INSIGHTS
by
Sophie Arancio
N °7 — M A RCH 2017
Micro-Community - Maximum Opportunity
Leveraging the Power of the Micro-Influencer
N°7
CONTENTS
CONTENTS
05
08
12
15
20
p.
C HA PT E R I
Big Bang Theory
p.
p.
Portrait of a Micro-Influencer
C HA PT E R III
Jeanne and the Gang
p.
p.
C HAPTER II
CHAPT ER IV
Think Global, Act Micro
C HA PT E R V
Today’s Consumer is Tomorrow’s Influencer
courtesy of stockholm-streetstyle.com
CHAPTER I
IT STARTED WITH STREETST YLE
The same sense of proximity and authenticity we
once sought among specialist streetstyle and
lookbook communities is now provided by the
micro-influencers we choose to identify with and
follow on Instagram.
Micro-
Communities
Maximum
Opportunities
CHAPTER I
Big Bang
Theory
In a land not so long ago, before Instagram and Snap began vying for your
There were no multi-million likes for celebrity-endorsed posts, and
no million-dollar contracts on the table for power influencers.
We know, because we were part of the movement.
Back in 2008, when we started looking for
creative ways to help brands connect with influencers, Ykone was not just an agency, but a social
fashion platform. People visited the site to like their
favorite trends, share their favorite brands and
comment on each other’s looks. Some were fast-rising style bloggers, others were anonymous faces :
all were on a level playing field. Ykone.com was an
early example of a community of micro-influencers.
The “micro-” part was not in reference to their
limited reach; it highlighted their close proximity
to their audience and their ability to produce
content their peers were interested in. With
a single post or recommendation, they could directly
influence our behavior. It was the screen-to-screen
6
successor to word-of-mouth marketing, and the
perfect antidote to the aspirational world of high
fashion advertising for jaded millennials. Theirs
was a lifestyle we could identify with. We moved
in the same circles. We sipped coffee on the same
terraces. We felt as if we could bump into them
any minute. Secretly, we wanted to be them, so we
settled for the next best thing : purchasing the same
items as them. And then, the big bang happened.
Style and beauty bloggers gathered momentum,
catapulted to stardom by the meteoric rise of content-sharing apps. Their popularity exploded, as did
their social currency with brands. Linda Evangelista
may have famously refused to get out of bed for less
than $10,000, but the super-influencers were now
B I G B A N G T H EO R Y
precious headspace, social influence was a very different ball game.
CHAPTER I
commanding the same fee for a single Instagram.
The example seems anecdotal, but it addresses
a fundamental point : in a mature influencer marketplace, the line between word of mouth and
celebrity advertisement has become blurred. While
top influencers continue to offer maximum exposure, their role has evolved : they now partner with
brands on more ambitious projects as ambassadors
or creative consultants. Don’t count on them to help
you with your grassroots marketing.
B I G B A N G T H EO R Y
In a mature influencer
marketplace, the line
between word of mouth and
celebrity advertisement has
become blurred.
SUPER-MODEL vs.
SUPER-INFLUENCER
As the social galaxy continues to expand, we
are witnessing the inevitable : influencers with
larger reach tend to have a weaker gravitational pull, with average engagement rates dropping
as low as 1.7% (Markerly, 2016). All the while,
a series of much smaller tastemakers have been
gaining traction one post at a time. Say hello to the
micro-influencers. They may have 100x or ever
1000x less followers than your go-to cast members,
but don’t write them off just yet : their engagement
potential is considerably higher – not to mention
their power to convert. In 2016, your campaigns
featured 10s of influencers at a time; in 2017, that
figure will be in the hundreds – and all for the same
budget. Here comes the science.
Just as supermodels once ruled
the runway, super-influencers are
now at the top of their game,
commanding anywhere between
5k-15k per Instagram. But beyond
the quick benefits of ‘celebrity’
endorsement, just how valuable is
their influence to marketers ?
7
model & micro-influencer @camillejansen
Proximity
The Power of the
Micro-Influencer
It’s not just about
superior engagement
cost effectiveness.
Micro-influencers
or
come with many
added benefits.
Creativity
Exclusivity
Diversity
Authenticity
CHAPTER II
Portrait
Micro
Influencer
of a
With 84% of online marketers set to run at least one influencer campaign in 2017
(eMarketer), the pressure to calculate return on investment is higher than ever.
P O R T R A I T O F A M I C R O - I N F LU E N C E R
But how do you measure success, and when it comes to
choosing influencers, does size really matter ?
The theory goes that once an influencer reaches a critical tipping point, performance drops and
engagement rates begin to taper off. It all makes
perfect sense given the lower affinity of content
to audiences spanning several interest groups and
demographics. Over time, they have amassed a total
following that is the sum of multiple communities.
Micro-influencers, on the other hand, tend
to perform much better on the engagement front.
Influencer marketing specialists have spent most
of 2016 arguing over the numbers : do we define
a micro-influencer as someone with less than 50k
followers ? Less than 10k ? Less than 1k ? Our
expertise over the years has helped us reach a far
more precise definition for our clients.
At Ykone, we think of influence as a three-layer pyramid of “top”, “middle” and “micro” influencers. Sitting pretty at the summit, you’ll find
the top influencers with communities upwards
of 300k+, soaring as far as several million follow-
ers. The second tier is occuped by “middle” influencers. Interestingly, most of them tilt towards the
upper echelons (200k-300k), though this bracket
may also include smaller communities of 50k-70k.
Then there are the micro-influencers : they occupy
the under 40k category, averaging out at 8k.
Don’t let the numbers fool you, though. Their individual reach may be much smaller, but it runs wider : they share common values with specific interest
groups or local communities, produce “micro”-content tailored to a given ideal or identity, and take the
time to interact and build the conversation. More
importantly, they have the proximity their top and
middle tier counterparts often lack, fostering a twoway relationship that’s both accessible and authentic
– and far more likely to influence the consumer decision-making process. By harnessing their collective
potential over the same campaign, you get the best
of all worlds : deep reach within niche communities,
and genuine engagement across the board.
9
CHAPTER II
But there’s more. The micro-influencers’ superior engagement rate is a natural consequence
of their ability to communicate a specific message
to a specific audience via a specific medium. More
often than not, that medium is Instagram, the
platform of choice with 80% of micro-influencers
(Bloglovin’). The reason for this is simple : it’s a tool
that enables them to edit and curate a clear point
of view beyond the ephemeral.
Influence may not be their day job, but they
invest a lot of time and energy in producing
professional-grade shots. Putting in the extra hours
does have its perks, as it means not being weighed
down by the same commercial constraints as fulltime influencers. This leaves them freedom to create content on their own terms, and in keeping with
the unique aesthetic their community has grown
accustomed to. You won’t catch the micro-influencers slashing any time soon.
Needless to say, the creative gatekeepers
of Instagram hold considerable value for marketers.
Beyond their above-average ability to inspire their
peers – including, might we add, industry professionals and professional influencers – they cultivate
their own brand of exclusivity, far from the front
rows of Fashion Week.
Micro-influencers are too busy quietly building their credibility to worry about where their
next collaboration is coming from. They work with
an average of 10 brands per year, as opposed to figures reaching into the hundreds for many top influencers (Bloglovin’). It’s the difference between
Top-Influencer
more than
FOLLOWERS
Middle-Influencer
from
50K 300K
to
FOLLOWERS
Micro-Influencer
from
10
300K
8K 50K
to
FOLLOWERS
P O R T R A I T O F A M I C R O - I N F LU E N C E R
Beyond their
lower-than-average fees
and above-average ability
to inspire their peers, microinfluencers cultivate their own
brand of exclusivity.
P O R T R A I T O F A M I C R O - I N F LU E N C E R
CHAPTER II
CAMILLE vs. CAMILLE
Both are named Camille, and both
Haute Couture and Prêt-à-Porter. We know what
you’re thinking : this is probably due to their perceived lack of popularity in a numbers-obsessed
industry. Partly so. But have you ever stopped
to consider that they too have a brand image to protect ? Micro-influencers are highly selective creatures. You might have to accept that they’re just not
that into you.
This is where setting the right objectives and
putting together the right “guest list” comes into
play. You may want a top influencer livestreaming front-and-center at your show, or a series
of micro-influencers featuring key pieces from your
new collection. Or both. Whatever your narrative,
a one-size-fits-all approach just won’t cut it. You
need to spend time in their world, and not expect
them to wander on over into yours. To think about
their worldview and how it could fit or challenge
yours. Being “selective” means investing time and
energy in people you believe in and letting them
take the lead. So that they can create content that
resonates with their friends and followers. It’s
the founding principal of social media, and a key
behavioral trend among Gen Z consumers.
The digital equivalent to door-to-door salesmen, Gen Z actively orchestrate their own
bespoke social footprint, sharing micro-stories with
micro-communities over micro-platforms. When
it comes to influencers, they expect the same degree of intimacy and transparency. Over 60% of
them crave authentic content from people they can
“trust” as opposed to “fake” celebrity endorsement.
This is the real power of micro-influencers : they
have the legitimacy of a friend and the credibility
of an industry insider.
project a high-quality fashion
aesthetic on their Instagram
handles. While top-influencer
@camillecharriere boasts 511k followers, her av. engagement rate is
as low as 0.7%. Micro-influencer
@camillejansen may have 10x less
followers than her counterpart, but
her average engagement rate is almost 20x higher at 14.32%. Don’t
just reason in terms of reach : the
more ‘micro-’ the influencer, the
more engaged the audience.
11
CHAPTER I
IDENTIT Y : A PRECIOUS COMMODIT Y
If Jeanne Damas is in such high demand, it’s
because she has built such a strong persona.
She understands the value of creating an identity her community can relate to, and has applied
the same winning strategy to her online clothing
brand, rouje.com. Her clothes are all about the
women who wear them, starting with her closest
friends : a squad of micro-influencers known
@jeannedamas, top-influencer & founder of rouje.com
as #lesfillesenrouje.
CHAPTER III
Jeanne
Gang
and the
“The quintessential Parisian influencer” and “The Jane Birkin of
the Instagram generation” are but a few of the labels given to @jeannedamas
by the international fashion press. A regular in Vogue and Elle, she has become
JEANNE AND THE GANG
the digital poster girl for that nonchalantly sexy je ne sais quoi, both at home and abroad.
Jeanne is by no means a micro-influencer, but
she has managed to maintain a very specific point
of view, eschewing time-consuming blogs and
Tumblrs in favor of Snap and Instagram. With
each new post, she adds another piece to the puzzle : She’s Parisian, loves stripes and floral prints,
low-cut tops and flared jeans, watering her plants
and talking to her cats. And then there’s that signature red lip – the killer detail that became the
namesake for Rouje, her sell-out clothing brand.
Jeanne is also a savvy digital entrepreneuse who
has built her e-commerce business in the same way
she grew her 360k-strong Instagram following : her
brand is her lifestyle and her lifestyle is her brand.
The clothes she sells are inspired by her very personal sense of style, making her the natural face
of her Instagram campaigns. She regularly features
Rouje designs on her personal and brand handles
(@rouje, 90k followers), where they blend seamlessly into her world. It all seems so organic, because
nothing has changed – her content is just as believable and beautiful as always. Factor in her gift for
community relationship management, answering
all Instagram customer enquiries personally, and
you begin to understand why she has an unusually
high engagement rate for such a large following.
The other thing you’ll regularly see featured
on her feed are the cool kids that make up Jeanne’s
daily routine. There’s DJ @inesmelia (11k followers), Courrèges art director @loljacobs (17k followers), model @dollidoll (12k followers), sister
and jewelry designer @louisedamas (19k followers), to name but a few. Each of these young women have 33x less followers than Jeanne, but they
each bring their own definition of what it means
to be Parisian in 2017, featuring Rouje regularly
13
CHAPTER III
on their Instagram. They are #lesfillesenrouje,
a squad of micro-influencers you’ve probably never
heard of, but that’s the whole point : they’re deeply
relevant to the young and beautiful of the French
capital, and diverse enough to cover different interest groups. Instagram is not their full-time job,
and the product becomes part of their everyday narrative. Reach. Relevance. Engagement.
Authenticity. Together, they tick all the right influencer marketing boxes.
Beyond the pull of their own communities, these
young women are the real-life faces of Jeanne’s
ad campaigns, generating a mass of content that’s
used by Rouje across social media and the website to power an Instagram-curated lookbook.
If you look closely enough, you might notice a few
familiar faces : @adenorah, @emiliebrunette and
@dressingleeloo are all full-time style bloggers
with 100k+ followers, yet you can’t tell the difference between them and their well-dressed friends
with much smaller communities.
Jeanne has built her very own multi-tier inf luencer program based on something bigger
than numbers : a strong aesthetic that projects an
even stronger persona. The clothes were designed
with Instagram in mind. You can click on Jeanne,
Inès or Anne-Laure and order the exact same top
they’re wearing. There’s just one catch : it’s probably
already sold out. JEANNE AND THE GANG
Jeanne has built her
e-commerce business in
the same way she grew her
360k-strong Instagram :
her brand is her lifestyle and
her lifestyle is her brand.
THREE GIRLS, ONE
AESTHETIC
From top to bottom : Parisian
photographer @sophiearancio
(4k followers), NYC fashion director and editor @ilona_hamer (40k
followers) and Jeanne herself
(360k followers) all wearing the
bestselling Lauren body. Spread
across individual handles and/or
the @rouje and @jeannedamas
accounts, content delivers optimal visibility while maintaining
a niche aesthetic.
14
model & micro-influencer @thomsenmichaela for @rouje
15
GOING LIVE
CHAPTER IV
Global
Micro
Think
Act
As soon as you put a smartphone in our hands, we all become influencers.
Secretly, we harbor the same ambition : to Instagram that acai bowl and
avocado toast in downtown NYC, or give a live tour on
These are the social objects that we collect and
exhibit, a virtual road map to our existence – or at
least an edited down version of it. In an age where
everything is visual, quality content has become
a precious asset for brands. Let’s be clear about one
thing, though : “quality” no longer refers to the composition or resolution of an image, but to the story
it tells and how that story sits with the intended audience. Just ask Airbnb – they have been creating
and curating wanderlust on social media for the
past few years by featuring “real-life” content from
thousands of micro-influencers across the globe.
The brand claim has always been strong :
“Belong Anywhere”. It’s the polar opposite to
the glossy rental property prospectus your estate agent once handed you. You don’t just visit
the apartment you’re looking to rent in Mumbai’s
Bandra West, you get introduced to the local customs, traditions, institutions and expressions by
native influencers; you also benefit from the human experience of micro-influencers the world
16
over who have actually stayed there. Think of it
as Trip-Advisor-meets-Lonely-Planet-meets-ADMagazine for the Instagram generation. By making
the world a smaller place with posts regrammed
from micro-influencers with audiences ranging
from 1k-40k followers, Airbnb consistently delivers
on its promise : people-focused storytelling.
While the brand is no stranger to partnering with top-tier influencers such as @songofstyle (4.3m followers), setting her up with a series
of enviable digs last Paris Fashion Week in exchange
for live tours on Snap and Instagram stories, she’s
not the focus of the brand-owned social strategy.
Her content resonates with a community of fashion and hype lovers, but doesn’t quite fly with the
more down-to-earth vibe you’ll find on the brand
handle (1.5m followers). When Airbnb rolled out
their most ambitious ad campaign to date “Don’t go
there, live there” across print, TV and social media,
they tapped into a key insight : 47% of Gen Z don’t
like to be labelled as tourists when visiting a new
T H I N K G LO B A L , AC T M I C R O
Stories of our hotel suite in Dubai design district.
T H I N K G LO B A L , AC T M I C R O
CHAPTER IV
LEVERAGING LOCAL MICRO-INFLUENCERS, GLOBALLY
Some are travel bloggers, others professional photographers : the majority are micro-influencers with
highly-engaged communities of under 50k followers. Together, the 400+ photos tagged under #ViveAhí
make up an Instagram-driven Airbnb campaign that brings widespread reach and deep engagement.
17
CHAPTER IV
Gen Z are less interested
in visiting landmark
monuments, just as they’re
less sensitive to content from
landmark influencers.
Mexico is the most recent destination to have
joined the #LiveThere movement (#ViveAhí is the
official Spanish-language hashtag), with Airbnb
inviting a hundred-strong army of Mexico-based,
Spanish-speaking micro-influencers to test their
different rentals in exchange for sharing their
experiences with their Instagram communities.
They are from different Mexican hotspots and appeal
to different demographics, yet they all have one
thing in common : above-average influence within
a specific market segment, and audiences that average below the 40k mark.
In just one month, #ViveAhí has generated
400+ Instagram posts, creating a people-driven
digital Mexico brochure that achieves both reach
and relevance. One such sponsored shot, featuring graphic designer @ferfarfan (20k followers)
enjoying his Acapulco rental, recently made it onto
the @airbnb brand handle. You’ll find it in-between
two shots of sunny San Fran and snowy Minnesota,
both submitted by customers with less than
1k followers.
Airbnb’s micro-influencer strategy doesn’t stop
at geography; it also drills down to micro-communities based on lifestyle affinity. Launched late
January, the brand’s most recent activation aims
to attract consumers traveling as a family – and
more specifically the mothers who have the final say
18
on where to stay. We’re no longer talking multiple
micro-influencers in the same location, but microinfluencers within the same interest group spread
across multiple locations. When Parisian mom
blogger @frenchmomes (12,7k followers) shares
her Amsterdam Airbnb with her audience, she
essentially appeals to French-speaking moms who
may be looking for travel inspirations; when Airbnb
regram it, they reach out to global travel enthusiasts who may also happen to be moms. Same content, different targets : it’s called covering all your
bases. With an annual Instagram follower increase
of nearly 350% since 2014 and a yearly average
of 10m+ organic social actions on the handle, they
must be doing something right.
T H I N K G LO B A L , AC T M I C R O
place. They expect something more typical : hidden
restaurants, smaller boutiques, places where they
can live like the locals. They’re less interested in
visiting the landmark monuments, just as they’re
less sensitive to content from landmark influencers.
SAME CONTENT. DIFFERENT OBJECTIVES. MULTIPLE BENEFITS.
When @frenchmomes posts her review of an Amsterdam Airbnb, she provides powerful recommendation to activate a micro-community of native French moms seeking global travel solutions; when Airbnb
regram it, they use widespread reach to attract several different profiles within a global fanbase : Amsterdam lovers, mothers… The best of both worlds.
19
20
courtesy of @glossier
D O O D L E S TO D O L L A R S
CH
CA
HP
ATPET R
E RV I
CHAPTER V
Today’s
Consumer
TO DAY ’ S C O N S U M E R I S TO M O R R OW ’ S I N F LU E N C E R
is
Tomorrow’s
Influencer
The big bang isn’t over yet – we’re just getting started.
As the influencer marketplace continues to grow,
we move ever closer to social media’s original purpose :
building meaningful relationships with your friends.
According to a recent study by McKinsey,
friend-to-friend marketing now generates twice
as many sales as paid advertising. Tommorow’s
challenge ? Finding creative ways to harness the
collective inf luence of hundreds-of-thousands
of connected consumers. It may mean providing
them with oh-so-Instagrammable packaging, involving them in product development from A to Z,
or finding new ways to reward them for content.
Beauty giant Glossier has done all of this, and the
results speak for themselves : 600% growth in 2016.
Founded just a few years ago, the brand didn’t
start by thinking about product and how to sell it,
but community and how to build it. Indeed, the
Glossier Instagram account was launched way before the e-commerce website even existed. From
day one, Emily Weiss and her team placed the consumer at the heart of a collaborative media brand
founded on the principle that every single woman
is an influencer. If you ask Weiss which commu-
nity is most important to her business, she won’t
answer her 400k Instagram followers or her bigger-than-Buzzfeed Snap community ; her secret
weapon is Into The Gloss, the online beauty tribe
she founded way back in 2008. It’s another early example of a micro-community of beauty enthusiasts.
These women influence each other with their
comments and recommendations, but more importantly they all influence the future of the brand.
When work began on the bestselling Milky Jelly
Cleanser back in 2015, a post on Into The Gloss
asked readers to describe their dream face wash.
One year later, the product hit the Internet, complete with a full oral history featuring all the user
comments that had influenced the project. This
ultra-inclusive approach is at the core of everything
the brand does.
As curators of their very own social consumer
focus group, Glossier score on all fronts : they promote trust among a highly engaged, high-affin-
21
CHAPTER V
ity community ; gather the intel needed to build
the product that will convert them into consumers ;
then capitalize on the influence of customers willing to share content with their followers on social
media. They’re only too happy to show us what
they ordered clad in Glossier sweatshirts, not just
because they trust the product but because they
belong to a tribe. Call it the Avon lady effect for
Gen Z infuencers. Glossier didn’t start by
thinking about product and
how to sell it, but community
and how to build it.
courtesy of @glossier
GOING LIVE
They make a solid case for the future of friendto-friend marketing on social media – both paid and
earned – which now accounts for 90% of Glossier’s
multi-million-dollar revenues. As Weiss herself
puts it, “We strongly believe in the power of the
individual to influence her circle of friends and followers, no matter how big that circle is – it could
be 100 or 1 million.” In other words, it’s less about
the numbers and more about building an influencer-friendly brand that filters down through every
aspect of the business, from product and packaging
to advertising and CRM.
This was very much the case when Glossier
launched their latest digital ad campaign starring
none other than @nashe. Never heard of her ?
Us neither. But then she has “only” 400ish followers. While Glossier’s Instagram post reaped the
image benefits of accessible content relevant to
“real women”, their model’s post was her most successful yet, with an engagement rate of nearly 50%
– more even than her wedding photos. Perhaps
that’s the secret to getting the best from tomorrow’s
influencer : empowerment.
22
D O O D L E S TO D O L L A R S
We strongly believe in the power
of the individual to influence her
circle of friends and followers,
no matter how big that circle is
– it could be 100 or 1 million.
Emily Weiss, Glossier Founder
Getting Started with
Micro-Influencers
How to build a
meaningful
Micro-Influencer
Campaign
Socialize
Micro-influencers won’t just fall into your lap,
but they may be closer than you’d expect. Maybe
they’re already hiding among your Instagram followers. Or perhaps you’ll find them by exploring
your go-to influencers’ favorite accounts. Be curious, and keep an eye on your social circles.
Compromise
Micro-influencers don’t have a glam squad or agent.
Nobody represents their brand better than them, and
they pride themselves on the creative integrity their
audiences have come to expect and respect. Don’t
impose a brief, open a conversation. Between equals.
Great things can come from unexpected places.
Prioritize
Pulling off a campaign with tens or hundreds of
micro-influencers takes time and effort. But outsourcing doesn’t have to spell automation. Whether
your objectives are driven by local markets, specific
segments or a mix of the above, invest your energy in
the creative brief and leave the talent scouting to us.
CREDITS
Ed i to r i n C h i ef : Ri c h a rd B r i d g m a n
C o n t r i b u to r : A l izé e Pe r r i n
INSIGHTS N°7
A r t i s t i c D i re c ti o n : H u go M a t h i e u
w w w.y ko n e . c o m
INSIGHTS N°7