Margie Barkley: Working With a Micro Influencer: Small Following Big Impact

Bigger is not always better. These sayings may be cliches but they are particularly true in the case of micro influencers. Micro influencers can make a huge impact on your social media marketing goals.

Before you begin DMing each micro-influencer that you follow, it is important to first be able answer a few simple questions.

What is a micro-influencer? What are their strengths? Where can you find the elusive social media fairies that are so hard to locate? In this blog, we’ll address all these questions and more.

Download the Influencer Campaign Template for Brands to plan your next campaign easily and select the best social media influencers to work with.

What is a micro-influencer?

A micro-influencer is the same thing as an influencer, but on a smaller level.

Micro influencers are also influencers who promote brands, products or services to their audience in exchange for a fee. Micro influencers typically have 10k-50k followers.

If you want to know more about other types of influencers such as nano-influencers or mega-influencers then check out our guide on influencer marketing.

There are micro influencers on every platform that there are regular influencers.

Caroll Salazar aka MakeupHuney has 32k Instagram followers, making her a micro influencer.

See this post on Instagram Caroll Salazar shared this post (@makeuphuney).

Maxime Senior is a travel blogger and mezcal enthusiast with 31k followers.

Even YouTube has its share of micro-influencers. PlantingAshley is an example of a popular plant lover and vlogger who has 34k followers.

Why use micro-influencers for your next marketing campaign

The right micro-influencer can bring a lot of value to your marketing campaign.

Many micro influencer campaigns have been deemed more authentic and cost-effective. Micro influencers are often praised for their high engagement rates.

Here are some convincing reasons to work with micro-influencers if you’re interested in experimenting with influencers.

Cost-effectiveness

A partnership with a mega or macro-influencer can be too expensive, especially for small brands. The smaller audience of a micro-influencer translates into lower fees for small brands.

You may still want to consider the benefits of a micro-influencer even if your budget allows for one.

You can reach a wider audience by working with multiple micro-influencers instead of just one or two macro influencers.

uthenticity

There are many reasons why micro influencer marketing feels more authentic.

Experts in their niches, micro influencers tend to be. They’ve often built up a loyal audience on a particular topic. They can therefore offer real insights and connect with their audience more personally.

See this post on Instagram

A post shared by susiesnaps_ (@susiesnaps_).

Susiesnaps is an Instagram mommy blogger who focuses on health and wellbeing. Her collaboration with Bio-K Plus is a good fit with her feed and audience. She did a 12-day Well-Being Challenge for the client, and shared it with her audience.

Higher engagement rates

Micro influencers are usually able to easily communicate with a small, niche audience. They can generate higher engagement than macro and mega influencers.

Give Hootsuite’s unified inbox, if you struggle to stay on top of your community engagements, a go.

Micro influencers have smaller audiences but they are united by the same interest. Macro-influencers are huge, but they have a more diverse audience.

The micro influencers also have a closer relationship with their audience. It’s easier to interact with 100 people who comment on your post than it is to wade through thousands of comments.

Brands often work with micro-influencers to promote a product or service and use their high engagement rate to reach a wider audience.

Access to niche audiences

As we have mentioned, micro-influencers are usually focused on a particular niche or interest. These interests often reflect their passions in real life. Working with them allows brands to reach their niche audience – people who are already engaged and passionate about a particular industry.

As, for instance, those who consider their pets to be a member of the family.

See this post on Instagram

Tabor Challenge shared this post (@taborchallenge).

By aligning your brand with micro influencers, you can reach an audience that is more qualified and focused for your product or services. Micro influencers are a great way to connect brands with niche audiences, but it is important to do your research before jumping into a partnership.

Find the best micro-influencers to partner with

How do you choose the best micro-influencer for your business? Here are some steps you can take to find the perfect micro-influencer for your brand.

Step 1: Determine your goals

Identifying your goals is the first step to finding the right micro-influencer for your brand.

What is the desired outcome? What is your desired outcome? What does success mean to you at the end of this engagement?

You can then be more upfront with your influencer about the goals you have set.

Step 2: Define your audience

It is important to define your target audience in order to connect with the best micro influencer. Finding a content creator who aligns with the brand values and appeals your audience can be easier if you know your target audience.

Don’t worry if you haven’t defined your audience properly. Use the worksheet to get to know your audience and learn more about them!

Finding a micro-influencer that focuses on your same audience will make your marketing campaign feel more genuine and trustworthy. This will increase engagement and conversion rates.

Step 3: Find influencers

Research micro-influencers after you have determined your goals and target audience. Search Instagram by clicking on the accounts of micro-influencers that you admire or searching hashtags.

Analyze their content, their audience engagement and their social media channels. You should look for consistency, relevance to your brand and the authenticity of their interactions.

Do not send any DMs yet. You have more work to complete first.

Step 4: Collaboration and creativity

You’ll always want to collaborate with influencers, but it is important to decide how much creative control (if any) you want to retain. You can either give them complete creative control or you can specify certain points that you would like them to cover.

Some micro-influencers don’t want brands to give them creative direction, while others do. Before extending a partner agreement, you should determine what your comfort level is.

Step 5: Set your budget

Determine the budget that you will allocate to your micro-influencer campaign. You can then automatically select influencers that are within your budget.

Understanding the average influencer prices in your industry can help you determine a budget that is reasonable.

Step 6: Making the final decision

*Play the Final Countdown Music*

After you’ve completed your research and planning, it’s now time to choose your micro-influencer. Send out an engagement request, look over their proposal and see if magic can happen.

After you have agreed to collaborate, formalize your agreement with contracts and agreements that outline the terms of collaboration and expectations. Plan your campaign together with the influencer. Include timelines and expectations for content.

Track the progress of your campaigns. You might need to request access to their reports or analytics.

Successful micro influencer campaigns

Here are some examples of successful micro-influencers who have partnered with brands.

Ndeye x Sephora

Sephora’s Sephora Squad is a campaign that involves many collaborators, from micro- to macro-influencers. This campaign highlights the brand’s commitment to inclusivity as well as how it uses its platform to inspire people from all walks.

Ndeye Péinda is a plus-size model and vlogger, as well as a beauty blogger. She is a perfect Sephora fit, not only because of her values but also because she uses Sephora products legitimately in her content creation.

@sephora

A beautiful day for #SephoraSquad Member @Brandyn (they/them). Want to be part of the Sephora Squad 2023? Apply at sephorasquad.com by 4/4.

Original sound – sephora

Melizzablack x Disney Cruise Line

Melizza, a self-declared fairy godsister is the queen of fangirl style.

She is an Instagram micro-influencer who loves Disney to the point that she got up at 1 am to run the Princess Half Marathon weekend. She was hosted by RunDisney during the weekend and ran 10k in Disney World before its opening.

Melizza also was hosted by Disney Cruise Line where, it is assumed, she received comped Disney Cruise tickets for her posts (she hash-tagged all of her posts #hosted). Melizza, who is a Disney fanatic, is the perfect micro-influencer for this partnership.

See this post on Instagram

A post shared by Melizza (@melizzablack)

San J Kumars x Mejuri

San Kumars is a micro-influencer specializing in dance, fashion and modeling. She joined Mejuri’s Fine Crew program. Fine Crew is a program that involves many partnerships and compensations. These include gifts, retainer fees, commission payments and paid placements.

Kumars stated that she had been a Mejuri customer “long before” becoming a partner. The working relationship followed a natural course. She added, “Mejuri is doing a great job of collaborating with expanding accounts by communicating effectively deliverables, answering quickly to partner’s questions, and supporting content producers.”

To be a successful brand partner with micro-influencers, you must communicate effectively and clearly.

See this post on Instagram

A post shared by SANJ KUMAR

ashika Jikaria x Dunkin Donuts

Aashika Jikaria is a micro-influencer who has 13,000 Instagram followers and 12,900 TikTok followers. She was able to secure a Dunkin’ Donuts collaboration for a fall seasonal drink. Jikaria stated that they “didn’t require many edits which helped me to stay true my brand, and the giveaways enhanced engagement on my posts.”

What are two things that brands can learn from this partnership. The ability to create and give away products can increase engagement and foster trust.

@aashikajikaria

What could be better than an Iced Chai Latte topped with Pumpkin Cream Cold Foam?

@dunkin @internqueen #ad

Chill Vibes – Lofi Sleep Chill & Study & Lofi Hip-Hop Beats & LO-FI Beats

How to measure your micro-influencer campaign’s success

You’ll want to know how your micro-influencer campaign performed once you’ve wrapped it up. You can request a report of the micro-influencer with whom you worked and see the complete picture.

Look back on the goals that you set up for your campaign, and see if they were achieved. It’s okay if you don’t, as every failure can be an opportunity to learn. Note down where you failed and what you did well.

You can then use the information you have learned to improve your next campaign. You can improve your micro-influencer campaigns by constantly improving your approach.

Hootsuite makes influencer marketing easy. From a single dashboard, you can schedule posts, engage with influencers and research your industry. You can also measure the success of campaigns. Test it for free today.

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