Nanoinfluencers

Marketers are seeking out influencers with smaller followings.

The rise of influencers has been well charted, with glossy-haired internet celebrities selling us everything from meal delivery kits to cars. Six in 10 marketing firms said they planned to increase spending on influencer marketing this year, according to microinfluencer marketing platform SocialPubli. But rather than focus on the biggest names, who can command hundreds of thousands of dollars for mentioning a brand, companies are looking at influencers lower on the totem pole.

“Nanoinfluencers” are a more powerful marketing tool, some reckon, because of their smaller reach. They’re able to broadcast more intimately to their followers, with the average YouTube video from a nanoinfluencer seen between 1,000 and 10,000 times, according to marketing agency MediaKix. The theory behind it is that at that scale, influencers have curated such a tight-knit connection with their audience that fans are more likely to act upon their recommendations.

A number of agencies have been set up to allow companies to agree to brand deals en masse with smaller creators. However, some are not convinced about the power of these small-scale sellers. “‘Nanoinfluencers’ is a fancy new term made up by snake oil sellers who literally have run out of new things to sell,” says James Whatley, strategy partner at Digitas UK.

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Image credit: Piero Zagami and Michela Nicchiotti.