Today, influencer marketing is a key aspect of brand communication. Considering the rise of influencers/bloggers in the UAE, brands are finding it difficult to select the right set of influencers to reach their audience.

Some brands feel that the number of followers the influencer has does not matter, but what matters is the content, reach and engagement, whereas, others find it wise to approach influencers with a large following.

Typically, a “nano” influencer may have followers as small as 1,000-5,000, where they offer honest and real-time reviews of a brand. Their followers are willing to engage with the content, trust in it, and spread the word.

Hence brands are moving away from well-known brand ambassadors to influencers who are successful in spreading the word to the audience. An influencer as such is not positioned as a “celebrity”, but an “online friend” with whom the audience can relate.

Considering their followers have a niche interest in something specific — food, travel, parenting etc. — their content is targeted and serves the purpose right when it comes to an influencer campaign. In fact, nano-influencers have much higher engagement compared to macro influencers with their million followers.

Often working on a pro-bono basis, nano-influencers can bring about desired results as part of your marketing campaign, especially if it targets a niche interest or audience. Nano-influencers bring a high RoI when it comes to social media platforms where word of mouth and creative content is key.

Hence it would be right to say that we are heading towards a trend where consumers, especially millennials, are relying majorly on nano-influencers to assist them with their buying decisions.

Customers can now easily differentiate between a promotional content and an unpaid one. Over the last few years, there has been a shift in the market, where consumers now prefer to listen to nano- and micro-influencers rather than their favourite celebrities, purely due to the established trust in organic content versus paid ones.

For a majority of nano-influencers, it’s not about the money, its more about the content and the products they receive, which they consider as a fair compensation for the ads. Nano-influencers are enthusiastic about providing unique content that benefits the brand as well as their community of followers.

With today’s market being driven by authenticity, engaging nano-influencers as brand ambassadors can help creating honest organic content, thus positively impacting a company’s RoI.

Depending on the objective of the campaign, it is important to select the right set of influencers. If a brand is looking at approaching nano-influencers, it is important to take a look at the engagement they offer.

When it comes to topics that are of interest to a larger audience — fashion, lifestyle, or a strategic mix of both — nano- and macro-influencers could best fit the marketing strategy of the brands.

— Yulia Klimacheva is Head of Brand Strategy at Jpd Agency.