Influencer marketing used to be about teaming up with big-name celebrities who had huge social media followings to match their global visibility. Micro-influencers weren't even a thing. In today's world, influencer marketing campaigns don't usually involve these kinds of partnerships. Usually, brands that are household names work with celebrities like Selena Gomez, Kim Kardashian, and Charli D'Amelio. They're big-name influencers, but their services come at a cost!
The number of social media creators is growing! Now there are influencers with small, tight-knit communities that share a common interest. This new trend is all the rage because while micro-influencers have a micro following, it doesn't mean they can't have a big impact on your business. Their smaller audience is what makes them so effective. The most successful micro-influencers have cultivated online audiences who engage with their niche-specific content.
Micro-influencers are experts in their fields and are passionate about their topics, making them go-to sources for anything from trendy diets to sustainable agriculture and anything else you can think of. You can find micro-influencers in every niche imaginable, so even if your brand is highly specialized, working with micro-influencers is a tactic that can help you grow.
Let's look at why micro-influencers have become so popular. Here are the key advantages of working with them. You can target niche audiences with them because they're more accessible, much cheaper, and have high engagement rates. Are you ready? Here's how micro-influencer marketing works!
What is a micro-influencer?
Let's be real, these influencers aren't Kylie Jenners. They don't have millions of followers either. Generally, you need between 5k-15k followers to be considered a micro-influencer, but it varies. An influencer with 1k - 5k followers is considered a nano-influencer, while anything above 20k makes you a mid-sized influencer or rising star.
If you think of "influencers", TikTok micro-influencers might not be the first thing you think of. Maybe you pass them on your way to work, at school, or you know a few of them in your personal life, and you don’t even know they’re an influencer. Marketers love them because they look and act just like everyone else. They’re regular people who happen to have a following on social media.
It's easier to trust people who are like us. According to marketers, 93% of people trust family and friends more than other sources of information, like ads. Similarly, micro-influencers are extremely powerful - and they can turn your brand's influencer marketing campaigns around in huge ways.
Micro-influencers are easy to connect with
It might be easier to find influencers who have huge followings, like celebrities, but connecting with them isn't so easy. Brand collaborations are usually handled by managers or agencies for high-profile influencers. They usually have very strict content schedules, or work only with certain brands, or might be bound by exclusivity clauses in their contracts.
The micro-influencers, however, are much more accessible - but they're no less professional. That means you're going to be able to get in touch with the person you want to work with directly. Most micro-influencers will make it easy for you to contact them if they are open to collaboration. You can start reaching out right away with a tool like Hubble, since it will give you the contact details of your chosen influencers and open up a direct message without having to leave their profile page. You can discuss scheduling, products, and payments on a much more personal level quickly and easily.
You save time and resources, plus you have a much stronger relationship with the influencer. You'll know more about the people who will represent your brand and will be able to see all of your previous interactions with them so you can decide if they're the right fit for your next campaign.
Micro-influencers save you money
Even though it's obvious, it's easy to forget that micro-influencers charge less than celebrities. Influencers are probably more open to negotiation than imposing a flat rate on their services, and there's likely to be no agency fee. A Bloglovin study shows 84% of micro-influencers charge less than $250 per post. In reality, this number varies a lot depending on the type of collaboration, the influencer's niche, their physical location, how engaged they are with their audience, and other factors.
Whatever the amount is, it's way less than what macro-influencers typically ask for, which can be in the thousands. Besides the difference in the number of followers they have, they're also likely to get more brand collaboration requests from bigger companies that are willing to pay a lot more.
Don't be discouraged if you don't have a big budget for a TikTok micro-influencer campaign. You can use product seeding campaigns to work with micro-influencers, who might be open to exchanging products for posts. Offering freebies, discounts, or product bundles for a giveaway can offer value to the micro-influencer and their audience!
Micro-influencers engage with their audience more
Smaller influencers tend to have higher engagement rates, and that's not a coincidence. Influencers and social media are like you and your small group of close friends: you know them better than a big group of random people you've never had a real conversation with. Micro-influencers actually talk to their audience through comments on posts and direct messages which is why their engagement rates are so high on all the big platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
When choosing influencers, engagement rate, saturation rate, real follower percentage, and post effectiveness are the factors to pay attention to. It's better for brands to look at the influencer's performance rather than just follower numbers. With their carefully built audiences, you’ll find micro-influencers are more likely to perform better in the metrics that matter like high engagement, real followers, etc.
Score big with niche audiences
These Instagram and TikTok micro-influencers have active social media communities around a specific topic. You can target and convert people who fit your target customer base once you find a micro-influencer who matches your niche and values. Maybe you can team up with a baking influencer to promote your new bread maker if you sell kitchen appliances. Make an unboxing video of your stylish keyboard with a 'techfluencer' who posts about computer gear. Identify the different segments of your target audience and which niche micro-influencers are best suited to promoting each product.
Limitless opportunities for teaming up with micro-influencers
There are over 2 million influencers with less than 15,000 followers on Instagram alone, and it's a similar story for TikTok micro-influencers. This group of creators spans hundreds of niches, and more creators are joining their ranks each day. These micro-influencers present a massive and untapped source of opportunity and growth for brands that reach out to partner with them.
Remember how we said micro-influencers are a cost-effective strategy? You can use the budget and time you would have spent on a big macro-influencer deal to work with 10 or 100 times as many micro-influencers.
When it comes to TikTok micro-influencer marketing, work with multiple creators instead of one 'catch-all' influencer. With this strategy, your products will resonate more with your influencers' audiences and result in more conversions.
It’s easier than ever to find the right micro-influencers for your brand
As there are so many influencers across so many niches, manually hunting down the one you're looking for can be frustrating, time-consuming, and possibly fruitless.
The process can take weeks to manually source these influencers, plus you won't have easy access to verified followers and engagement rates. Hubble can locate these influencers instantly and show you who they are. When you do this, you can spend more time reaching out, building relationships, and working on campaigns, rather than hunting down influencers or sorting through outdated spreadsheets. Sometimes you don't know what you don't know. Micro-influencers are probably already in your customer database, but you may not know who they are. Hubble (which integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, Klaviyo & more) lets you analyze your social customers' reach and purchase history in seconds. Find and work with the micro-influencers who already love your brand! Create segments of Instagram and TikTok micro-influencers who are already well-known in your niche and get them on board with your brand. Find micro-influencers that will push your brand to the next level. Hubble will make it easy.
