Vendor reportAspire, 2026

Brands most often work with mid-tier creators (32%), nano creators (27%), or micro creators (27%)

Shortlisting creators

Share of Influencers Worked With by Follower Tier (%)

Share of Influencers Worked With by Follower Tier (%)
Influencer tier	Share of influencers worked with (%)
Nano (2.5K - 25K followers)	27%
Micro (25K - 60K followers)	27%
Mid-tier (60K - 250K followers)	32%
Macro (250K - 1M followers)	12%
Mega (1M+ followers)	2%

Reader Note:: Survey answers from brands about the creator tiers they work with most often. Nano and micro together come to 54%. 74% of the surveyed brands are SMBs running influencer programmes in-house, so the tilt towards smaller creators follows the sample as much as the market. Aspire does not say when the survey ran.
Evidence:: Self-reported behaviour
Vendor interest:: High — This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
Sample:: Mixed methods: Aspire internal platform data from creators and campaigns, plus surveys of nearly 900 marketers and creators; exact split and sampling method not disclosed.

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A rough sense of size and direction, and deciding what to look at first.

Not for

Exact numbers, or saying that one thing caused another.
This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
The source says how much it looked at, but not how any of it was chosen.

Influencer selection is mainly based on engagement rate and audience demographics (94% and 88%), with only 25% using social listening on what consumers discuss

Share of marketers using each data input to select influencers, and what it measures
Data input	Usage (%)
Engagement rate (Influencer output)	94%
Audience demographics (age, gender, location) — Influencer audience	88%
Past campaign performance data (Influencer track record)	81%
Audience interest / affinity data (Influencer audience)	78%
Follower count and reach metrics (Influencer scale)	72%

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Sponsored posts got more engagement when influencers had either very low or very high ad loads, and did worst in the middle

In creator selection, brand fit mattered most and follower count mattered least

Most Important Factor Brands Use When Selecting New Creators to Work With
Selection factor	Brands (%)
Creator suitability or fit for brand	22%
Content performance	17%
Working with a diverse group of creators	14%
Brand affinity, or a history of posting about your client	12%
Follower audience demographics	10%

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Brands most often work with mid-tier creators (32%), nano creators (27%), or micro creators (27%)

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