The rise of the 'micro-influencer'

Summary

Business Daily — "The Rise of the 'Micro-Influencer'"

Host: Izzy Greenfield (BBC World Service)
Date: March 6, 2025

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Overview

This episode explores the growing influence and power of micro-influencers in the global marketing landscape. Host Izzy Greenfield and a range of guests—including brand leaders, micro-influencers, and influencer marketing platforms—discuss what sets micro and nano-influencers apart, why businesses are increasingly directing budgets their way, how trust and authenticity drive results, and the shifting financial realities of social media-driven advertising. The episode offers practical insights for brands of all sizes aiming to harness digital influence to reach target audiences in more meaningful, trusted ways.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Defining Influencer Types

• Barbara George (02:56) explains influencer tiers by follower count:
  • Mega: 1M+ followers; broad, mass-market reach
  • Macro: 100K–1M followers; work with big/luxury brands
  • Micro: 10K–100K followers; niche, community-based, deeper trust
  • Nano: 250–10K followers; hyper-local or specialized; strong engagement
  • "They're more likely to collaborate with emerging brands or independent labels."

2. Why Micro and Nano Influencers Are Winning

• Victoria Mutai, Wowzee (09:02): Describes a highly successful one-day campaign in Kenya using 1,000 nano-creators, demonstrating massive sales impact.
• Kanye Kiyuru, EABL (12:56): Details a regional strategy using nano influencers to localize campaigns, boost engagement, and deepen brand relatability.
  • "Macros help us drive awareness, but the micros and the nanos drive significant amounts of trust because they are relatable." (12:56)

3. Trust, Relatability & Conversion

• Khedide Franci, lifestyle influencer (01:42, 17:53, 18:13): Explains why her audience is highly engaged—most followers know her through real-life connections, enhancing credibility.
  • "When I'm influencing a product, the trust they have in something that I'm saying is higher compared to like a macro influencer." (18:13)
• Victoria Mutai (10:51): Relates the concept of "social capital"—the influence anyone holds within their own community on social media.

4. Financial Realities

• Geraldine Da Silva, micro-influencer (07:37–08:33): Shares actual earnings, usually ₹20–25,000 INR (about US$300) per post for fashion brands; food collaborations often barter-based.
• Izzy Greenfield (08:33): Clarifies pay scales—
  • Micro-influencers: ~$300/post
  • Nano-influencers: $10–$100/post
  • Macro-influencers: $5,000–$10,000/post
  • Mega-influencers: $25,000+/post
• Kanye Kiyuru (14:59):
  • "For the same budget I would spend on a mega influencer over the span of a month, I could have about 50 premium nanos or 500 very nano influencers."

5. Broader Industry Growth

• Izzy Greenfield:
  • 2024: Global influencer marketing spend reached $21 billion (02:31); by 2025 over $34 billion (15:20)
• Ben Jeffries, Influencer.com (04:36–06:31): Explains how trusted creator-to-consumer content drives conversion and that influencer budgets are rivaling TV and outdoor advertising.
  • "We've got some brands who on an annual commitment are spending eight figures… as they are in things like TV advertising." (06:08)

6. Brand-Influencer Collaboration and Niche Growth

• Crystal Beecraft founders, Kenzie and Donna (16:03): Small craft business aiming to grow by working with micro-influencers who match their values and niche product space.
  • "We'd favor micro influencers because they seem to be more trustworthy and they have loyal followers… authenticity is really important to us." (16:38)

7. Career, Authenticity, and How Influencers Choose Their Path

• Khedide Franci (17:25):
  • Strives for balance: "It's a tough balance because at the end of the day, every content creator wants to have big following… but again, you can be a premium influencer and have this one brand that is paying you millions… Yes, I want to grow my following, but not past 30,000 followers."

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Relatability Over Reach:
  "The macros help us drive awareness, but the micros and the nanos drive significant amounts of trust because they are relatable."
  —Kanye Kiyuru (12:56)

• On Influence in Everyday Life:
  "Anyone has influence. So anyone who has above 250 followers across any social platform can download our platform on the creator side and be discoverable."
  —Victoria Mutai (11:00)

• Micro-Influence as Authenticity:
  "Most people who are following me are people who I've met through my life… the trust they have in something that I'm saying is higher compared to like a macro influencer."
  —Khedide Franci (18:13)

• Cost-Effectiveness:
  "For the same budget I would spend on a mega influencer… I could have about 50 premium nanos or 500 very nano influencers."
  —Kanye Kiyuru (14:59)

• On Choosing to Stay Small:
  "I still don't want to be a very big influencer. Yes, I want to grow my following, but not past 30,000 followers."
  —Khedide Franci (17:25)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:11–02:56 — Real-life examples of micro/nano influencer content
• 02:56–04:15 — Quick guide to influencer categories (Barbara George)
• 04:36–06:31 — Brand/influencer platform perspective (Ben Jeffries)
• 06:45–08:33 — Micro-influencer earnings (Geraldine Da Silva)
• 09:02–10:51 — Case study: 1,000 nano-influencer campaign in Kenya (Victoria Mutai)
• 12:56–14:59 — Kenyan regional beer campaign; cost-benefit of using nanos
• 16:03–16:38 — Small business and micro-influencer aspirations (Crystal Beecraft)
• 17:25–18:34 — Influencer tradeoffs; preference for authenticity (Khedide Franci)

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Conclusion

Micro and nano-influencers are redefining digital marketing—offering cost-effective, high-impact, and highly trusted channels for brands to engage their target audiences. Across industries and continents, brands are leveraging the authenticity and relatability of smaller creators to spark real engagement and drive measurable sales. For both creators and businesses, the micro-influencer boom offers a future of marketing that is niche, personal, and collaborative.

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Produced and presented by Izzy Greenfield | BBC World Service — Business Daily (March 6, 2025)

Transcript

[Izzy Greenfield]

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk.

[Ryan / Margaret]

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[Izzy Greenfield]

Yeah, just got in.

[Ryan / Margaret]

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[Izzy Greenfield]

Margaret, are you building a teleporter?

[Ryan / Margaret]

No. Yes.

[Kanye Kiyuru]

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[Ben Jeffries]

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[Izzy Greenfield]

Today on Business Daily with me, Izzy Greenfield.

[Khedide Franci]

Hey, my love. So today I was.

[Izzy Greenfield]

When you're scrolling through social media, do you ever come across content like this?

[Geraldine Da Silva]

You can Enjoy a whooping 50% off on their iced coffee range.

[Izzy Greenfield]

And does it make you more likely to purchase a product or follow a.

[Geraldine Da Silva]

Brand specifically tailored for.

[Izzy Greenfield]

Indian companies have been using influencers to market goods for years, but the industry has become more more saturated as brands seek genuine connections and targeted reach. There's one type of influencer that's emerging as a key player in this market.

[Khedide Franci]

Most people who are following me are people who I've met through my life. And when I'm influencing a product, the trust they have in something that I'm saying is higher compared to like a macro influencer.

[Izzy Greenfield]

Introducing the new influencer powerhouse, the micro influencer. In a world where it wants paid to have a huge a huge social media profile, why are businesses investing more in those with fewer followers?

[Victoria Mutai]

We ran a campaign with one of the biggest telcos in Kenya and we did one day campaign and in that day they made so many sales.

[Kanye Kiyuru]

So macros help us drive awareness, but the micros and the nanos drive significant amounts of trust because they are relatable.

[Izzy Greenfield]

Last year, the global influencer marketing value stood at over US$21 billion. It's a competitive industry and the landscape is changing. In today's episode of Business Daily Why is small scale content making such a big impact? It turns out there isn't just one type of influencer. So if you've never heard of the phrase micro influencer before, don't worry. My colleague Barbara George has got you covered.

[Barbara George / Kenzie]

Depending on how many followers an influencer has, they might be categorized as mega, macro, micro or a nano influencer. So what exactly does that mean? Well, I'm here to explain. The numbers here are a rough guide. But the influencers that most people know about are called mega and macro influencers. They usually have huge followings and are influential at a mass market level. They've got broad reach and because of that, they often work with luxury brands or large scale retail names. Macro influencers tend to have between 100,000 and 1 million followers and a mega influencer has over 1 million. On the other end of the scale you've got micro and macro influencers. Their influence is usually within a more specific community and is more intimate and trusted. Micro influencers have between 10,000 and 100,000 followers. And with even fewer followers sits the nano influencer. Their following starts at about the 250 mark. These influencers might be smaller, but they can be myshe. They're more likely to collaborate with emerging brands or independent labels. And that's all for your quick guide to influencer lingo. Enjoy the rest of the program.

[Izzy Greenfield]

Thank you, Barbara. So whether it's a mega influencer or a micro, why could using one be beneficial for a business? The man to tell us is Ben Jeffries, CEO of a company called Influencer.com. his platform connects brands with social media creators to deliver influencer marketing campaigns. They have offices in North America, Europe and the Middle East.

[Ben Jeffries]

Influencer marketing, in very simple terms, is using people with large social media followings to be able to promote a product or service to their audiences. You know, you typically see the these partnerships occur on the likes of Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, all these different social media platforms. The way to look at creators is, you know, you have to think about why have they built these large followings. And the reason they built these large followings is because consumers are resonating with the content that they're actually producing. So consumers are interested, consumers are trusting of the content that they're actually building for a brand. That's really advantageous to be able to tap into that relationship. There's a lot of different advertising and marketing formats out there and there's a place for all of them. But what creators really offer to brands is the Opportunity for consumers to typically see how another consumer in the form of a creator, is using that product or service.

[Izzy Greenfield]

Brands benefit, so do creators and so clearly do businesses like Ben's. His business model is based entirely around linking the two. He's paired influencers with brands like Xbox, Amazon and Levi's. They're dedicating big parts of their budgets to this kind of marketing.

[Ben Jeffries]

We've got some brands who on an annual commitment are spending eight figures. So they're on the realms of, you know, huge numbers. Now these are obviously huge blue chip brands who are seeing influencer marketing as one of their core channels, that they're investing similar levels in influencer marketing as they are in things like TV advertising and also like out of home advertising.

[Izzy Greenfield]

Ben tells me that big budgets aren't essential and that businesses across the world, whether multinational or independent, are spending more and more on getting creators involved in campaigns. Creators like Geraldine Da Silva, based in Pune, India.

[Geraldine Da Silva]

I have my own Instagram page by the same name, Jolin Da Silva.

[Victoria Mutai]

Hey, hey.

[Geraldine Da Silva]

Come, let's check out Jubilee together. I primarily began and started the whole thing as a food blogger. And I think over a period of time, when people, you know, they saw my page, they saw the kind of content I'm making, they're like, hey, you know what you can try your hands on with a little bit of like a fashion thing. You could give it that angle, you could give it a beauty angle. And now I think I call it a lifestyle blog, a page. When I started this, there wasn't really Instagram in India back then. I started my page in 2017 and I've been writing proper blogs since 2015. So there wasn't really. Instagram, wasn't a thing in India.

[Izzy Greenfield]

So tell me about the kind of payments that you would get for a post. How much money are we talking and how much does it vary between different brands?

[Geraldine Da Silva]

So if it's a fashion brand, like say for example, someone's reaching out to me, you know, like they're sending me clothes. So it typically starts from 20, 25,000.

[Izzy Greenfield]

25,000 rupees, just under 300 US dollars.

[Geraldine Da Silva]

And it goes up to, I think in lakhs depending on the followership that you have. However, I think beauty as well, they pay you. The pay range is decent. I wouldn't say it's really great, but I think apparel brands really pay you well. And food doesn't like food bloggers don't really get paid because it's normally about a collaboration wherein the brand invites you, they invite you to have, have a meal with them and there are a set of deliverables that you have to give. So it's a barter thing and I think that's why, that's another reason I want to move into fashion beauty, because I think that's where the money lies.

[Izzy Greenfield]

$300 a post is a typical payment for a micro influencer. Whilst a nano influencer might be looking at around 10 to $100, maybe a bit more. It's different for macro influencers though. They receive an average of 5 to $10,000 a post and the mega influencers can earn 25,000 dol to millions of dollars. With just over 70,000 followers. Geralyn is currently a micro influencer and they're very much on trend with businesses.

[Victoria Mutai]

We ran a campaign with one of the biggest telcos in Kenya and we did one day campaign with 1000 nano creators. In our books a nano creator is someone who has between 250 to to 5,000 followers and in that day they made so many sales that for us that unlocked bigger businesses for us.

[Izzy Greenfield]

That's Victoria Mutai, expansion coordinator at Wowzee, an influencer marketing platform based in Nairobi, Kenya. The company connects brands with everyday social media users to promote products and services.

[Victoria Mutai]

Our mission, or rather our vision, is making social capital tangible and a growth channel for all.

[Izzy Greenfield]

Victoria says smaller creators like Geralyn are more popular than ever.

[Victoria Mutai]

How we define influence is everyone has influence. You could have 50 followers on Instagram, but once you put up a post then you get one like or you get one comment. It means within your, within the potential versus actual reach that you could have potentially reached influence someone's voice. So if I can just define social capital. Social capital. If you think and, and easy. What social platforms are you active on?

[Izzy Greenfield]

So I'd say my biggest ones are probably Instagram and Tick Tock.

[Victoria Mutai]

Okay, has, has any of your friends posted a place or a pair of shoe or something that then prompted you to take action to maybe make a purchase or it created an interest that you saved it for like future.

[Izzy Greenfield]

Yes. This happened probably last week. My friend went to a restaurant, she posted about it and I thought I'm gonna go there because it looks really good.

[Victoria Mutai]

Yeah, exactly. See, so that's influence. That's social capital. That's social capital because you, it's potential, the potential ability to just the resources, the information. In this case it's information sharing. So this information, how, how, how, how, how does Wowzi organize it for us? Anyone has influence. So anyone who has above 250 followers across any social platform can download our platform on the creator side and be discoverable.

[Izzy Greenfield]

Victoria Mutai on today's episode of Business Daily on the BBC World Service, where we're finding out about the rise of Micro influencers mmm, I love ravioli o tanta farm me.

[Kanye Kiyuru]

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[Ryan / Margaret]

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[Izzy Greenfield]

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[Ryan / Margaret]

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[Izzy Greenfield]

What message? Oh hey, we all got bonuses.

[Ryan / Margaret]

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[Izzy Greenfield]

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[Kanye Kiyuru]

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[Izzy Greenfield]

So anyone can be an influencer, but do these smaller creators really make a difference when it comes to driving market value?

[Kanye Kiyuru]

The macro influencers will help you drive awareness, but there's also a bit more of a gap between them and your average consumer. They're extremely aspirational, but at the same time they don't build trust as much as seeing your cousin or someone you grew up with who has a following engaging with a product. So macros help us drive awareness, but the micros and the nanos drive significant amounts of trust because they are relatable.

[Izzy Greenfield]

Kanye Kiyuru is Marketing manager at East African Breweries or eabl, a Kenyan based holding company that manufactures branded beer, spirits and non alcoholic drinks like Smirnoff, Guinness and Tusker Beer. Can you told me about EABL strategy when it came to marketing Tusca.

[Kanye Kiyuru]

So when taking a look at the structure of the influencers that we would use, we found that macros we couldn't really target them by region and make it a tailored bespoke experience for the people within that region. So we piloted our first run in coast in a town called Mombasa and the question was how do we reach people within that town and communicate this experience in a way that feels we spoke to them and feels like it was tailored for their region and that's where the nanos came in. So we had premium nanos who amplified within the region and or people who came from that region. The result was that the first one was very successful. But when we shifted to the next region between the first edition and the second edition, we found that engagement had grown up to 500%. Because as much as the nano influencers were building these bespoke experiences for each region, they're also creating awareness cross region and building this sense, this closeness with the brand. They're increasing the amount of conversation behind it because the brand was becoming more relatable to the consumers.

[Izzy Greenfield]

And is there a cost thing in that too? I mean, I'm making assumptions here, but I assume that it's cheaper to work with those smaller influencers.

[Kanye Kiyuru]

It is, it is significantly cheaper. So I would say that for the same budget I would spend on a mega influenza over the span of a month, I could have about 50 premium nanos or 500 very nano influencers.

[Izzy Greenfield]

Despite its growth, social media influencer marketing isn't infallible in the same way a billboard or television advert can ruffle feathers or even backfire. There's a risk in taking on content partnerships too. And then there's the importance of regulation. There are country specific rules that enforce transparency and consumer protection. But despite those rules, more people are still using it to market their products. Last year, global spending on influencer marketing was over US$34 billion. And it's not just for bigger businesses. Smaller companies and even those in their infancy are thinking about the value of it. Hi, I'm Donna, I'm from North Wales and I am one half of the Crystal Bee craft company.

[Barbara George / Kenzie]

And I'm Kenzie from Manchester and I'm the other half of Crystal Beecraft.

[Izzy Greenfield]

Kenzie and Donna are based in the northwest of England and run Crystal Beecraft. They make hand drawn tarot cards, greeting cards and other collections. They launched on Instagram earlier this year. We really, really want our brand to grow. We want it to be available in many different retail outlets.

[Ryan / Margaret]

We want it to be the go to, we want it to be stocked in physical shops, we want it everywhere and we want it to be accessible for everyone.

[Izzy Greenfield]

And guess what part of their strategy is when it comes to growing the brand?

[Barbara George / Kenzie]

We'd love to work with influencers. We'd favor micro influencers because they seem to be more trustworthy and they have loyal followers. We'd really like to Find somebody like us that liked the same sort of things and was down to earth. But still spiritual authenticity is really important to us. We feel like the right influencer could raise awareness of our brand and get our products seen by the people who will love them. And we need this help because we are so niche.

[Izzy Greenfield]

The engagement rate for micro creators, that's a metric that measures how much an audience interacts with content, is at around 8% compared to 4.5% for macro influencers. But there's more money in macro influencing. So which to creators choose? Big reach or financial reward?

[Khedide Franci]

It's a tough balance because at the end of the day, every content creator wants to have big following. But again, it comes with a sacrifice because okay, yes, you can be a nano influencer and have so many brands who you're working with, but again, you can be a premium influencer and have this one brand that is paying you millions of shillings. I, I still don't want to be a very big influencer. Yes, I want to grow my following, but not past 30000 followers.

[Izzy Greenfield]

Khedide Franci is a lifestyle influencer in Kenya. She's got just over 8, 000 followers on her Instagram account.

[Khedide Franci]

Adopt Perfumes is a brand that has been incorporated into my life and has been.

[Izzy Greenfield]

At the moment she's studying for a career in law and considers influencing a hobby. As a nano influencer, she believes her content is more authentic.

[Khedide Franci]

Influencer. Most people who are following me are people who I've met through my life from high school to university to, you know, so these are people who almost personally know me. And when I'm influencing a product, the trust they have in something that I'm saying is higher compared to like a macro influencer.

[Izzy Greenfield]

Kadide has worked with brands like Coca Cola and Google and gets paid between 100 and 400 US dollars a post. She says influencing is getting more popular in East Africa three years ago, people.

[Khedide Franci]

Are not really open into influencing, but when you look between 2023 and this year, the, the influencer market has really grown. You'll find smaller businesses and bigger businesses. Even when you look at our national tv, you don't have so many advertisements these days. Yeah. So it's something that is rising in popularity.

[Izzy Greenfield]

So in East Africa and around the world, smaller influencers like Kadide are helping businesses to share their brand in a more effective way. No matter the niche, it's likely there's someone who can communicate the message. Whether it's a business, an influencer, or the person putting the two together. If you crack the code on collaboration, you're likely to reap the rewards. Thank you to all of the guests who took part in this episode of Business Daily, produced and presented by me, Izzy Greenfield. And thanks to you for listening.