Nano vs. macro influencers: what actually moves revenue

"Get us some influencers" is the most common brief we receive, and the least useful. Nano, micro, macro and celebrity tiers aren't a ladder where bigger is better — they're different tools solving different problems, and using the wrong one wastes budget regardless of how good the content looks.

Nano (1K–20K): trust density, not reach

Nano creators convert because their audience actually knows them. A recommendation from someone whose life you've followed for two years carries a different weight than one from a stranger with a blue tick. Use this tier when the goal is trust-building in a specific niche — skincare routines, parenting, hyper-local audiences — and you're optimizing for conversion rate, not impressions.

Micro (20K–100K): the sweet spot for D2C launches

This is where most of our campaigns live. Engagement rates are still meaningfully higher than macro tiers, but reach is large enough to matter for a launch. Micro creators also tend to have the most flexible, collaborative relationships with brands — better content, faster turnaround, lower cost per deliverable.

Macro & celebrity: awareness, not conversion

If the campaign goal is "more people need to know this brand exists" rather than "this specific person needs to buy today," macro tiers earn their cost. Just don't expect the same conversion economics as smaller tiers — you're buying reach and brand halo, not a sales channel.

The metric that actually predicts performance

Not follower count. Not even engagement rate in isolation. We look at comment quality — are people asking questions, tagging friends, sharing personal stories — versus generic emoji strings. That signal predicts whether an audience will act on a recommendation far better than any vanity metric.

Our rule of thumb

For a new product launch: 70% micro/nano for trust and content volume, 20% mid-tier for reach, 10% macro if budget allows for a launch-day spike. Adjust by category — beauty and wellness skew nano-heavy, tech and finance often need bigger names to establish credibility first.