The rise of micro-influencers, or brand advocates with fewer than 10,000 followers, has made a big splash in the influencer segment for their ability to successfully engage audiences on smaller marketing budgets.

Now a recent study conducted by influencer marketing platform SocialPubli.com shines some light on the habits and engagement patterns of this niche area of the influencer category.

The SocialPubli.com study discovered that these brand advocates are uniquely prolific. More than three-quarters (77 percent) publish content on a daily basis, and nearly half (48 percent) publish at least twice a day. More than a third (37 percent) recommend products or services on a daily basis, and 84 percent do so at least once a week.

Not surprisingly, social media remains micro-influencers’ primary stomping grounds: 80 percent of these brand advocates said they spend at least three hours a day on social media sites, and nearly half (47 percent) said they devote more than five hours a day to these platforms.

instagram
Influencers’ favorite social networks.

Instagram was cited as micro-influencers’ preferred social media network, with 61 percent citing the photo-sharing site as their favorite platform. The study also discovered that micro-influencers generate seven times more engagement with followers on Instagram than the average engagement generated by third-party spokespersons with much larger followings, such as celebrities or athletes.

Virtually all of the brand advocates polled (99 percent) said they believe in the products and services they promote. In terms of the specific traits that are most important to their engagement activities, 32 percent cited authenticity, followed by sharing quality content (27 percent). 14 percent also said a brand’s values must be aligned with their own.

More than half of micro-influencers (52 percent) also said they view influencer marketing as a viable career path they hope to someday turn into a full-time job. However, fewer cited competitive compensation (30 percent) as the main motivating reason to work with a brand multiple times than simply being fans of the product (37 percent).

On the other hand, 68 percent admitted they feel the work they do engaging audiences often goes unrecognized.

SocialPubli.com’s “2018 Global Micro-Influencer Study” polled 1,000 micro-influencers from nearly two-dozen countries between May and June.