This edition of The Superfan Formula is probably written for one of my dearest friends, a big hitter in the music business, a superstar, worked with some of the biggest superstars too. You know the sort of Exec that the trade press writes about. We had lunch a couple of weeks ago (which I paid for) and as usual, we had a heated discussion about the music business, one where as usual, I was right and my friend wasn’t listening.

You see, in marketing circles, bigger has always been assumed to be better. Bigger budgets, bigger audiences, bigger influencers. But the data says otherwise. When it comes to influence, smaller is stronger. Enter the Superfan…or if you’re sick-to-the-back-teeth of that term, let’s call them nano influencer (be warned, another phrase you’ll be sick of, this time next year).

Who is this nano influencer you speak of, I hear you say? Well, they’re the friend-of-a-friend with 1,000 - 10,000 followers who isn’t famous, isn’t polished, but is trusted. When they recommend a gig, a track, a DJ, a boxset, or a T-shirt, people listen. A past edition of The Superfan Formula covered this, when we talked about the Music Biz’s mistranslation of the term “Super serving the superfan”.

“Nanos trade in trust. Micros in authority”

The Spectrum of Influence

For clarity, here’s how the industry usually breaks it down:

Macro influencers: 100,000+ followers. Broad reach, polished output, but engagement often shallow. More billboard than best mate
Micro influencers: 10,000 - 50,000 followers. A bit more reach, often niche specialists, but already edging toward “content as career.”
Nano influencers: 1,000 - 10,000 followers. Everyday people with outsized influence in tight-knit communities.

Nanos trade in trust. Micros in authority. Macros in scale. Each has its place, but only one consistently delivers authentic engagement.

If you follow the Superfan Formula or work with us already, you’ll know our work with ‘Digital-Street Teams’ and the weaponisation and mobilisation of the Superfan. Nano Influencers is just another one of those terms du jour, spouted at Town Halls and Keynotes to give the impression of strategic invention.

“NANOS CONVERT AT AROUND 4.5% VS MACROS AT UNDER 1%.”

The Evidence

Recent studies show:

Engagement rates: Nanos deliver nearly 50% more than micros, and multiples more than macros.
Conversion: Nanos convert at around 4.5% vs macros at under 1%. That’s not a marginal gain. That’s night and day.
Trust: Audiences see nano/superfan as authentic voices, not hired billboards.

So, if you want to bump stream rates, sell tees, tickets, vinyl or even an idea, nano beats macro. Every time.

Why It’s Been a Problem…Well…Until Now.

But to be honest: working with nanos has been a faff. You had to juggle dozens of individuals, each with their own quirks and timelines. You had no control over quality. And scaling it meant endless hours in spreadsheets and DMs, begging for posts. But with fewer people in marketing teams these days, there’s even less capacity to manage it.

Which is why, despite the data, most default to big influencers or blunt paid campaigns. They trade authenticity for convenience.

How About Having Your Cake and…

But what if you could have the best of both? The authenticity of nanos and the scale of macros, without the pain-in-the-arse admin? Well, unless you hadn’t worked it out for yourself yet, that’s exactly what the Superfan Engine is built to do.

“THE SUPERFAN ENGINE TURNS PASSION INTO A GROWTH SYSTEM: INSIGHT, INFLUENCE, AND ACTION ALL IN ONE PLACE”

How We Cracked It

Superfans = nanos: They’re already acting like nano influencers. They share your content, drag their mates to shows, and evangelise. The Superfan Engine formalises this into a coordinated network.
Values, Personality, Interests = Truths: The Superfan Engine isn’t built on vague metrics like CTR. It’s built on knowing superfans’ Values (what matters to them), Personality (how they express themselves), and Interests (the wider culture they connect with) all of which are Truths because they are empirically proven. That means every activation is aligned: the right fan, on the right mission, at the right time. If you can’t see that as a major benefit from the Superfan Engine…like a superpower, then stop reading now. Save yourself the time.
Coordination at scale: Instead of herding cats, you recruit, invite, and integrate fans into the artist’s team. They aren’t a side hustle; they’re active partners and contributors.
It’s all about you: Here’s another big difference. Influencers, even the small, scrappy ones, ultimately prioritise their own brand. They’re building their profile, their following, their value. A superfan activated through the Superfan Engine? They’ve got one priority: your artist. Their credibility comes from devotion, not self-promotion. That’s why their advocacy lands harder.
Quality control: Segmenting, rewarding and a sense of belonging means you identify the best creators, while others learn from the top examples. Over time, the quality curve rises.
Cost-efficiency: No agency overheads. Fans aren’t looking for hundreds or thousands for a post (not to be confused with Hundreds & Thousands - something totally different); they’re motivated by connection, access, empowerment and recognition. We like to create a sense of ‘exceptionalism’ with the Superfan Engine.

In short: the Superfan Engine makes nano influence not just possible, but practical and at a global scale.

What You Get

When you run the Superfan Engine, you don’t have to gamble on whether some stranger’s audience might convert. You already know your superfans are motivated, credible, and trusted in their own circles.

“SMALLER ISN’T WEAKER. IT’S TRUER, FASTER, AND FAR MORE BELIEVABLE.”

What used to be a messy, labour-intensive experiment becomes a repeatable growth system. Nano influence becomes superfan activation.

And for the benefit of my exalted friend, for God’s sake, don’t think this is an, either-or. The kind of nano activations we ignite through the Superfan Engine don’t replace your big-ticket influencer campaign, they supercharge it. Every time a superfan creates, shares, or mobilises, it adds credibility and momentum that your expensive influencer buy can never manufacture on its own.

Put simply: superfans make your macros look better.

And Here’s the Clever Bit

You see the Superfan Engine doesn’t just activate fans, it gives you a global, always-on insight network. A research group of fans revealing why people act the way they do, the human motivations hidden beneath all those vanity metrics your dashboards are spewing out.

From Superfan to Super Influencer. So smaller really is stronger.