Micro beats macro.

The reach trap

Most influencer budgets are built top-down: find the biggest name in the category, pay for the biggest number, hope the sales follow. It feels safe because reach is visible - you can screenshot two million impressions and put them in the recap deck.

But reach is not a sale. When we started attributing every euro of revenue to the creator who drove it, the recap decks stopped matching reality. The accounts with the largest followings were rarely the accounts driving the most orders.

What the published data shows

Published benchmarks across the industry point the same way, and they are worth reading before you build a roster. Three patterns come up repeatedly:

• Engagement falls as size rises. Micro-influencers are reported at around 3.9 percent average engagement against roughly 1.2 percent for mega accounts - the audience is smaller but far more likely to act.
• Cost per interaction favours the middle. Brands are reported to pay roughly a third more per engagement at the macro tier than at the micro tier.
• Buyers follow niches. Brand preference has shifted with the numbers: surveys now put nano and micro creators well ahead of macro as the preferred tier.

Follower count predicts how many people see it. It does not predict how many of them buy.

Why mid-tier converts

The advantage is not the follower count - it's what sits behind it.

• They fit the niche. A macro account's audience is broad and diluted. A mid-tier creator's audience is the exact segment your product is built for.
• They're trusted. Mid-tier creators reply to comments and DMs. Their "you have to try this" reads as a recommendation from a friend, not a paid placement.
• Engagement is higher. Engagement rate tends to fall as follower count rises. A smaller, tighter audience acts more often - and acting is what drives orders.
• Intent is sharper. Selling a running app? Ten creators whose whole feed is that world will out-convert one general-interest celebrity every time.

When macro still earns its fee

This is not an argument to delete macro influencers from the plan. It's an argument to pay them for the right job. Macro creators are worth it when the goal is:

• Awareness for a new brand or launch with no existing audience - you need to be seen fast and wide.
• Credibility by association - a recognised name attached to the product changes how it's perceived.
• Top-of-funnel volume that mid-tier creators then convert lower down.

The mistake is expecting one macro post to close the sale. That's the mid-tier's job.

How to build a roster that converts

1. Make the middle your spine. Eight to twelve mid-tier, on-niche creators should carry most of the campaign.
2. Add reach deliberately. One or two macro names for awareness - briefed to point at the tracked link, not just to post a nice photo.
3. Salt in the hyper-niche tail. A few sub-25k community accounts often deliver the best cost per order of anyone.
4. Track every one of them. A unique link per creator turns the whole roster into a live leaderboard - see why tracked links are the new attribution.