Micro-Influencer Marketing: The Complete Guide With Benefits, Tools and More

With digital marketing, you always have to keep your eye on the next big trend. In this case, it’s micro-influencer marketing.

In this blog, Josh Rohr, the Senior Social Media Strategist will show you how micro-influencers could deliver maximum benefits for your brand.

What You’ll Learn:

• What is a Micro-Influencer?
• Influencers vs. Micro-Influencers
• Benefits of Partnering with Micro-Influencers
• How to Find the Right Micro-Influencers for Your Business
• What Kinds of Tools Help You Find Micro-Influencers?
• Why Should You Partner with a Social Media Agency for Influencer Marketing? 
• FAQs: Influencer Marketing 

What Is A Micro-Influencer?

Micro-influencers are influencers who have audiences of 10K-100K followers. They promote products and services to their audiences in exchange for free products, monetary payments, or both.

You can find influencers across all platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. They are an excellent way to build brand awareness and improve customer acquisition.

My Expert Opinion on Micro-Influencer Marketing

There’s no denying the hold that influencer marketing has on the digital marketing community, but some brands simply can’t afford to make the type of investment.

Enter: micro-influencers. They have smaller audiences and typically require a lower investment but can still deliver big results for specific audiences.

Influencers vs. Micro-Influencers

Typically, there are four types of influencers:  

• Nano influencers: 1K-10K followers
• Micro-influencers: 10K-100K followers
• Macro influencers: 100K-1M followers
• Mega influencers: 1M+ followers

While each type of influencer has pros and cons, many brands are shifting to smaller-level influencers. Thirty percent of brands stated they will invest in micro-influencers in 2024.

Each type of influencer will have various degrees of engagement, with small niche-type audiences choosing to engage and follow smaller influencers for a more personalized experience. 

Benefits of Partnering with Micro-Influencers

While it used to be thought that you had to be a mega influencer to really make it in the influencer community, there has been a shift in thinking. Now, nano and micro-influencers are finding a lot of success. This is mostly due to the massive benefits brands have when partnering with them over macro or mega influencers.

Here are some of the most common benefits of working with these smaller influencers.

Build Authenticity and Trust

According to MarketingDive, 81% of consumers trust social media influencers. Micro-influencers make up 47.3% of all influencers, which shows that your audience is very likely to connect with and trust them. This trust can then be transferred to your brand when they endorse it.

Bypass Ad-Blocking

An estimated 15% of mobile users and 26% of desktop users use ad-blocking software to avoid ads when browsing the web. Unfortunately, for brands, that means that many display ads never reach their intended audience.

By leveraging the reach of “real” users, brands have another way to connect with their target audience. Additionally, the “realness” offered by micro-influencers may also help you get around some of the visibility issues caused by the latest Instagram algorithm change.

Higher Engagement Rates

One of the biggest benefits of working with micro-influencers is that they’re a highly engaged bunch.

They may not have the reach that mega influencers have, but they can truly connect with their audience through likes, comments, and DMs, which you just won’t get with a mega account. 

Additionally, a micro-influencer is likely to discuss pain points and solutions with their audience in a relatable way. On the other hand, a celebrity influencer risks seeming “out of touch” if they take the same approach.

Affordability

Celebrities and macro-influencers are expensive. A single post can cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars, making this option out of reach for small to midsize brands.

On the other hand, micro-influencers are much more affordable. According to Shopify, they usually charge between $100 and $500 per post on Instagram, whereas a mega influencer will likely charge upwards of $10,000+ per post.

The rates are different on other platforms, like TikTok and YouTube, but there’s no denying the affordability of micro-influencers on every platform.

Access to Super-Targeted Audiences

Think about micro-influencer marketing as being similar to your PPC ad strategy. Where small ad groups and super-specific landing pages might not reach a huge audience, you’re reaching an audience that’s more likely to convert than those part of a catch-all campaign.

Although their number of followers is much lower, the quality of those followers might be better, depending on the niche. Micro-influencers across the board have more targeted audiences than larger influencers with followers from across the spectrum.

The goal of influencer marketing is to reach a larger share of your target audience so that you can drive qualified traffic to your site and lock down more conversions.

As such, partnering with a celebrity influencer isn’t always your best bet. For example, if a makeup-brand partners with a celebrity to promote a product line, the brand will reach a huge audience. The problem is, the majority of that audience might not be interested in makeup.

How to Find the Right Micro-Influencers for Your Business

Finding the right influencer to promote your brand isn’t a game of chance. Just as there is a strategy behind finding the right audience, there is also a strategy behind finding the right influencer.

Before throwing money at a micro-influencer campaign, follow these steps to narrow down your upcoming campaign’s wants, needs, and goals.

Define Your Goals

Before launching an influencer marketing campaign, you’ll need to figure out some goals for this strategy.

Common influencer marketing goals include the following:

• Build an audience
• Increase awareness
• Generate leads
• Boost engagement
• Drive conversions
• Build links
• Improve loyalty

Once you have an idea of what you want to accomplish with your influencer marketing campaign, you’ll want to work through the following steps:

Do Your Research

Start by asking yourself who do I want to reach? Define your audience, including buying behaviors, demographics, interests, and preferences. And then find where those people show up. You don’t want to partner with a micro-influencer on TikTok if your audience tends to be more active on LinkedIn.

Next, look at what hashtags or keywords your audience is talking about. Searching for branded hashtags will help you identify users already talking about your brand – which is a great way to find potential influencer partners for your campaign.

As you consider potential partners, consider their followers. Are they engaging with and interacting with this micro-influencer? If they are, there is a good chance they will engage with content about your brand, too.

Qualify

Once you find a few influencers you might be interested in, you have to qualify them. See if they will deliver the results you’re looking for.

Audience – In addition to looking at their engagement with their audience, see if their audience matches your target. Are they interacting with people of the same age and location as your target demographic? Investigate their interests and purchasing power, as well.

Content – What does their content look like? Make sure it aligns with your brand message and aesthetics. The last thing you want is for a micro-influencer to unravel all of the work you’ve done to nail down your brand’s messaging with your target audience. You should also look at when their content is posted. Are they consistent? Do they post content their audience enjoys?

Engagement Rate – Another thing to consider is their engagement rate. To get a micro-influencer’s engagement rate, use this formula: (likes + comments)/total followers x 100%. Once you have their general rate, compare it to industry standards to see if it aligns.

Previous Work Collaborations – Don’t forget to dig into their reputation! Look at past campaign results and other collaborations to see what you can expect from them. Do they talk highly about products? Do they produce quality content that people engage with? All of this can affect your campaign.

What Kinds of Tools Help You Find Micro-Influencers?

Luckily for you, you don’t have to learn how to find micro-influencers from scratch. There are countless tools available to marketers that make it easy to find micro-influencers (or influencer-influencers) in your niche.

Here are a few recommendations, though this is by no means a comprehensive list:

Shopify Collabs

Shopify Collabs is a micro-influencer platform that connects brands with creators that have at least 1,000 followers. 

Shopify Collabs can help you find influencers, connect with your audience, and run your affiliate marketing program. All Shopify merchants can use this platform for free. When a micro-influencer makes a sale, Shopify will pay them directly, minus an additional 2.9% payment processing fee that the brand pays.

Stack Influence

Stack Influence is another UGC and micro-influencer marketing platform. Stack connects micro-influencers with brands by offering creators products in exchange for a review. Over 11 million influencers are registered in Stack Influence’s database. They are organized by niche and have all been properly vetted by demographics and psychographics.

The platform handles everything from sourcing the influencers to completing the campaign. Brands pay a fee when the influencer completes their requirements and all influencers are paid solely in product.

Neoreach

The platform will help you find, negotiate, and pay influencers for your brand. It can also provide campaign strategy and direction. Depending on the brand and its needs, costs range between $24k and $500k per year.

Influencity

Another option for sourcing influencers is Influencity, a Madrid-based online platform. The platform can help you pinpoint ideal influencers, obtain access to their stats and data, manage your campaign, and more. After a free trial, monthly prices range from $158 to $1,000, depending on the needs and size of the brand.

Why Should You Work With a Social Media Marketing Agency for Influencer Marketing?

Even with the right tools and tactics in place, building out a micro-influencer strategy is a lot of work. Getting this right isn’t a one-time thing. Recruiting and managing influencers is a long-term strategy that depends on relationship-building, collaboration, and constant measurement.

Here are just a few reasons to hire a social media marketing agency to help you make the most of your influencer marketing strategy.

1. Maintaining Long-Term Partnerships – An agency can help you nurture relationships with influencers and encourage long-term and successful collabs. On the other hand, they will also nurture a relationship with you. A true understanding of your brand will help them better understand your needs and target their search for influencers.

2. Proper Qualifying Process – Agencies do this work each and every day. They know what to look for when qualifying influencers. They will be able to work through the evaluation process and ensure that your brand’s reputation is properly cared for.

3. Scale Your Program – As you scale your influencer program, an agency is there every step of the way. They will be able to help you expand your network through their established relationships, as well as provide detailed reports and ongoing monitoring to ensure that your program is moving in the right direction.

4. Access to Specialized Tools and Platforms – Agencies will be able to access more data than brands typically can on their own. Their advanced search capabilities will lead to data-driven partnerships that are more likely to succeed.

FAQs on Micro-Influencers

1. What is a micro-influencer?

A micro-influencer is an online content creator that promotes brands and businesses in exchange for money, free product, or both.

2. What is a micro influencer follower count?

A micro-influencer generally has been 10k and 100k followers on one singular platform.

3. What are some brands that work with micro-influencers?

A lot of brands work with micro-influencers including Audible, HelloFresh, Airbnb, Coca Cola, Sephora, and more!

Expand Your Reach with Micro-Influencer Marketing and Ignite Visibility

Whether you want to expand your influencer marketing strategy or start one from scratch, Ignite Visibility is here to help!

Our experts can help you with every step of the way, from establishing goals and objectives to securing influencers and running a successful campaign.

We can:

• Help you partner with influencers who build connection with your audience
• Manage micro-influencer partnerships
• Tap into an established, loyal audiences

Are you ready to tap into this valuable opportunity? Schedule a consultation today!