Working With a Micro Influencer: Small Following, Big Impact

Good things come in small packages, and bigger isn’t always better. Okay, they’re cliches, but these sayings are especially true when it comes to micro influencers. Using a micro influencer in your marketing strategy can have a big impact on your social media goals.

But before you start DMing every micro influencer you follow, you first need to be able to answer a few questions.

Like, what is a micro influencer? What can they bring to the table? And where can you find these elusive social media fairies? We’ll answer all of that and more in this blog post.

What are micro influencers?

A micro influencer is the same as an influencer but on a smaller scale.

Like other influencers, micro influencers promote products, services, or brands to their audience for a fee or trade in-kind. On average, micro influencers have between 10k to 50k followers.

(If you’re wondering about the other types of influencers, including nano-influencers and mega-influencers, check out our complete guide to influencer marketing).

Micro influencers exist on all platforms that regular influencers do.

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

Dear hoME on Pinterest has 14k followers, for example, and Maxime Senior, exploraddict on TikTok, is a travel and mezcal blogger with 31k followers.

Even YouTube has its fair share of micro influencers. PlantingAshley, for example, is a famous plant lover and vlogger with 34k followers.

Why should you use micro influencers in your next marketing campaign?

There are a ton of benefits the right micro influencer will bring to your marketing campaign.

Micro influencer campaigns are often deemed to be more cost-effective and authentic. Plus, micro influencers often boast high engagement rates.

If you want to start experimenting with influencer marketing, here are a few convincing reasons why you should consider working with micro influencers.

Cost-effectiveness

The cost of partnering with a macro or mega-influencer for a campaign can be out of reach, especially for a small brand. A micro influencer’s smaller audience generally translates to lower fees, which benefits small brands significantly.

Even if you have the budget for a macro-influencer, you may want to still consider the benefits of the micro.

Instead of working with one or two macro-influencers, you can work with several micro influencers, potentially maximizing your reach and engagement rates over a more diverse audience.

Authenticity

Micro influencer marketing tends to feel more authentic, and there are lots of reasons for that.

Micro influencers are typically experts in their respective niches. Often, they’ve built a loyal following on a specific topic. Because of that, they can offer genuine insights and opportunities to connect with their audience on a more personal level.

Susiesnaps, on Instagram, for example, is a mommy blogger with a focus on health and wellness. Her collaboration with Bio K Plus fits in well with her overall feed and her audience. She completed a 12 days of Well-Being Challenge with the client and posted about it while interacting with her audience.

Higher engagement rates

Micro influencers typically have a niche audience and loyal following, one they can easily converse with. As a result, they have the potential to generate higher engagement rates than macro or mega influencers.

Psst: If you’re struggling with staying on top of community engagement, give Hootsuite’s unified inbox a try.

And micro influencers may have smaller audiences, but those followers are usually united by a common interest. Macro or mega-influencers have huge followings, but their audiences are more varied.

Micro influencers are also closer to their audiences. After all, it’s much easier to engage with 100 people commenting on your posts rather than wading through thousands of comments.

Most brands collaborate with micro influencers for a particular product or service promotion and utilize their high engagement rates to get their message across to a broader audience.

Access to a niche audience

Like we’ve mentioned above, micro influencers usually have a specific niche or interest. These interests, more often than not, reflect their real-life passions. By working with them, brands have the opportunity to tap into their niche audience, people who are already passionate and engaged in a specific industry.

Like, for example, those who treat their pets as a part of the family.

When you align your brand with a micro influencer, you can reach a more qualified and targeted audience for your product or service. Micro influencers can make connecting brands to a niche audience easier, but you need to do your due diligence before you leap into a partnership.

How to find the right micro influencer to partner with

With so many micro influencers out there, how do you find the right one for your brand? Here are some practical steps to help you find the ideal micro influencer for your business.

Step 1: Identify your goals

The first step in finding the perfect micro influencer for your brand is to identify your goals.

What is your desired outcome? Are you seeking to increase engagement, drive more traffic to your website, or boost brand awareness? At the end of this engagement, what does success look like to you?

By determining your objectives, you’ll have a better understanding of the type of influencer you need, and you can be upfront about what you’re expecting from them.

Step 2: Define your audience

Defining your target audience is vital in connecting with the right micro influencer. Knowing who your audience is can help you find a content creator that aligns with your brand’s values and appeals to your audience.

If you haven’t properly defined your audience, don’t worry. Fill out the Getting to Know Your Audience worksheet and gain some insight into your people!

Find a micro influencer who focuses on the same audience, and your marketing campaigns will feel more authentic and trustworthy. That means increased engagement and conversion rates.

Step 3: Research influencers

Once you’ve determined your goals and audience, it’s time to research potential micro influencers. Do some searching through Instagram, either by clicking on related accounts to micro influencers you like or by searching through hashtags.

Dive deep into their social media channels to analyze their content and audience engagement. Look for relevancy to your brand, consistency in their style or niche, and authenticity within their followers’ interactions.

Build a short list of people you want to reach out to, but don’t send any DMs just yet! There’s more work to do first.

Step 4: Creativity and collaboration

Working with an influencer is always a collaboration, but you’ll want to determine how much (if any) creative control you want to hold onto. Do you want to let them have complete creative freedom, or do you have some points you’d like them to cover?

Some micro influencers may not want to take creative direction from brands, and some require it. You’ll want to determine what you’re comfortable doing before extending a partnership agreement.

Step 5: Set your budget

Decide on the budget you’d like to put behind your micro influencer campaign. This way, you can automatically qualify influencers who fall within your means.

Understanding industry averages for influencer pricing can give you some clarity into what a reasonable budget might look like.

Step 6: The final decision

*Que The Final Countdown music*

Once your initial planning and research stage is complete, it’s time for the fun part: Choosing your micro influencer! Send out a request to engage, take a look at their proposal, and see if you can make magic happen.

Once you’ve agreed to work together, make it official with agreements and contracts that state your collaboration terms and expectations. Make a plan for your campaign with the influencer, including timeline and content expectations.

Don’t forget to track the progress of your campaign. You may need to request either access to their analytics or reports.

Examples of successful micro influencer campaigns

Here are a few examples of micro influencers that have successfully partnered with different brands.

Ndeye x Sephora

Sephora’s Sephora Squad campaign actually involves a range of collaborators from nano- to macro-influencers, showcasing the brand’s value of inclusivity and how they use their platform to uplift folks from all walks of life.

One of the micro influencers involved, Ndeye Peinda, is a beauty blogger, plus-size fashion model, and vlogger. She’s a great Sephora fit based on her values alone, but she also legitimately uses Sephora products in her content creation.

@sephora

A beautiful day in the life of #SephoraSquad member @Brandyn Cross (they/them). Want to be a part of the 2023 Sephora Squad? You have until 4/4 to apply at sephorasquad.com

♬ original sound – sephora

Melizzablack x Disney Cruise Line

Melizza is a self-proclaimed fairy godsister and queen of fangirl fashion.

She’s an Instagram micro influencer who is Disney-obsessed, even to the point where she woke up at 1 AM to do the Princess Half Marathon Weekend. During the weekend, she was hosted by RunDisney and ran 10k through Disney World before it opened.

Melizza was also hosted by Disney Cruise Line, where, one can assume, she was paid for posts with comped tickets to a Disney Cruise (she hashtagged all of her posts with #hosted). The partnership is one made in micro influencer heaven, as Melizza is, in no uncertain terms, Disney-obsessed.

San J Kumars x Mejuri

San Kumars, a micro influencer who focuses on dance, fashion, and modeling, linked up with Mejuri in its Fine Crew program. The Fine Crew program involves a variety of partnerships and compensations, from gifts, commission-based payments, and retainer fees, to paid placements.

Kumars said she was a “Mejuri customer long before” she was a partner, so the working relationship was a natural progression. She also mentioned, “Mejuri has done a wonderful job collaborating with growing accounts by effectively communicating deliverables, responding quickly to partner questions and supporting content creators.”

The takeaway here is that to be a great brand partner to micro influencers, be sure to communicate clearly and efficiently.

Aashika Jikaria x Dunkin Donuts

Aashika Jikaria, a micro influencer with 13,000 followers on Instagram and 12,900 followers on TikTok, netted a Dunkin’ Donuts partnership to promote a seasonal fall drink. Jikaria said they “didn’t require a lot of edits, which helped me stay true to my brand and the giveaways increased engagement on my posts.”

Two things brands can take away from this partnership? Creative freedom and the ability to give products away can help foster trust and increase follower engagement.

@aashikajikaria

Fall is arriving, and what’s better than the Iced Chai Latte with Pumpkin Cream Cold Foam @dunkin @internqueen #ad

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

How to measure the success of your micro influencer campaign

Once you’ve tied a tidy bow on your micro influencer campaign, you’re going to want to see how it did. Request a report from the micro influencer you worked with and get the full picture of your own data.

Take a look back at the goals you set for your campaign and ask yourself if you achieved them. If not, that’s okay, because every failure is a learning opportunity. Jot down the areas you fell short and the areas you did well.

Then, you can use what you learned to make improvements for your next campaign. By constantly refining your approach, you can polish and perfect your micro influencer campaigns in the future.

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