4 Reasons Why Micro-Influencers Are So Effective and How Your Brand Can Work With Them

Marketing, Companies

Influencer marketing is all the rave right now. Wouldn’t you agree?

It is beyond doubt a really effective form of marketing and has earned its place in the ranks. In spite of its efficacy, not many brands are taking advantage of it.

And their reason for that is valid.

Influencer marketing can be tricky and can lead to losses if not well understood. When you think of influencer marketing, a few things come to mind. Things like:

Finding influencers with an audience that match your brand goals.
Getting your chosen influencer to post about your brand.
Making your brand stand out in a crowd of other brands.

Finding the right balance with these 3 factors that fit your business can be confusing. This is the reason why most brand shy away from influencer marketing.

If you find yourself in this dilemma, this post will help clear things up and put you on your way to incorporating influencer marketing into your plans.

First off…

Who Is A Micro-Influencer?

Or more importantly: Who is an influencer?

An influencer is a person who has a significant level of sway on large group of people as a result of their accomplishments, position, or value. Examples of influencers include Donald Trump, Taylor Swift, Adele, etc. to name a few.

A micro-influencer on the other hand is a small scale influencer. They are also well-known but only have influence on smaller crowd and in a more focused niche. For instance, a local food critic is a micro-influencer as he has sway over how people think of food or restaurants.

Micro-influencers also include local authors, conference hosts, speakers, YouTube vloggers, and more.

One question people have is: How many followers does a person need to have to be considered a micro-influencer?

The right answer to that question is being debated.

Some experts believe that a person with an audience of 2,000 to 5,000 people can be considered a micro-influencer. Some other experts consider people with an audience of 10,000 and fewer micro-influencers.

Putting these two perspectives together, you can safely call anyone with an audience of 2,000 to 10,000 people a micro-influencer.

Choosing a micro-influencer is based on your specific needs and what you may be able to afford.

But…

Why Are Micro-Influencers So Effective?

You may be wondering…

“Why should you use a micro-influencer when an influencer has a bigger crowd?”

And you’d be right to ask that question. However, the answer is pretty simple – cost!

Don’t get me wrong; influencers are powerful. They can make your brand go viral in a mere matter of hours. Who wouldn’t want that?

The problem is they can be pretty pricey; which is why most brands shy away from them.

Micro-influencers on the other hand are affordable. While they may not be nearly as effective as influencers, they do have their perks.

Here are 4 reasons why micro-influencers are effective:

They can help you reach the right audience: Because micro-influencers have a more niched crowd, you have a higher chance of reaching the right people. Influencers may have hundreds of thousands to millions of followers, but one made of people who have vastly different interests. If you own a restaurant, you’d be better off working with a local food critic or blogger, than with, say, Tony Robbins.
They are authorities in your brand niche: As a restaurant, a food blogger knows more about your industry than say, Donald Trump. And so, they’d be in a better position to communicate your brand’s message to their audience. They can better command the attention and sway the decisions of their audience concerning your brand.
People consider micro-influencers as their peers: That sounds weird but it’s true. People may take investment advice from Warren Buffet, but what does he know about a mom and pop department store when he spends hundreds of thousands on groceries and household items? People are more influenced by their peers than people they consider out of their reach.
Micro-influencers can get you more value for your money: Remember how I said micro-influencers are less expensive? There’s more. Micro-influencer can help you spread out your marketing budget and get more bangs for your buck. You could sponsor a single post by one micro-influencer or several posts from multiple micro-influencers. This way, you get to reach large number of targeted audience with the same budget.

With these 4 points, I trust that you see how easy it is to use influencer marketing without spending a fortune.

Armed with that information, here’s a list of things you need to do to get eh best of micro-influencer marketing:

Create A List Of Micro-Influencers In Your Industry

While micro-influencers may be effective, you don’t want to reach out to just anyone with a bunch of followers. You want to make sure you have a targeted list of micro-influencers you hope to work with. Furthermore, making a list will give you an idea of the audience size and how many influencers you are willing to reach out to.

Contact The Micro-Influencers And Ask For Their Degree Of Interest And Rates

You need to reach out to your target micro-influencers and inquire about their level of interest in working with your brand and their rates. You could do this directly or through companies that specialize in connecting brands with influencers. Knowing their level of interest and rate will give you a good idea of who you’d be a good fit and what you can afford.

Develop A Playbook For The Micro-Influencers

Micro-influencers may have the crowd, but you need to be sure they pass the right message. To do this, you need to develop a bunch of guidelines that will help the influencer represent your brand in the best way. This also makes things simple and easy for the influencer.

Make Your Campaign Influencer-Specific

To accomplish this, you may want to create unique social media hashtags for each influencer. Doing this will enable you track the results each influencer achieves. You could also make a list of key performance indicators (KPIs) and ask the influencers to send you analytics on each KPI given.

Monitor The Progress Of Your Campaign

This goes without saying but I am saying it anyway. You want to know which influencers are getting the results you want and those who aren’t. Ensure you are getting adequate ROI and also making necessary changes to get as much as you can from your campaign.

In conclusion…

Influencer marketing isn’t magic; for many brands it’d take a bit of trial and error to figure out what works. With that in mind, you want to make sure you remain organized and pay great attention to details and trends. What works for one brand may not work for the other.

In the end, micro-influencer marketing is worth its salt and has been proven to be effective. It is also adaptable and can be run alongside other marketing types.