulls eye content” where niche influencers provide valuable content for their followers due to their credibility.
Understanding your target audience and identifying objectives
For brands with minimal awareness, using celebrities and macro-level influencers with a broader audience reach is a good starting point. However, working with micro or niche influencers is a more effective strategy if the goal is to increase consideration and conversions. They will excel at delivering your brand message in a relatable, authentic way, but they may not be the best fit for every campaign goal. So before striking up a partnership, it’s crucial to set clear campaign objectives.
Remember that every niche influencer has a unique style and community. For these reasons alone, it’s crucial to identify the demographics, psychographics, gender, age group, and behaviour of your target audience to find the most relevant influencers to amplify your message. The more you understand your audience, the more precise you can be in choosing the right influencers.
Using AI to identify relevant influencers and forecast performances
Finding the right niche influencers in Malaysia’s diverse landscape can be overwhelming. But with GroupM’s INCAtech, brands can quickly identify the best fit based on demographics, behaviour, or category. In addition, INCAtech generates insights to help brands make informed decisions. Some of the many insights INCA can extract are:
● Influencer discovery
● Influencer content performances
● Competition analysis
● Keyword tracking – branded, lifestyle, cultural, or hashtags
● Content and trend audit/ analysis – top engaging, reach, views or engagement rate, etc
These tools empower brands to make data-driven decisions when selecting influencers and reduce the risk of making subjective decisions in any campaign. Ultimately, this leads to better influencer selection, higher campaign performance, and ultimately a higher return on investment.
A client of ours had a goal to promote a new category of plant-based meat and increase interest among Malaysians. However, since it was a relatively new category, the challenge was to get people to explore it. Based on relevant plant-based keywords, we were able to generate a mix of plant-based advocates, parenting and Instagram chefs who produced a variety of content ranging from education, recipes, and lifestyle content to help introduce this category to the audience.
Align with brand values
Unleashing the power of niche influencers who align with your brand values is crucial. These values shape your mission and vision, and by working with influencers who share them, they can take you one step closer to bridging the gap between your brand and your target customers. It is this building of trust and credibility that can also lead to increased customer loyalty and a positive brand reputation.
By contrast, if influencers with an audience of any size do not align with your values, it can lead to negative perceptions, a lack of trust, and harm to your brand’s reputation and sales—potentially leading to high-risk backlash.
In conclusion, partnering with influencers is a game-changer for brands looking to connect with their consumers. Niche influencers, in particular, are key to building trust and credibility with consumers, driving engagement, and ultimately increasing ROI. Don’t be fooled by vanity metrics like follower count; an influencer with a smaller but engaged audience can be just as effective, if not more so, than one with a large following.
