AcademicJournal of Marketing & Social Research, 7 Jul 2025

Engagement climbed as influencer size got smaller, reaching 8.4% for nano influencers

Shortlisting creators

Engagement rate by influencer tier

Engagement rate by influencer tier
Influencer tier	Engagement rate (%)
Macro	1.8%
Micro	5.7%
Nano	8.4%

Reader Note:: The same engagement values also appear in the descriptive statistics table and the engagement chart.
Evidence:: Observed behaviour
Vendor interest:: None
Sample:: 63 influencer marketing campaigns in niche markets, using secondary campaign data from influencer marketing platforms, brand reports, social media analytics tools, and industry reports, plus 3 purposefully selected case studies.

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Comparing yourself against a similar segment, and choosing what to test next.

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Saying that one thing caused another, or predicting what you would get.
The source never says when this data was collected. It could be considerably older than the publication date suggests.
The source never says how this number was measured.

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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Engagement climbed as influencer size got smaller, reaching 8.4% for nano influencers

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