Marketers are becoming more interested in micro influencers as buyer demand for trustworthy word of mouth renders traditional digital advertising less effective. These creators are big enough to increase a brand’s reach and small enough to foster peer-to-peer consumer relationships.
A micro influencer has a smaller audience, typically between 10,000 and 100,000 followers. Due to their smaller size, they often build online communities around niche audiences.
That said, each brand may have its own set of criteria about what makes an influencer a micro influencer. Whether you define micro influencers as having less than 10,000 or 100,000, you and your team must be on the same page.
Influencers of every size have unique advantages and disadvantages. But the most significant benefit of micro influencers is that you can target particular audiences, such as niche groups, those located in a specific region, or communities with shared, strongly held values.
In more traditional influencer marketing campaigns, your brand can achieve maximum reach with macro and celebrity influencers since these people enjoy massive followings. Larger influencers are suitable for national and international brands, popular product categories, or any company with a large, diverse customer base.
That said, macro influencers tend to be more costly than micro influencers. And though much smaller, micro influencer audiences are usually more engaged and easy to convert into customers.
With micro influencers, brands with high conversion goals and lower budgets often achieve better results. More prominent brands also use micro influencers, but they may diversify their funding to include macro and celebrity influencers, too.
“60% of consumers say that they are more likely to trust influencer endorsements when that influencer regularly engages follower comments.”
– GRIN, 101 Vitally Important Influencer Marketing Statistics
Micro influencers can more easily engage and relate to their audience when smaller. Many micro influencers are also experts in their field and are better at building trust with fellow consumers.
Studies show that micro influencers have much more engaged audiences. The strong relationship translates into more meaningful interactions in post comments and shares.
Many followers of celebrity influencers may love the celebrity and seek to live vicariously through them, but they’re less likely to feel connected to that individual on a personal level.
Because micro influencers nurture more profound connections with their followers, they are in a better position to help your brand drive sales, subscriptions, and more.
However, micro influencers will not endorse products from brands they don’t believe in. When recruiting these creators, make sure that they align with your brand.
Many micro influencers are just starting or creating on the side. For this reason, some of these influencers are willing to post in exchange for product gifts.
However, offering your creators fair compensation is critical to building trust and long-term relationships. Consider adding them to your ambassador or affiliate team, giving them free products, and offering them a commission on the sales they drive.
While most large influencers hire agents to vet brand deals, micro influencers typically represent themselves. They may also be pickier about their brand partnerships or feel less familiar with how collaborations work.
Since your most lucrative partnerships will be those that last for a long time, keep in mind that many micro influencers become macro influencers over time. So how you start these relationships is key to achieving both short and long-term success.
Not every micro influencer is equally effective or connected to their audience. More importantly, not every micro influencer is a good fit for your brand. To identify the right creator partners, keep the following in mind:
Once you identify your campaign objectives and what you are looking for in an influencer, it’s time to go out and find them. There are a few different ways to begin your outreach.
If you’ve been in business for any amount of time, you likely have influential customers and followers who love your brand. The easiest way to build your influencer team is to reach out to each of them and ask for a shoutout.
Additionally, you may already be getting shoutouts without you asking for them. Using social listening tools or seeing who has tagged your brand on social media, you can locate these brand fans and convert them into sponsored partnerships.
Another great way to find micro influencers is to follow your favorite ones on your top channels. First, make sure that you establish your brand presence on that channel before you start scrolling and following.
Look for active influencers in your industry that serve the same audience. You can initiate relationships with these individuals by following them and then liking or commenting on their best posts.
Disclaimer: Refrain from offering to collaborate with an influencer on a public post or comment. Reserve your outreach messages for direct messenger or email.
Search engines can answer any number of questions, including ones like:
Arts and craft influencers
Simply type your industry, the word “influencer,” and any other descriptors you wish to add.
Using the right influencer marketing platform also comes equipped with recruiting tools such as influencer search and lookalike features. Open the filters within your influencer search and sort by follower size, interest, and more. The lookalike feature will help you find multiple influencers similar to another influencer you like.
After finding the right influencers, it’s time to plan and execute your campaign. Your initial campaigns will teach you a lot about what micro influencer success looks like. As you become familiar with tracking performance and onboarding new creators, you can refine your strategy over time.
Here are common performance metrics you can use to measure the impact of micro influencers:
Micro influencers are increasingly in high demand for ecommerce and DTC brands. Particularly for brands that want to connect with niche audiences and drive conversions, partnering with micro influencers produces some of the best campaigns.
Nutpods recruits many micro influencers as brand ambassadors. In the example above, Gemma (@everydaylatina) promotes a nutpods giveaway event to create UGC and build brand awareness.
Micro influencers drive conversions through discount codes. Some of the most straightforward (but effective) campaigns include product shoutouts with a creator-specific coupon code for followers to use at checkout.
In the example above from Burga phone cases, fashion micro influencer Sky features her case with a matching outfit. Her stylish product integration inspires her followers to shop Burga cases.
Learn more about influencer marketing: Influencer Marketing 101
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