Micro Influencer Marketing: Guide to Grow Your Business With it

Micro influencer marketing is a highly effective strategy for meeting business goals — both for new businesses and ones with solid foundations.

Related Read: How to Become a Social Media Influencer in 2023

For smaller businesses, micro influencers can prove to be godsends as they don’t charge as heavily as influencers with a huge following and bring booming results. On the other hand, business giants can also benefit from micro influencers, thanks to niche influencers’ high engagement rates. 

But wait — what are micro influencers? 

In this post, we’ll answer that for you, sharing everything you need about micro influencers. We’ll cover what a micro influencer is, list reasons to team up with them and dive into how to find the right micro influencers for your brand. 

What is a micro influencer? 

More and more businesses are embracing influencer partnerships as social media has become a primary avenue for marketing. 

In fact, 1 in 4 marketers are already using influencer collaborations to their benefit, as per a recent HubSpot report.

Marketers collaborate with influencers to promote their businesses, campaigns, services, or products to access the influencer’s audience. This helps increase brand awareness, attract customers, and even grow sales. 

To recap, an influencer is someone who has a huge online following. This following could be on social media, a blog, or a combination. 

Now there are a few types of influencers — celebrity, macro, micro, and nano influencers. Of these, micro influencers have a following of 10,000 to 100,000 followers. 

On the other hand, macro influencers have a much bigger following, whereas nano influencers have the smallest following. 

So, the main difference between these influencer types is their number of followers. 

Typically, public figures fall in the category of macro influencers. Comparatively, micro influencers are not known to as many people. They are not popular personalities but regular people with a following owing to their quality content. 

Like any other type of influencer, micro influencers are content creators specializing in a particular niche. Micro influencers can be found online, from blogs and vlogs to Instagram and TikTok. 

Take, for example, Hadeel Elmadhoon, a modest fashion and food influencer on Instagram. As you can see, Hadeel boasts a following of 59.8K followers. This means partnering up with her gives businesses a platform to showcase their products and services to thousands of people. 

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What makes micro content creators ‘influential’ is their expertise in their niche. This and their aesthetic public profiles attract a following that trusts their methods and opinions. 

Why should you work with micro influencers?

If you’re not seasoned in influencer marketing, you might be wondering why you should shake hands with a micro influencer, to begin with. In fact, if you have the budget to work with a celebrity, why should micro influencers even concern you no? 

Truth is, there’s more to influencer marketing than just the number of followers an account has. What your business needs is an influencer with strong connections. 

This is where micro influencers come into the picture. Micro influencers may not have the same fame as celebrities or macro influencers, but you should consider them. 

Let’s have a quick look at the top 5 reasons micro influencers are worth working with: 

1. Higher ROI

Micro influencers cost much less than bigger influencers. 

Where a micro influencer would charge between $500 to $1000 for a single post on average, a macro influencer would charge more than $5000. 

So, for businesses with a tighter budget, micro influencers can be a great way to enjoy the perks of influencer marketing without having to pay an arm and a leg. 

The best part? Having a much higher return on investment which makes micro influencer marketing truly worthwhile. 

Brands get to reach a new audience, advertise, and make conversions at a much lower cost than other forms of marketing. 

2. Better engagement rate

Macro influencers may have a wider reach, but micro influencers steal the show regarding engagement rates. 

Despite having a comparatively smaller audience, micro influencers have up to 60% higher engagement than macro influencers. 

How is this possible? Simple: a limited following allows micro influencers to better engage with their audience in comments and DMs. 

Micro influencers have a close-knit community that trusts them. This element of trust is what brands can leverage by working with micro content creators. 

In other words, when a micro influencer shares your brand or product, followers consider their opinion gold and respond better. 

3. More targeted audience

Yet another perk of partnering up with a micro influencer is their targeted audience. 

Micro influencers tend to have a more specific niche. For instance, instead of a makeup influencer, you might be able to find a goth makeup influencer. 

This specificity attracts a specific niche-focused audience. In other words, micro influencers are more relatable for their followers, making their opinions more influential on their audience. 

This can be quite helpful for businesses that want to connect to a particular audience. 

4. Lower risk of an influencer-fatigued audience

While influencer marketing is all the rage these days, people are also fed up with seeing influencers posting sponsored ads. 

In fact, this ‘influencer fatigue’ is making celebrity influencers appear untrustworthy to their audience. 

However, where celebrities have many brand partnerships and post many sponsored content monthly, the same is not the case with micro influencers. 

In a nutshell: a micro influencer’s audience is less likely to roll their eyes when they post an ad and more likely to find the most authentic. In turn, this substantially increases the chances of conversions.

5. Willingness to partner with newbie businesses

Since micro influencers are still working on growing their following and getting into the influencer business, they’re more flexible. 

An influencer with a huge following will likely decline offers from smaller or newer businesses. On the other hand, a micro influencer will welcome most offers coming their way. 

Not to mention micro influencers are also more open to feedback. This makes working with them easier. 

How to find micro-influencers to grow your brand?

Now that you know why a micro influencer would be a good choice for your business, it is time to find the right one.

But where and how should you start looking? Good question. 

Related Read: How to Find Influencers to Promote Your Small Business in 2023

Below is a look at 5 super easy ways you can find micro influencers for your brand: 

• Search on the platform

Regardless of whether you are looking for a social media influencer for Instagram or on another social media channel, there are three areas you must cover: 

• Take a look at your followers 
• Search through hashtags 
• Peek at your competitors 

Often, micro influencers start following your brand themselves, providing you an opportunity to connect. Such an influencer is likely interested in your brand (hence, the follow), making them a good fit. 

If you don’t find any micro influencers in your following or comments section, search for relevant trending hashtags on the platform. You can find many influencers in the same niche as you post content using that hashtag. 

For example, if you’re in the fashion business, you can search for #outfitoftheday on Instagram. This will pull up millions of results with many posts from fashion influencers. From these, you’ll easily be able to find a couple of micro influencers. 

As you can spot from the example shared above, entering #outfitoftheday in the Instagram search bar brought up a fashion micro influencer among the top results.

Besides using hashtags, check out which influencers your competitors are working with. If you’re searching on Instagram, don’t forget to check the ‘Tagged’ category to see if any influencers have tagged your competitors. 

Once you find the content creators you’d like to work with, send them a direct message or an email putting forward your offer to start the conversation. 

Bonus tip: use a social listening tool to track your mentions and see if any influencers are already talking about you. 

• Check your inbox

Rather than giving you a follow, many influencers may just drop you a message showing their interest in partnering with your business. 

This is why checking your direct messages on all the social networks your business is active on is crucial. 

Some influencers might also email you, so constantly check your mailbox for the address you have shared publicly. 

In fact, if you want influencers to reach out directly, you can also mention this on your social media or website. 

Fashion brand Shein does this — influencers can find a link to its SHEGLAM influencer program by clicking on ‘fashion blogger.’

Copy this trick to have influencers contact you themselves. 

• Look within your circle

With so many people getting into the influencer lifestyle, there might be some in your community whom you can work with.

If you have a friend or an employee with over 5,000 followers, these people can be your first collaborators.

Other than this, a good idea would be to network with people at events relevant to your niche.

This way, you get to meet local influencers in person whom you can collaborate with. In fact, meeting influencers in person is better as you get a better idea of whether they would be the right fit for your brand. 

Small businesses operating locally must always work with influencers in the same region. 

• Explore influencer marketplaces

An influencer marketplace is an online space where brands and creators can find each other to collaborate. 

Registering in such marketplaces takes some of the work out of finding, analyzing, and connecting with influencers. 

Typically, you can find influencers through marketplaces by following these simple steps:

• Create a profile on any online marketplace, such as Upfluence or Aspire
• Fill in details about your brand and campaign 
• Mention what type of influencer you’re looking for. Include the engagement rate, followers, niche, etc. You may also give an example for clarity. 
• With your details given, influencers on the marketplace reach out to you themselves 
• Visit the influencer profiles of those who respond. See if they may be a good fit
• Start a conversation, and if things work out, provide a detailed brief to get started 

The best part is that such online networks enable you to access the analytics of influencers and manage and directly communicate with them, streamlining the process for you. 

• Search online forums and groups 

There are many online communities you can explore in order to find the best influencers. 

For instance, you could get into business or social media-specific groups on Facebook, such as Women in Marketing or Social Media Influencers. Or you could inquire on Quora or Reddit about influencers you could work with. 

However, Facebook groups are the best place to find influencers among all online communities. You can simply enter your keywords in the search bar to find influencers or put up a status regarding the type of influencers you’re looking for.

Finding influencers this way can be time-efficient if you’re already a part of groups relevant to your industry. It’s also free, which makes it worth a shot.

Brands that work with micro-influencers

With how effective a micro influencer marketing strategy can be, several brands have jumped on the bandwagon. 

You can also learn from these 3 businesses that are rocking it when it comes to micro influencer marketing: 

1. Ideal Of Sweden 

Accessories brand Ideal of Sweden has partnered with several micro influencers, including @tessplk. 

While Tess has only about 15.1K followers on Instagram, it’s clear from her profile that she has many brand collaborations. 

Here’s a post she shared on the ‘gram, which also shares a discount code for those who want to order with Ideal of Sweden. 

Since hers seems to be a long-term collab, she often shares sponsored content tagging the brand. 

P.S. Here are 7 Instagram Growth Hacks To Learn From Social Media Experts [2023]

The takeaway? Don’t underestimate the power of influencers that don’t have millions of followers. Those with a few thousand followers bring in more loyal customers than bigger influencers with poor engagement.

• Dunkin 

It’s clear from micro influencer @patreeky’s TikTok that Dunkin’ recognizes the worth of employee advocacy. 

Patrick, a Dunkin employee, has a substantial following of 66.8K on TikTok. 

Not only does he regularly share BTS content for the donuts giant, but Dunkin also features and tags him on their account. 

Take a look yourself: 

You can follow the same strategy: get active employees on social media to talk about your business. After all, leads that come through employee advocacy have a 7x higher conversion rate than leads from other sources. 

• Glossier 

Glossier is yet another big name that works with micro influencers. 

YouTuber, Hannah Cho is one micro influencer who has worked with the makeup brand. 

@imhannahcho, who has 58.7K subscribers on the video platform, often shares Shorts and YouTube videos featuring Glossier. Here’s a glimpse: 

You can take a page from Glossier’s influencer marketing strategy too. The beauty business has built a cult following on social media by sending freebies to micro influencers. 

This way, it has benefited from authentic positive opinions surrounding the brand without paying hefty amounts for influencer marketing. 

Team up with micro influencer for higher ROI 

To sum up, micro influencer marketing is worth giving a shot owing to its low cost vs. higher engagement and substantial results. 

With thousands of followers, these influencers can help increase brand awareness and conversions. In fact, since micro content creators have a smaller following than macro influencers, they have better connections with their audience. 

Apart from smaller businesses, even bigger names like Glossier, Chipotle, and Gymshark, among others, work with micro influencers to drive online word of mouth. 

You can learn from these marketing biggies and tap into micro influencer marketing to reap benefits.

FAQs 

What are influencer marketing strategies?

Influencer marketing strategies are content promotion plans to work with online content creators or influencers with a huge following. Such strategies rely on influencers with an engaged following relevant to your niche. 

A solid influencer marketing strategy aims to increase brand awareness and sales by leveraging influencers to promote your product or service. 

Why micro influencer marketing? 

Micro influencer marketing benefits small and big businesses due to its high return on investment. Micro influencers cost less yet have an engaged audience that trusts their opinion. Moreover, they often have a more specific niche, making micro influencer marketing a great strategy for businesses that want to reach particular audiences. 

What is a micro influencer on Instagram? 

An Instagram micro influencer is a niche-focused content creator with a 1,000 to 100K following on Instagram. Micro influencers are not celebrities or well-known personalities. Instead, these are lesser-known influencers that have built their way up on social media by creating an aesthetic profile and sharing niche-specific quality content.