• by Tanya Gazdik , January 30, 2020

While celebrity influencers have become increasingly common in automotive advertising, automakers using medium- and micro-influencers are receiving an “exponentially higher average engagement rate,” per influencer marketing platform CreatorIQ, which analyzed results.  

“Mega” automotive influencers (those with over 1 million followers) command an average engagement rate on sponsored content of 2.97%, while “medium-sized” creators (100K-1M) receive a 5.75% average engagement rate. The rate moves even higher with “micro” creators, who have 10K-100K followers: 8.21%. 

Creators with smaller followings tend to have more authentic audiences (fewer bots or fake accounts), and are connecting with dedicated and engaged users, according to CreatorIQ.

The kind of content that influencers share matters. Videos are often “day in the life,” how-tos, or simply “look at this awesome car I tricked out.” 

“That’s what many audiences want to see: a true glimpse inside the life of the influencer,” says Nate Harris, director of marketing at CreatorIQ.

Acura is having success with a YouTube content creator. With 235,000 subscribers, CreatorIQ considers vlogger and auto enthusiast Zosh a medium-sized influencer with a “good” average engagement rate of 6.96% on YouTube. 

His audience skews heavily male (95%), with 61% between the ages of 18-24. When it comes to brands his followers are interested in, it’s automakers all around, with Honda topping the list, followed by Acura and Mazda. 

Acura is sponsoring a series of videos from Zosh, and three of them have received notably high engagement rates. The first one is a raw, unfiltered chronicle of the journey Zosh takes to pick up his new Acura RSX. It has a 10.58% engagement rate.

The next one has an even higher engagement rate -- 10.78% -- and aside from the final few seconds, consists entirely of a confessional-style video during which Zosh is driving around, talking about how his 2019 was overall.

Zosh also documented the arrival and installation of a new set of wheels for his vehicle. This video, mostly consisting of handheld footage plus some time-lapse shots, generated an engagement rate of 8.80%, according to CreatorIQ.