Have you ever been convinced to buy something based on the recommendation of a celebrity you were following on social media?

When it comes to products and services, you as a consumer tend to follow suggestions from what you consider your inner circle—friends, family, and sometimes, your favorite social media star. Marketers know this all too well, and they take advantage of it through Influencer Marketing.

There’s a new emerging branch of Influencer Marketing that uses neither celebrities nor famous brand ambassadors.They are known as “micro-influencers.” These are real people from different categories—lifestyle, gaming, food, travel, motherhood, and others—who gain a fierce, loyal following because of their knowledge and passion about what they do. As a result, they are seen as a trusted source of product and service recommendations.

Micro-influencers are well-known in the advertising industry for their ability to generate positive word-of-mouth about whatever they feature. According to a study, around 82% of consumers would follow a purchase recommendation from a micro-influencer. Why is this so? How does a non-celebrity get to convince so many people? And how can it affect your online business?

The numbers don’t lie, 94% of marketers who have tried Influencer Marketing believe it’s an effective strategy. There are several different reasons as to how a micro-influencer can provide better results for your brand. Here are some of them:

Promotes Your Brand through Better Engagement

Micro-influencers get higher engagement rates because of their perceived authority over a particular interest area. An analysis conducted by a digital marketing company reveals that micro-influencers on Instagram conduct 22.2 times more conversations than the typical users. Even those with fewer than 1,000 followers can generate likes 8% of the time.

Exposes Your Brand to a More Targeted Audience

Let’s say you own a clothing brand. You’d think partnering with a fashion micro-influencer could only expose your brand to a small pool of a thousand to 10,000 followers. The operative word to remember is “targeted.” A large portion of these audiences are loyal consumers that often not only patronize but also promote your products, leading to higher conversation rates.

Provides Your Business a More Affordable Option

A company that connects brands to influencers reveals that a social media user with three to seven million followers charges an average rate of $75,000 for a single post on Instagram, $187,500 for a YouTube post, and $30,000 for a Twitter post. Meanwhile, partnering with a micro-influencer will only cost you an average of less than $500 for each post.

Helps Build Interest Around Your Brand

Major influencers and celebrities who handle multiple accounts usually have social media managers to help them. Micro-influencers tend to post their own content and even take their time to reply to comments. If followers see this type of engagement, they will become more interested in the brand being featured.

Many businesses today still see celebrities as the ultimate market influencer, not knowing that tapping into micro-influencers can give them a much bigger opportunity.

Micro-influencers strive to make authentic connections with their followers by engaging in more product-related conversations. They are also more direct in their recommendations. Let’s take a beauty brand for example. Promoting a cosmetic product can be quite personal and requires trust. A micro-influencer can be very effective in this category because they have already established a group of loyal followers.

In sum, micro-influencer marketing can be a great investment for any company as long as you find the right one for your brand. Smaller businesses who need to get their names out can greatly benefit from it. Remember, consumers trust micro-influencers more because they walk the line between a social media star and the average consumer.