Setting Up The Best Micro-Influencer Strategy For Your Brand

Right now, the statement “quality over quantity” is ringing truer than ever in the world of influencers. As we’ve discussed in our previous post, the tides have shifted and brands are now setting their sights on micro-influencers more than the traditional influencers for their marketing strategies. And who could blame them?

The statistics are pretty solid. When it comes to the power of engagement, micro-influencers have the upper hand. In fact, they’re the most successful influencer subset out there. They could be the game-changer for your brand.

Tips To Find The Right Micro-Influencer For Your Brand

The baseline has always been the same. Find the right influencers that could share the love for your brand with their audience. And finding the right micro-influencers for your brand is no exception. But, this is a new pool to dive into. And with new opportunities comes a few new tips that you ought to consider if you’re willing to jump into this new caravan.

1. Search in the Right Places

There are plenty of places to find the right micro-influencers for you. But, two of the best places to find them are on google and social media. The thing is you have to put in a little more effort to find just the right person.

On social media, you have to manually search through hashtags, channels, and maybe other influencers to find just these people with smaller followings. The same goes for google. Here, you’d have to manually search specific keywords aligned to your brand, scan web pages for contact information, and keep them all organized on a spreadsheet.

Another avenue similar to google and social media is databases. They pull influencer contact information for you from websites, however, you’d have to vet the influencers yourself. In addition to that are marketplaces. Unlike the first three, marketplaces pull in real-time influencer performance information and help you sort through which influencers are trending at the moment. It also helps with easier collaborations. And last but not least are the networks which you might encounter for the influencers with bigger followings. They’re basically the middlemen you have to go through to reach out to some influencers.

2. Check For Influencer E.A.T

E.A.T stands for expertise, authority, and trustworthiness, the qualities that an audience values in their influencers. Trust especially stands out for micro-influencers. According to stats from the Trust Barometer Survey, people trust micro-influencers more because of their relatability. This ‘people like me’ face is what helps them trust the influencers words or messages about any brand they may or may not work with. If you keep these three words in mind in vetting for which influencers to work with, you’ll find just the right people to make your marketing campaign a success.

3. Track the Right Numbers

Micro-influencers have more than double the engagement compared to traditional influencers. According to HelloSociety’s study, micro-influencers with 1000 to 5000 followers have the highest engagement rate of 8.8 % in contrast with the 3.6 % engagement rate of those with above 10 000 followers. With that in mind, it would be wise for you to set a bar to help you select your influencers. But, in finding the right micro-influencer to partner with, engagement is only one of the key points.

Another number you can track to predict the success of your campaign is the ROI. You can determine this by tracking direct sales from the campaign through tracking links. Another way to measure your ROI is to compare the usual amount and the corresponding reach you get from traditional influencers to that which micro-influencers bring and cost you. Then, you can determine if your campaign is going in the right direction or if you need a certain change.

4. Compensate Well

With influencer marketing, it’s always a give and take. The good news is that micro-influencers don’t come with overwhelming prices for their services, unlike celebrity-style influencers. Even when you’re just starting out or you’re caught in a tight budget, you can still work out a way to compensate your partner micro-influencers well.

You can offer them your products for free. And you can even extend it to a promo where they’ll be able to avail your products for free or for a discount for a year in exchange for a set amount of content. Then, you can also offer to boost their accounts through shoutouts on your blog, newsletter, or website. Another way you can compensate them is the referral method. For example, for every 500 sales or for every 1000 people reached they get a commission.

With the right strategies in place, you can find the right micro-influencers to partner up with. And with them, your marketing campaigns have the opportunities of achieving greater heights for your brand. So, if you’re not yet sure whether to join the caravan, we suggest you better think fast.