For many years now we have been told about social media users with millions of followers being the big influencers in the world, in fact brands are on track to spend up to $15 billion on influencer marketing by 2022. But, it turns out the real influencers in this world are you and I.

It has been an incredible learning for me with Dan about Thailand, one which convinced me people would rather hear updates and information from real people and not faceless media. In a complex world we need people we can trust.

It shouldn’t be about big influencers, it should be about everyone

When I thought about it the answer was obvious – we all trust our friends and family far more than anybody else and if this is the case surely influencer marketing needs to operate in this space. We all have incredible influence over our friends and family and have our own unique reach across social media. It stands to reason this has a value attached to it – and now it does.

I would like to introduce www.youaremia.com.

The Kim Kardashians of this world may have millions of followers and global fame, but when it comes to influencing they have been found out somewhat. We all know they have sold out and are monetizing the reach, so when they say buy the latest make up, health food and the likes; we cannot help but question their motives.

We should be guided by our friends not superstar influencers

On top of that their reach is just far too big to help local marketers with their brands and businesses. It just would not make commercial sense alone to pay these influencers to promote something regional and niche.

Doesn’t it make perfect logic that those with the biggest influence are you and I within our own circle of friends? When we communicate something we do it to our ‘friends’ and not ‘followers’. A friend telling their friend something is far more likely to result in a positive action.

This ‘word-of-mouth’ method of influence is nothing new. According to Nielsen research, 92% or advertisers and marketers say this is the most effective way to drive an action or purchase.

Word of Mouth Marketing now delivered digitally!

The issue until now had been how could business – of any size – scale this ‘word of mouth’ to form a super effective advertising campaign.

Now that solution exists in YouAreMIA.com (‘MIA’ – Micro-influencer anyone). It is an easy to use website that pools together social media users, from initially Thailand. It allows business and brands to target, connect with every day social media users and run powerful advertising campaigns for their business.

YouAreMIA.com manages the whole process for businesses. Everything is done via the website, from setting up their post/message to filtering the social media users you wish to use, by age, gender, region to their interests.

It is easy to use, even if you have no online skills or experience.

Early adopters to YouAreMIA.com are reporting costs per clicks to their websites that are more than three times lower than they pay when using other online advertising options.

If you have a social media account then you can join for free and if you match the profile of an advertisers campaign, then you can share their post and get paid for doing so.

Whether you are a business, brand or a social media user check out www.YouAreMIA.com – Real People, Real Results.