Chances are, you’ve been swayed and purchased an item based on celebrity endorsements, ads, or a more recent trend, influencer recommendations.
Influencer marketing is one of the well-known examples of today’s new wave of marketing. Brands will reach out to prominent figures or influential people like vloggers or bloggers and actors on social media with massive followings to ask them to promote products to customers on social media in a less sales-y way. You’ll find this marketing strategy commonplace on Instagram.
Since its inception, influencer marketing has paved the way for a more targeted marketing tactic dubbed as “micro-influencer marketing.” So, what is this new marketing concept, and how is it more effective than influencer marketing?
What is Micro-Influencer Marketing?
As the name suggests, micro-influencer marketing practices the same strategies and concept as influencer marketing, but on a smaller and more targeted scale.
Brands tap on personalities with a small following, or between 1,000 and 10,000 followers on social media, to help advertise their products and services to their target audience in a more authentic manner instead of through sponsored ads.
Unlike typical social media personalities and celebrities, micro-influencers are individuals who are generally well-known in their field of interest and generate high engagement rates from their audience. They can help your brand extend its reach in niche areas, influencing the audience to increase their trust in your brand, especially if it’s coming from an influencer they trust.
Now that you know the difference between traditional influencer marketing and micro-influencer marketing, let’s have a look at what this new marketing trend can do for your business.
Benefits of Micro-Influencer Marketing
1. More personal and authentic marketing
Influencers with hundreds of thousands of followers seem more out of reach or more like celebrities than friends to their followers. This isn’t the case with micro-influencers. They are more relatable, approachable, and at peer levels with their audience, allowing them to connect on a deeper level. People perceive them as “people like me” individuals.
Since they have a more tight-knit following, micro-influencers can create more personalized content. Moreover, because they have a niche market and specialize in an area, they are also knowledgeable of the products they use, allowing them to provide more authentic insights about the products they are promoting.
2. More affordable marketing costs
Working with micro-influencers is about 6.7 times more cost-efficient per engagement. Albeit the rates differ per influencer, they charge significantly less than celebrities or high-profile personalities with hundreds of thousands or millions of followers. Brands usually work with more than one micro-influencer to boost their reach.
However, even when you partner with 20 micro-influencers who charge less than $500 per post, it would still be more cost-effective than working with one celebrity who charges $50,000 or higher. Moreover, the results of partnering with more micro-influencers will likely turn out better compared to working with just one big name.
3. Better chances for engagement and conversion
Statistics show that Instagram users with fewer than 1,000 followers earn likes at an 8% rate, while users with 1,000–10,000 followers generate likes at a 4% rate. Meanwhile, users with 1–10 million followers gain likes at only a 1.7% rate. Additionally, micro-influencers generate 22.2x conversations than typical Instagram users.
People often see celebrities and their paid sponsorships as hard sell and highly staged. In comparison, micro-influences’ product recommendations are seen as more genuine and honest. Their small following is at their advantage since there aren’t hundreds of thousands of them, making it easier to engage.
4. Tap on local markets easily
Because their rates are significantly less expensive and many of them have a solid following, you can run multiple marketing campaigns with micro-influencers located in different parts of the country or the world where your product is available.
These days, people discover products based on keyphrases “near me” or tagging their location on search engines. You can partner with a diverse roster of micro-influencers who can help you thrive both locally and globally.
Quick Tips on How Brands Can Find the Right Micro-Influencers
There are different ways to find social media personalities for your brand. Here’s where you can get started.
1. Social media channels
Start your influencer hunt on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. You can search for hashtags to find relevant influencers for your niche. This should help you find micro-influencers who are known in your field.
2. Google
Put your keyword research to use by looking into hashtags and keeping track of trending accounts and pages that generate significant engagement. Keep an eye on those who are using phrases and hashtags that fall under your keywords.
3. Networks
If you want an instant list of potential micro-influencers you can partner with, you can reach out to agencies that maintain relationships with influencers or are handling them.
4. Using tools
Apart from doing manual research, you can consider using tools like Snoopreport to find out what users are liking and commenting on Instagram. Tools like this can help you track their social media activity and provide you a list of potential influencers to reach out to. This can even help you increase Instagram views for your own channel and thus grow your followers.
Make sure to look into things like age, location, gender, occupation/industry, and interest/hobbies to help you reach your target audience. In addition, when deciding which influencers you’d want to work with, make sure to assess their platforms and see to it that they produce quality content and engage with their audience.
You want to partner with micro-influencers that won’t just push your products to say that they’ve done their end of the deal, then collect their payment. Find the ones that take time to shape an authentic and creative narrative that their audience is actually interested in.
Wrapping it up
Micro-influencer marketing is just one of the newest types of more targeted and personalized marketing strategies. People spend a lot of time on their devices, checking their social media on browsers and other apps. Their exposure to digital media day in and day out can largely impact their buying decisions.
Make sure to keep watch of the users tagging your brand and using your branded hashtags on social media. Who knows, maybe they’ll become your next big brand advocate.
About the Author
Eliza Espino is an Online PR Specialist for Spiralytics. She recently began her professional career in digital marketing and is continuously learning about the field. One of her goals is to help grow businesses from different industries. Eliza spends her free time exploring films and series that can make her smile, think, cry or laugh.