Micro-Influencer Marketing during the COVID-19 Pandemic : New Vistas or the End of An Era?

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses have incurred losses or shut down entirely. At the same time, however, COVID-19 has ushered in new opportunities for some people, notably micro-influencers, whose low overheads make them extremely appealing to companies whose advertising budgets have taken a hit. According to the popular literature, micro-influencers have much greater credibility than popular celebrities and mega-influencers. The findings presented in this study, however, suggest otherwise. Specifically, this study uses both quantitative and qualitative approaches to analyse the results of a survey involving 1,012 participants from Italy, France and Germany, and finds that micro-influencers who are not known personally to their followers have only a minor influence on purchase behaviour