The internet has finally become sophisticated enough to give traditional marketing outlets a run for their money, and after a decade working for media giants, I can tell you — even billion-dollar brands are struggling to adapt.

But with great change comes massive opportunity. At Takumi, we believe micro-influencer marketing is one of the few ways brands can achieve sustainable growth in the new world of marketing — and we’re here to help you do it right.

Let’s start by tackling your biggest questions head on.

Why should I work with a micro-influencer versus a macro-influencer or celebrity?

In the social media era, consumers expect a level of closeness and authenticity never before seen in traditional marketing. They don’t want to see Cindy Crawford holding a can of Pepsi. They want to know how she feels when she breaks her supermodel diet just so she can taste it.

Micro-influencers deliver on the promise of connection. They tell personal stories and take time to respond to every comment. There’s nothing “Hollywood” about it, and that’s why audiences love them.

Instead of rolling the dice on a celebrity or a handful of macro-influencers, you can diversify your marketing investment by working with a powerful mix of engaged micro-influencers. It’s authentic customer engagement, at scale.

Can I sign off on the creative before it goes live?

This is one I hear a lot. At Takumi, we have an influencer first philosophy, meaning we don’t allow content pre-approval.

It may feel counterintuitive, but it’s for your own good. Here’s why.

By putting the influencer first, you ensure your campaign is selected by micro-influencers who love your product and understand your brand. There’s no need to monitor their voice because they already speak your language.

When brands attempt to manipulate an influencer’s vision and creativity, it dilutes or even destroys the message. Followers can easily sniff out a contrived post — and in the new era of marketing, the follower’s opinion is the only one that matters.

We’re here to help you find (and profit from!) the right balance of authenticity and control.

Can I review the list of influencers?

No need. We ask the micro-influencer to pick you (not the other way around) and we have a very comprehensive method of matching brands with the right micro-influencers.

And that is a beautiful thing. The process of vetting, selecting and negotiating with an influencer can take weeks or even months. It’s a burden on your time and team.

Many platforms try to sidestep this problem by serving up brand offers to influencers with no regard for who they are or what they’re interested in. Influencers must actively decline offers that don’t align with their brand or audience. Worse, they may be tempted to take offers that aren’t a fit, resulting in a major discord in your brand message and a backlash from followers.

We’ve removed the risks and bottlenecks of influencer whitelisting to make it possible to access prequalified audiences at scale.

How do I know I’ll get the right balance of reach and engagement if I can’t select the content and influencers myself?

Great question! With clear data showing engagement decreases as the number of followers increases, marketers feel forced to choose between engagement and reach.

But with scalable micro-influencer marketing, there’s no tradeoff.

You keep engagement rates high at 2 to 3%, and have the ability to reach millions of followers without diluting the integrity of your brand.

How can I measure the ROI?

This is a tricky one. Unfortunately, influencer marketing — especially on most social media platforms — is still too new to have a well-paved attribution path. That’s why most influencer campaigns focus on brand marketing campaigns as opposed to direct marketing campaigns.

When it comes to brand marketing, influencer campaigns do provide clear CPE metrics to help marketers measure their cost effectiveness compared to other channels.

In our recent study with All Bar One, they saw a 28% sales uplift during their campaign with us — we were the only media live at the time. We have a solid track record of over 2.5% engagement on Takumi campaigns, and we’ve worked with over 500 brands who have made micro-influencer marketing a key part of their strategy.

In the not too distant future, we’ll see influencer marketing reach the critical mass required to track ROI more effectively, when it comes to direct response campaigns. But there’s enough evidence to safely say, this is no passing fad.

Can I reuse the asset?

Absolutely!

We only work with the best content creators, and because the content is socially native, it’s great for keeping engagements high across marketing channels. Many of our customers repurpose the content on their own social channels and website, or use it as a way to fuel paid social adverts.

In our agreements with influencers, they retain ownership of the assets while giving brands the right to use the images on all digital media. It’s a true win-win. Though crediting the influencers isn’t required, it’s a great way to reinforce brand credibility while promoting awareness for the influencer.

What data can you give me?

Glad you asked. We’re actively expanding our data capabilities to help brands connect more deeply with the audiences we’re reaching in two key ways.

Firstly, we’re developing an audience modelling tool so you can dive deeper into the data and see exactly who is engaging with the influencer’s content. Secondly, we’re helping deepen your connection with those consumers by enabling brands to use that data to retarget followers on any digital platform.

For example, in the future, a brand like Samsung can retarget a user who’s seen one of our influencer’s posts to continue the dialogue and integrate influencer marketing into the path to purchase.

I’d love to know what other questions you have. Drop me a line at emily.young@takumi.com.

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