When it comes to brands working with influencers, bigger isn't always better. 

With influencer marketing becoming a staple of brand marketing strategies, nano-influencers have started playing an important role in the creator space. While a brand’s first instinct might be to partner with an influencer with a large following, marketing experts say that nano-influencers have some of the most highly engaged followings, and can help brands with targeting. They’re also a great testing ground for brands to experiment with influencer marketing.

“Mommy bloggers are a great example,” says James Myrick, senior VP, global marketing, Branded Entertainment Network (BEN), a product placement, influencer marketing and licensing company. “When you are looking at a micro-group, these kinds of smaller influencers can provide great targeting. A mom might have a niche following because they live in a certain city, homeschool their kids, or have a child with a specific medical condition." 

And nano-influencers’ authenticity and community with their followers could make product posts feel more like advice from a friend. “It’s easy for a celebrity to sell a product,” says Tola Adeoti, a nano-influencer in Dallas, Texas. “But I know people feel more connected when they hear about [a product] from a regular, everyday mom.”

A numbers game

There is no industry standard around how many followers a creator has to have to be considered a nano-influencer. 

“Personally, I'm fascinated that there are so few benchmarks for the industry,” says Lindsay Jerutis, general manager of ShopStyle Collective, an influencer marketing platform. ShopStyle defines a nano-influencer as someone with 500 to 10,000 followers, while micro-influencer have between 10,000 and 25,000. 

At Sway Group, another influencer marketing agency, nano-influencers have under 10,000 followers. “We chose that number because that is currently the bottom floor for swipe-up options on Instagram,” explains Danielle Wiley, CEO of Sway Group. Sway’s influencers have a minimum of 1,000 followers, while micro-influencers have 10,000 to 90,000, with three tiers in between.

BEN’s rule of thumb is that nano-influencers can have up to 50,000 followers. “But we don’t have a set range for nano or micro,” says Myrick. “We go by our client’s definition, because usually for a smaller brand, that’s a smaller number of followers, and for a larger brand, ‘micro’ has a different meaning.”

Small but mighty

In spite of smaller follower counts, micro-influencers can bring some of the most engaged audiences. 

“Nano and micro influencers can spread brand messages in a way that feels particularly authentic,” says Jasmine Enberg, senior analyst, global trends, eMarketer. “Nano influencers' followers view them as peers, and tend to trust their brand and product recommendations over those from larger influencers.”

Wiley echoes this, saying that Sway has seen engagement rates reach up to 34% with nano-influencer’s sponsored content. An engagement rate of 2% to 3% is considered good.

“Nano-influencers are great because of that authenticity and close connection with their followers,” says Jerutis. “Their audience is often really invested in the content they are delivering. The algorithms on social media can also help surface them to other similar audiences and help them grow.” ShopStyle has seen nano-influencers in their network lead to a 33% increase on average year-over-year in sales, she says. 

According to a January 2021 report by Bazaarvoice, 13% of U.S. adults surveyed said that posts from brands they follow were the most influential in getting them to make a purchase. So-called "haul" videos, which typically show people trying on new wardrobes, were more impactful from influencers and micro-influencers with followers between 1,000 and 100,000 than posted from celebrity influencers (5% compared with just 2% for celebrities). 

“While nano-influencers may not have the same star power or reach as macro or celebrity influencers, the relatability of nano influencers can go a long way in getting consumers to make a purchase,” says eMarketer's Enberg.

Chatbooks experienced this when they worked with BEN to target nano-influencer moms and crafters. The photobooks company saw a six-fold increase in the number of influencer-driven acquisitions in a one-month period and now allocates 15% of their marketing budget to influencer marketing.

Test and save

Another perk of working with nano- or micro-influencers is that they are normally significantly less expensive than working with larger influencers.

“Nanos can be great for brands with a smaller budget or specific campaign,” says BEN's Myrick. “But more than that, they can help brands get their footing around what works and what doesn’t. They’re a good testing ground if influencer marketing isn’t yet a proven space for your brand.”

Like other influencers, the pricing for a nano-influencer varies by industry and type of post. “Nanos are typically less than $1,000 per post, but the complexity of what the brand is looking for and the niche of the influencer will definitely have an impact on the actual cost,” says Sway Group's Wiley. 

Myrick adds that the price should also reflect the value of the content. That might seem obvious — creators should be compensated fairly. But nearly all nano-influencers are balancing brand partner work with a full-time job.

“You’re essentially outsourcing your creative to them,” Myrick says. “So they need to be compensated for the creation of and rights to their work if it’s reused in other places.”

But putting trust in those creators can have a good return, especially because of their tight-knit followings.