The advertising landscape is changing. Internet ads are expanding from mundane banner ads and annoying pop-ups. Influencers of all sizes across all social media platforms are changing the way products and services are advertised. Ads can be disguised as beautiful Instagram photos and captivating YouTube videos. This is done with the help of micro influencers.
The world of influencers can be a tricky place to navigate. In this article we will discuss the definition of micro influencers, where to find micro influencers, and how to use micro influencers to promote your brand. We’ll also provide a few examples of micro influencer partnerships.
What are Micro Influencers?
Numerically speaking, micro influencers typically have somewhere between 1,000 and 100,000 followers. Micro influencers have built a tight-knit following around them centered on the attribute that made them famous.
A few examples of topics are fashion, real estate, and yoga. Their social media channels typically focus primarily on this one topic, which cultivates their niche following.
Partnering with micro influencers typically costs less than partnering with larger influencers or celebrities who have more than 1 million followers. Micro influencers usually charge a lower fee because their audience is smaller. However don’t let their smaller audience numbers fool you- they also typically have high levels of engagement and their audience is geared toward a specific topic.
Where to Find Micro Influencers
Micro influencers can be found by searching hashtags on various social media platforms. Start with searching your brand’s own hashtag. There could already be fans of your brand that make content and want to be found by you.
From there, expand your search with relevant hashtags that relate to the category you’re in. You can also search hashtags specific to particular geographical areas that are relevant to your business. This is one technique for understanding how to find micro influencers to promote your brand.
Another technique is joining a platform that helps connect brands with influencers. Tinysponsor is a website for brands to connect with micro influencers. The platform boasts ready-to-purchase partnerships that go beyond the typical proposal-based model.
Tinysponsor focuses on engagement and actual influence instead of purely followers. They support almost any platform, from Instagram to Snapchat, and even in-person events. The platform is used by large companies like Jose Cuervo, Zola, and Spanx.
BuzzStream is designed to help you build contact lists of qualified influencers, send bulk emails, and prevent email clutter from the responses. BuzzStream is used by Canva, Airbnb, and Shopify. Customers love how BuzzStream helps them manage their outreach campaigns and increase productivity.
How to Use Micro Influencers to Promote Your Brand
Using micro influencers to create a marketing campaign is an alternative approach to buying sponsored ads on various social media platforms.
There’s a low barrier to entry that allows you to stretch your marketing dollars. Instead of paying one large sum to a bigger influencer or celebrity, or to an ad campaign, you can partner with several micro influencers to promote your brand to various audiences.
The content posted by micro influencers can also feel more authentic and relatable compared to posts from celebrities or large brands. With a micro influencer, you know who the person is behind the account that’s creating the content. Whereas with larger brands or celebrities, there’s usually a team of people behind the scenes curating content.
What to Look For
When looking for which type of micro influencer to partner with, you can look for niche categories that either directly line up with your brand or seem somewhat unrelated. An example of a directly correlated partnership would be an Airbnb host working with YouTube travel vloggers to promote their portfolio of properties.
Initially it might seem like an odd partnership to have a website hosting company promote their brand on a photography YouTube channel. But after thinking about it, the majority of self-employed photographers need their own website to promote their business.
If their favorite photographer they follow on YouTube has a beautiful website they would like to emulate, the influencer’s credibility carries over to recommending the products they use.
Examples of Micro Influencer Partnerships
The Instagram account @canadianbros is based out of Canada and centered around two dogs named Jasper and Louie. As of January 2021, they have approximately 43,700 followers. The account consistently posts sponsored content from several brands ranging from dog treats to designer bags.
The below post from their collaboration with the hat company, Love Your Melon is an example of partnering with an influencer in a seemingly unrelated category.
Love Your Melon chose to partner with an account that isn’t directly related to fashion or outerwear. Instead of focusing on the same, obvious channels, going a different route potentially exposes your brand to a new audience. The post is cute and memorable while potentially introducing new customers to a brand they might not already be familiar with.
For the second example, the Instagram account @fashionsanta is a playful holiday-theme account that features a man who is the fit and fashionable version of Santa Claus. The account typically posts festive and fashionable content. He has 59,600 followers as of January 2021.
For the 2020 holiday season, Fashion Santa partnered with the liquor company Grand Marnier. He posted a festive picture touching on the emotion of missing out on holiday parties in 2020. Initially it seems unlikely that Santa Claus would promote a liquor company, but the overall emotion of the post works because it combines a handsome Santa with drinking at holiday parties.
In example number three, the Instagram account @passporttofriday details the travels of Chelsea Martin, a personalized luxury travel advisor. Her account has 23,400 followers as of January 2021. In the below sponsored post, she partnered with a resort in Mexico to promote the property and provide a travel deal for her followers.
The resort is able to share their beautiful property with a luxury travel audience, and Chelsea Martin has more luxury travel content to add to her Instagram feed. This partnership is very straightforward.
Conclusion
Micro influencers have between 1,000 and 100,000 followers. Their niche followers are centered around the particular topic that made the account famous. It usually costs less money to partner with micro influencers over larger influencers and celebrities because they have smaller followings.
Their following may be smaller, but their engagement is usually higher. Micro influencers can be found through searching hashtags to find relevant accounts. Another method is by using websites like Tinysponsor and BuzzStream.
Partnerships can be directly correlated, like a hotel partnering with an account centered around travel. Partnerships can also be not as obvious, like a website hosting company partnering with a photography YouTube channel. While the influencer landscape is difficult to navigate, the techniques in this article are here to help you understand how to find micro influencers to promote your brand.
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