Influencer marketing has grown considerably in recent years. Two major factors led to this phenomenon, with the result been beneficial to both marketers and individuals looking to make extra income. Firstly, social media has continued to grow each year, becoming impossible to ignore for most brands. This growth has resulted in a rise in regular people growing significant audiences across selected platforms. Secondly, consumers starting paying less attention to certain advertising approaches like display advertising, so marketers began to seek out alternatives.
Influencer marketing has become solidified among online advertising strategies, but new approaches have also proven to be successful. Micro influencers can offer an alternative to the more common approach to influencing, proving more suitable for certain types of brands.
What Are Micro Influencers?
There is no single definition, but micro influencers typically have a lot in common. Many micro influencers have a few thousand followers across popular social platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Numbers can vary, but most agree that a follower count below 100,00 is required to be considered a micro influencer.
Additionally, this type of influencer will be passionate about a certain topic, such as fashion, makeup, cars, fitness, gadgets, and much more. Followers will be drawn to their passion and knowledge, so they build trust among a select audience. The relationship forged with a highly targeted audience makes them valuable to brands attempting to reach these groups of people.
What Are the Benefits of Working with Micro Influencers?
Working with micro influencers doesn’t have to be the only marketing approach you take, but it does have a number of clear benefits.
Trust
Developing trust with consumers is one of the best ways to build a brand. Micro influencers offer the chance to help brands build trust as they usually have a strong bond with their audience. Many social media users follow large accounts because they are recommended to them by the algorithm and they see a large follower count. Smaller accounts don’t have this benefit, so their followers are there because they are engaged with the content.
Dedication
Popular influencers can be inundated with promotional offers, so they might be running frequent campaigns. It is difficult to continuously promote different offers without losing some enthusiasm. Micro influencers, though, promote less frequently, so they typically dedicate themselves to each promotion. You may find a partner willing to go beyond what is expected, becoming long-term advocates for your brand.
Authenticity
Authenticity is integral to an effective influencer campaign. Micro influencers can get results because the authenticity is clear to followers. Rather than relying on one large influencer to reach a large crowd, a number of smaller influencers can bring their own approach to promoting your brand. When there is less sense of a contrived marketing campaign at play, followers feel they are getting an honest communication.
Higher Engagement
Many people online use ad blocking tools to hide banner ads that impede their browsing experience. Businesses need to use other ways to promote themselves, with influencer marketing offering value and interest to users. Just as with most forms of paid advertising, when you focus on highly targeted groups of people, results are more effective. Micro influencers might not have huge followings, but they will usually provide the highest levels of engagement.
What Tools Can Identify Micro Influencers?
Identifying micro influencers manually can be a time-consuming process. Thankfully, there are various tools that can streamline the process.
Influence.co
Influence.co is a platform where influencers and brands can discover each other. Influencers can set up profiles and the service will show their social reach, engagement rates, costs, and other useful details. Brands can set up their business pages, allowing influencers to apply to work with them. Rather than reaching out to people on social media, Influence.co lets you perform some useful research first.
BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo is a comprehensive tool for uncovering popular content and influencers across all industries. You can perform a search for influencers using appropriate niche keywords. The results contain helpful information about potential targets, allowing you to develop a shortlist to investigate further. If you want to broaden your search, you could include bloggers, journalists, and other groups.
FameBit
FameBit is a platform focused on connecting YouTube creators and brands. The service operates a marketplace where brands can post opportunities and creators can send proposals. If video is an important part of your marketing plan, you can use the marketplace to find micro influencers who will mesh well with your audience.
BuzzStream
BuzzStream lets you research and manage contacts, simplifying the process of discovering and contacting potential targets. You can find micro influencers based on keywords or content, looking into their entire social footprint. Along with finding new contacts, you can build a database of influencers you have worked with in the past. The tool also offers data reports to help you analyze whether your work has been effective.
A targeted group of micro influencers can make a big difference to your marketing fortunes. Taking a broad approach to influencer marketing will work for some businesses, but many brands would get better results working with a tight group of specialists. Micro influencers can often be more enthusiastic about your brand, leading to ongoing promotions and a more authentic advertising experience. If you have not taken the time to experiment with influencer marketing already, now is the time to begin.
