Micro-influencer, the new kid on the block: A qualitative study on the role of influencer agencies in micro -influencer-led social media campaigns

Influencer marketing has proven to be a vital part of digital marketing nowadays. Due to its effectiveness in reaching consumers despite the overload of information present on media channels nowadays. Dedicated influencer agencies have risen up, in response to the increasing use of influencer marketing. These agencies provide brands with the necessary tools and expertise for developing an influencer-led social media campaign. This seems highly valuable as many brands are still unaware of influencer marketing. Since the early days of influencer marketing, companies have only focused on collaborating with large scale macro-influencers. However, a relatively new trend has emerged of the so-called ‘’micro-influencers’’. These micro-influencers might require new approaches to influencer-marketing processes. The aim of this study is to identify the development and creation of a micro-influencer-led social media campaign, and the role of influencer agencies throughout this process. The process will be explained through the lens of influencer marketing agencies, as an important intermediary between brands and influencers. To answer this question a total number of eleven in-depth expert interviews with influencer agency representatives have been conducted, following a data analysis through thematic coding. This study shows that the role of influencer agencies could not be completely generalized, as there is a discrepancy between automated and non-automated influencer agencies. However, overall the role of the influencer agency has shown to consist of multiple elements. The influencer agency educates its clients on influencer marketing and micro-influencers and guides them through the development process of a social media campaign. On top of that, the influencer agency ensures an influencer/brand fit for the campaign through the execution of multiple screening processes as well as protecting the microinfluencer’s creative freedom. Ultimately, this will provide the client with the most effective microinfluencer-led social media campaign. This study has also shown that the development process of a social media campaign in cooperation with a micro-influencer as opposed to the macro-influencer is, for the most part, similar to each other. However, there are some essential elements which create a distinction between the two types of influencers. The micro-influencers prove to be effective in reaching a small and niche community. With that, the micro-influencer provides the influencer agency with a fast workflow and high level of flexibility in their cooperation.