Opinion: Micro-influencers & minimum edits for macro digital benefits

Ravi Kumar from Madhawks speaks about the rising relevance of micro-influencers, how minimum edits on platforms like Instagram are enabling their growth & a few tips for content creation going forward.

From a college student to a celebrated movie actor, literally, everyone is trying to cope with the hourly changing trends and preferences on social media today. The need to be popular has gained much more importance over everything else. This paves way for editing and getting instant gratification as ‘the thing’ in 2021, leading to the creation and success of micro-influencers. Here is where micro-influencers play an important role in building relatability on social media platforms like Instagram.

The popularity of micro-influencers is acquired on the basis of their choice of niche which touches upon the lives of their followers. Minimum edits, to create natural posts is an art of these influencers, which helps brands associated with them to reach out to the right audience at the right time.

India is home to more than 200 million Instagram users as of October 2021, making it one of the leading engaged/used social media in countries across the globe. One trending move, popular audio clips, stunning transitions and we’ve seen how videos go viral within minutes.

Creativity in content paired with the subtle placement of the brand that an influencer is endorsing can hit the right nail, enabling maximum reach.

Even stats favor the combo of minimum edits by micro-influencers, with around 90% of marketers worldwide having confirmed better ROI (Return-On-Investment) from Instagram campaigns than any other marketing channel.

The Boom of Micro-Influencers

The pandemic has been both a boon and a bane for global living and consumption. The popularity of micro-influencers has been a by-product of this pandemic, removing complexes that audiences have with celebrities and influencers and bringing them closer together via approachability and likability of content. Content created by such influencers included home tours, cooking vlogs, DIML Vlogs, mini-vlogs, throwback travel, etc. keeping audiences connected. Soon, such content started influencing audiences to adopt a similar lifestyle, compelling them to buy brands mentioned in these posts.

What Are The Minimum Edits?

Gone are the days when one had to spend time and monetary resources on production hassles like lighting, locations, music, etc. One can get everything one requires to make posts appealing from the editing features on Instagram. From changing brightness, altering focal points to choosing color tones with just one click, creators can transform a normal image into an eye-catchy one with a wide range of AR Filters, editing tools for vignettes, highlights, shadows, fading, amongst others. In the case of videos, there are endless AR/VR filters, music, video speed settings, transitions made readily available in such applications.

Also read: Opinion: How technology has reduced digital ad frauds?

Minimum Edits & Micro-Influencers

Micro-influencers create content on a daily and sometimes even on an hourly basis to meet the growing expectations of their fan base.

To match in numbers without hampering the quality of their content can be a tough task. To ease the process, magic tools and editing features come to light that facilitate smart work as well. These tools are simple to understand and anyone with basic technical knowledge can use them. This is how Micro-influencers multitask and along with creating their content, simultaneously co-create content, add content to threads, do live feeds, etc. paving the way for better engagement and wider reach.

Benefits & Tips for Marketers

From a photo-sharing application to the most successful marketing platform, we have witnessed the transformation of Instagram into INSTANTGRAM. Since 2019, more than 240 agencies and platforms have emerged to bring brands and influencers together. With every update, both Indian and foreign brands will have to plan their budget for Influencer marketing campaigns.

Here are some tips for 2022 from our in-house micro-influencers to use the minimal edits feature in a more impactful manner

• Use the Golden Hour for better quality images & videos 
• Focus on the content and try to blur the background
• Use contrast to make the picture more lively
• Try a maximum of 3 different filters on your Instagram
• For HD images it’s best to use any softwares that do not compress your edited photo

This article piece is authored by Ravi Kumar, Founder & CEO, MadHawks