Forget the top 1%, it's all about the "middle class" of influencers

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Would you rather fight one horse-sized duck or a hundred duck-sized horses? It's a silly, subjective question that comes up at parties with no right answer…but when applied to influencer marketing, the hundred duck-sized horses is the right answer. To understand why, you need to look at the broader customer acquisition landscape.

Many brands are starting to see the change in how to effectively reach audiences as the cookie approach begins to crumble. Pixel tracking, old-school cookie technology, and mobile tracking (IDFA, AAID) are on the decline after a solid decade of infuriating users. Safari and Firefox already have some blocking in place against third-party tracking cookies, while Chrome, by far the most popular desktop browser, will launch its cookie blocking mid next year.

These are all signs that they just aren't in the future for marketers.

Therefore, a pressing question that big brands need to answer in the near term is how can they understand the appetites, wants, wants, and needs of future consumers if they can't track them as they used to. formerly?

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The answer is simpler than you think. The real opportunity in marketing – which few people are talking about right now – is influencer marketing at scale, especially video creators, live streamers and podcasters. I'm talking about the category of creators who have stable and strong relationships with the community, who know and love their fans: fans who adore them based on authenticity and respect.

It's not just the giant influencers; creators of all sizes have strong symbiotic relationships with their audiences. This relationship is shaped by trust with plenty of feedback if that trust is broken.

For this reason, if Creator Y doesn't like Brand X, they won't advertise Brand X. Why? Because creator loyalty is the same as brand loyalty. And if the public supporting Creator Y feels betrayed even a little, then they will support another creator instead. The risk of elevating something that doesn't live up to the hype isn't worth the reward of getting a paycheck to plug it in. For this reason, creators should always believe in what they advertise, or at least relate to it.

Additionally, because of the relationship with the audience, creators are more likely to self-select offerings that their fans will enjoy and deliver them in an engaging way. This means marketers don't have to work as hard on targeting and messaging, and they don't have to try to get one-size-fits-all slogans across.

Building brand awareness by pairing big-name influencers with brands has been the primary approach for brands trying to break into the livestream space. Having an established creator drinking a branded sports drink is a proven strategy for drawing attention to a product. But with more brands selling directly to customers, there's a strong push to drive sales growth directly. This is where performance marketing comes in.

Today, as brands and marketers rethink their performance marketing strategy, there's a tendency to view the top 1% of streamers as the "everything, the end of it all" for their campaigns. In reality, it is the mid-level (torso) and micro-level creators who connect with their audience on a personal level. Although they have a smaller audience, they are able to create that intimate c...