Brands, NOW Is The Time To Hire An Influencer

Do you look at all the reports about Bitcoin and kick yourself? You know, the ones about the early adopters who bought up big and are now virtual reality swimming in their vats of digital money Scrooge McDuck style?

 
Or how about the people who invested in Facebook when it first listed and have seen some serious growth in their shares?

While we are loathe to doll out clichés (because we see ourselves as an innovative little bunch), there’s truth in the saying that “the early bird gets the worm”. In fact, from our perch it seems pretty clear that the early bird always wins.

What’s that got to do with micro-influencer marketing we hear you ask?

Well brand friends, the answer is simply EVERYTHING! You see, right now, micro-influencer marketing is still relatively cheap and untouched in Southeast Asia. And my is it effective.

Micro-influencers

Maybe you have a friend who likes to spruik a favourite product on Insta? Or a family member who is all about the reviews? Well, if they have 10,000 followers or less, then they have nestled themselves into the world of micro-influencers. And they are the next wave of marketing powerhouses.

While it may seem counterintuitive to recommend such a small following when reach is everything, according to Digiday: ”followers usually consist of their friends and family, so their posts are much more trustworthy and engaging.”

In fact, studies by Markerly have shown that in relation to unpaid posts, the less followers you have, the more likes you get #engagement

The SushiVid experience

Well, obviously, we’re going to tell you how great micro-influencer campaigns are. But, there’s nothing like letting the stats do the talking for us:

During MYCYBERSALE alone our influencers put out 202 branded content pieces on Instagram and blogs, generating 3.5 million in reach and 130,000 likes and comments, all for the tidy price of USD$18,000. It was tough. It was organic. But it was absolutely worth it for our brands and micro-influencers alike.

Another triumph was a YouTube video one of our Indonesian influencers completed for USD$1,500. The video reached over 300,000 subscribers and scored the brand 5,000 app downloads in just one night. Pretty amazing, right?

It’s these examples which leave us confident to say that micro-influencers are a cheap and brilliant way to market in Southeast Asia right now.

Still don’t believe us? Check out what you might have to pay to hire an influencer in Australia.

Are micro-influencers just another fad?

Because of the personal and entertaining nature of a micro-influencer campaign, we don’t see micro-influencer marketing going the way of the email marketing dodo anytime soon (remember that painful beast? Well these days your toil is lucky to get you a 3% click through – ouch). To the contrary, financial heavy weights such as Forbes have found that influencer marketing is now outpacing digital ads.

The beauty of going down the micro-incluencer route is, of course, the accessibility:

“That makes it possible for smaller brands to rely on micro and power-middle influencers who may not be known worldwide, but still have a decent group of followers and fans willing to trust their judgement and advice.”

As you ponder your new year business resolutions it’s time to ask, is your brand an early bird? Or is it the brand that sits there lamenting the micro-influencer that got away?

Start 2018 year right and take a swim with the SushiVid shoal!

With over 3,000 influencers from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines, we’d love to help your brand connect.

Happy new year.

With love and hugs from SushiVid