Follower count is the first thing brands look at and the last thing that predicts results. After 420+ Singapore campaigns, here is where each creator tier earns its fee, when to mix them, and the cases where a 2,000-follower creator outperformed everyone.
The five tiers, as we define them for Singapore
| Tier | Followers | Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nano | 3K – 10K | Highest trust per post; audiences are friends and neighbours | Small reach; needs volume |
| Micro | 10K – 30K | Niche authority; best cost per engagement | Reach is unpredictable |
| Mid-tier | 30K – 80K | Reach with credibility; the workhorse of most campaigns | Fees rise faster than reach |
| Macro | 80K – 200K | Launch-scale reach in days | Lower engagement rate; audience is broad |
| Celebrity | 200K+ | Headline moments; media pickup | Expensive; least trusted for product claims |
Bands are calibrated to Singapore's population. The same creator would be "nano" in the US market.
Where small creators beat big ones
The pattern across our campaigns is consistent: the highest engagement rates and the biggest over-performance relative to following come from micro and nano creators in a tight niche.
- Unikul (tankless water purifier): a creator with 2,265 followers produced 184,603 views - 81x her following.
- Camford International College: a 1,360-follower creator did 305,677 views on TikTok.
- Zalora Hari Raya: a 6.7K-follower fashion creator hit 12.98% engagement rate.
- CapitaLand mid-year sale: a 10.4K-follower creator did 344,891 views and 19,000 shares on a single reel.
- Supersmooth: casting brown-skinned creators with smaller followings for laser hair removal; top creator 12.82% engagement on one TikTok.
- Le Rainbow: 3 micro creators, every one over 30K views, 4.41% engagement on 191K total.
Why: a micro creator's audience chose to follow them for one thing. When the brief fits that thing, the content reads as a recommendation, not an ad. The algorithm then rewards the engagement with distribution.
Where you still need macro and celebrity
Small creators are unpredictable individually. If a launch must land on one day, you need reach you can count on. That is what macro and celebrity tiers are for.
- Aveeno's third campaign: 3 macro TikTok skincare voices plus 4 Xiaohongshu creators - 1.73M views, one reel over 1M.
- myRepublic: 13 community-native creators plus two higher-tier gaming voices for guaranteed reach - 911K views.
- Longbridge: 4 creators over 100K views each, 615K+ combined reach, 17 creators across finance, lifestyle and comedy.
- Poh Heng: 58 creators over four months including established names for the launch night, with media pickup.
Macro creators also matter for credibility in categories where the buyer expects a recognisable face - jewellery, premium beauty, finance for over-30s.
The mixes we actually run
Almost every campaign is a pyramid: a few larger creators for guaranteed reach, more mid-tier for credible volume, many micro and nano for engagement and trust. Illustrative starting points by category:
- Beauty and skincare: 2 macro, 8 mid-tier, 20 micro.
- F&B: 1 macro, 6 mid-tier, 25 micro, 30 nano for hyperlocal seeding.
- Home and living: 4 mid-tier, 15 micro - homeowners follow specific reno and interior creators.
- Finance: 3 mid-tier, 6 micro, 1 podcast or long-form voice for depth.
- Fashion and e-commerce: 1 celebrity, 4 macro, 15 mid-tier with trackable links.
- B2B: 6 to 8 practitioner creators, any tier, on real jobs.
Every roster is approved by the client before anyone is booked, and every creator is picked by a campaign manager who has briefed and paid them before - not by an algorithm.
Cost per result, not cost per creator
A macro creator at S$5,000 who delivers 400K views costs S$12.50 per thousand views. A micro creator at S$800 who delivers 30K views costs S$26.70 per thousand - twice as much. But if the micro creator's 30K views produce 3x the saves and store clicks, they are cheaper per result.
The only way to know is to run the first round with a mix, measure against the metric you agreed on, and shift budget in round two. This is why we don't accept "just get us the biggest names" briefs: the data usually says otherwise.
Fee bands by tier are in our Singapore cost guide.
Want the number for your brand? Take the two-minute readiness quiz. It tells us your goal, history and budget band, and you get an honest read on what a first campaign should look like - then a 1-on-1 call with Joshua, our Head of Strategy. No sales team.
Take the 2-minute quizFrequently asked questions
Are micro influencers better than macro influencers in Singapore?
Micro creators (10K–30K followers) deliver higher engagement rates and better cost per engagement, and produce most of the outlier results - a 2,265-follower creator did 184,603 views for one client. Macro creators deliver predictable reach for launches. Most effective campaigns use both in a pyramid.
What is a micro influencer in Singapore?
In the Singapore market, roughly 10,000 to 30,000 followers. Nano is 3K–10K, mid-tier 30K–80K, macro 80K–200K, celebrity 200K+. Bands are smaller than in the US because the population is smaller.
How many influencers does a campaign need?
Anywhere from 3 to 100+. Le Rainbow reached 191K views with 3 micro creators; Pokka put 100+ creators live for a launch. It depends on whether the goal is depth (few creators, more content each) or breadth (many creators on one day).
Do celebrity influencers work for product sales?
Rarely on their own. Celebrities deliver awareness and media pickup; audiences trust them less for specific product claims. They work best as the top of a pyramid with micro and mid-tier creators underneath doing the convincing.