Nearly two-thirds (64.7%) of the microinfluencers surveyed by SocialPubli used reach to measure the success of their work with a brand, but one-quarter (25.1%) said they preferred conversion rate.

This may convince more brands to embrace micro-influencers, who often generate a better ROI than do macro-influencers, whose audiences are more diffused.

Influencer marketing is growing around the world, and a significant amount of activity is migrating to Instagram Stories. However, fraud is also growing, and that threatens the authenticity of influencer marketing.

Every week on eMarketer’s “Behind the Numbers” podcast, we take a few minutes to discuss some of the most intriguing headlines of the past seven days. This week, we're chatting about Amazon's controversial HQ2 (er, 3) decision. Plus: Juul's move to quit social, and the rise of the nanoinfluencer.

A significant number of retailers in North America are now working with influencers as part of their marketing strategy. According to polling by Retail TouchPoints for referral marketing platform Extole, 31% of retailers said they have worked with brand advocates to become influencers, 30% used microinfluencers and 28% used paid celebrity influencers.

With the exception of China and a few other countries, marketers across the globe are starting to focus their influencer marketing efforts on microinfluencers.

In the latest episode of "Behind the Numbers," eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson discusses how marketers are using influencer marketing successfully and getting past some of the issues holding the tactic back.

In a February 2019 survey by influencer marketplace Activate, for example, 64.2% of US influencer marketers said they worked very often with microinfluencers (defined as having 5,000 to 100,000 followers) and 25.7% said the same for nano-influencers (less than 5,000 followers).

Most of the influencers were micro-influencers with an average of roughly 35,000 Instagram followers. Nearly six in 10 participants were US-based women. Direct Messaging. In late September, Facebook announced that it was integrating Instagram’s direct messaging service with Messenger for users who opt in to the new feature.

“We're starting as marketers to learn that influencers are content,” said Brooke Robinson, managing partner at Peersway Nano Influencer Marketing. “We know now when they post something organically less than 10% are seeing the content organically, the rest are the result of paid media support.

That’s because we’ll see a shift in attention away from influencers with millions of followers toward nano-influencers with just thousands. The idea of working with people who have smaller followings isn’t new (there’s already the concept of microinfluencers, people with followings in the tens of thousands).

“Instagram has seen huge growth, but Pinterest will be the next big platform,” said Brooke Robinson, managing partner at Peersway Nano Influencer Marketing. “Pinterest Canada launched their head office in Toronto, and they're going to start working with agencies and brands.

Influencers also see strong potential for brand collaborations on Instagram Stories; it was the top choice for the microinfluencers in North America, South America and Europe who were surveyed by SocialPubli in September 2019. Few marketers want to use influencers for branded Facebook Stories, Schotland said.

According to their August 2018 survey of US and UK digital marketers, the top reason cited for working with microinfluencers and nanoinfluencers was their cost-effectiveness relative to top-tier talent (56%) and their better connection with customers (55%). Social Commerce Measurement and Optimization.

Many marketers have shown significant interest in Instagram Stories and are focusing on working with microinfluencers, who have smaller but dedicated followings. According to an August 2018 Econsultancy survey, 56% of US and UK marketers work with microinfluencers because they are more cost-effective than working with top-tier talent.

And with the rise of microinfluencers, marketers now have to increase their number of partnerships in order to reach scale. “While the increase has definitely led to more available influencers to work with, brands need to be careful,” said Jessica Dooley, US social practice lead at Mindshare.

A study by Retail TouchPoints in November 2018 showed that just 25% of retailers in North America said they used celebrity influencers, while 20% used microinfluencers. Many marketers have cautioned against focusing too heavily on revenue generation from influencers, feeling it should not replace the core tenets of what makes them effective.

This tracks with the rise of microinfluencers (which we define as an influencer with 1,000 to 10,000 followers), who are seen as more authentic by consumers. They are also more cost-effective for marketers since influencers with smaller followings command lower fees and are far more likely to work in exchange for freebies than their counterparts with massive fan bases.

Microinfluencers, who have between 100,000 and 500,000 followers, solicited the highest degree of approach. Participants’ emotional intensity and memory encoding registered at 62% and 55%, respectively, above ads within general content. ("General content" being that found on TV, Facebook and YouTube.).