by Lindsey Rivera
Influencers have taken over our feeds - whenever you open any social networking app, odds are you will see content from influencers showcasing different brands & products.
We all are well aware of what influencers are. But what is a “Micro-Influencer?” Why should your brand consider working with them and what unique opportunities do they present?
The days of brands looking solely at follower count when selecting an influencer partnership are no more. Influencer marketing spend has continued to increase every year for the past decade and Code3 Social Strategists are sharing how Micro-influencers can elevate a brand's social strategy and keep you relevant in an increasingly competitive space.
What’s a Micro-influencer?
What makes an influencer a micro-influencer is based on their follower count. A micro-influencer is an influencer with a smaller following on their social platforms, typically ranging from 10,000-100,000 followers per platform. While many businesses naturally presume bigger is better, that is not always the case.
You’re probably asking yourself questions like: how can a smaller follower count benefit my brand? Doesn’t more followers mean more reach, more clicks? You’re not wrong, but micro-influencers offer several unique and valuable benefits for a brand's social strategy. We plan to walk you through these benefits and then tell you how to roll them out.
Benefits of Micro-influencers
Micro-influencers have a unique standing with their followers and can be a pivotal part of your social strategy when leveraged the right way. Here are the top benefits we’ve identified.
Niched Communities
Micro-influencers’ most unique and valuable offering for brands is their audience targeting capabilities. They typically have a very niched community that you can leverage when promoting your brand and products. This makes it extremely valuable for brands as they can pinpoint their specific target audience with a single influencer.
For example, you could work with an influencer who centers their content around a healthy lifestyle to promote your brand's daily vitamin for healthy living. When you have an influencer who is a good brand fit, their niched community will share traits with your brand identity, and thus, be highly interested in your product and most likely influenced to take action.
Higher Audience Penetration & Engagement
Since micro-influencers have a smaller and more intimate following compared to a macro, mega, or celebrity influencers, their following tends to be more engaged. Several studies have shown this to be true. According to data collected by Upfluence, the larger the following, the lower the engagement rate. Micro-Influencers had engagement rates nearly two times higher than celebrity influencers. By working with micro-influencers, you reach a niched community that is highly relevant to your brand, and their content has a higher audience penetration level. Plus the audience is more likely to engage with the content.
Cost and Availability
One deterrent for many smaller brands when they consider working with an influencer is the costs associated and the myth that only large-scale brands can afford to work with one. However, that is not the case. Since a micro-influencer doesn’t have as large of a following as a macro, mega, or celebrity influencer, they come with lower rates. Micro-influencers can be a great cost-fit for a brand with a smaller social marketing budget.
This can be a great way for small to midsize brands to incorporate the unique and valuable benefits of leveraging an influencer into their social strategy at a lower price tag. Not only are there cost benefits to consider, but also availability; while there are obviously more micro-influencers compared to a macro or celebrity-sized influencers, there’s more availability and more of a selection of creators to choose from.
You can also avoid the hurdle of time and creative constraints and lengthy complex contracts that often come with working with macro, mega, or celebrity influencers.
Multi-Market Reach
Given the lower costs and lesser complexity associated with micro-influencers, brands are able to leverage multiple micro-influencers at a time, making them a cost-benefit for smaller businesses and beneficial for those larger businesses with higher budgets.
Instead of leveraging just a single mega-influencer/celebrity, you could work with multiple micro-influencers to hone in on multiple niched and engaged audiences playing to each influencer's differences in their persona and communities. Where one macro-influencer is limited to their single identity and community, brands could instead reach multiple audiences they would otherwise miss by leveraging several micro-influencers for the same cost of one macro.
So, now that you see all the benefits of working with micro-influencers, how can your brand get started?
How to Work With Micro-influencers and Get Results
Follow these steps to start working with micro-influencers in a way that helps you reach your goals.
- Determine your campaign goals and objectives. The first step before selecting a micro-influencer to work with is determining what your objective is for the influencer campaign. Is it to raise brand awareness, increase your follower count, generate brand consideration and site traffic, or drive new purchases? Determine the right campaign objective and goals for your specific brand and product then develop your media plan. This can be inclusive of both organic and paid social advertising content.
- Find the right fit. Once you develop your media plan, the next step is to find a micro-influencer who is the right fit for your brand. Since micro-influencers have this niched community that you will target, it is important to do your research and pinpoint an influencer who identifies with your brand and product, as well as their following. There are two ways you can go about this: You can either perform the research yourself, through in-platform search and contact, or you can contract with an influencer partner agency, such as OBVIOUSLY, Viral Nation, or Moburst, who will do the research and pair you with an influencer who matches your budget and brand identity. The latter option will incur additional costs, but if it is in the budget, it will make your job easier. Due to the agency's qualifications and immense knowledge, they will also likely pair you with your perfect match.
- Coordinate on your content and brand story. Once you are contracted with your micro-influencer, you will then work together to ensure they are aligned on the type of content you wish to see, as well as the platforms the content will run on. The influencer will create the content themself. However, it is important for you to lay some ground rules on the specific verbiage and visuals you would like to see. There are so many creative ways for the influencer and their content to showcase your brand story and products.
- Turn the organic content into paid social advertising. Another powerful way to leverage your micro-influencer content in your overall social marketing strategy is to repurpose the content into a paid social advertisement. Many social platforms have the capabilities to promote an organic post. This will boost the organic content into a paid social campaign layered with your own audience targeting, reaching an audience beyond the scope of your influencer’s following.
If you aren’t leveraging influencer content, you’re late to the game! And if you already are - it might be time to utilize the full benefit and power of micro-influencers. Elevate your brand's social strategy and start incorporating them today to take advantage of their unique and powerful opportunities.
Ready to talk about improving your paid social marketing strategy? Contact us today.
