Growing a brand is hard. It takes a lot of time, money, and energy to build your business into something that people notice. Most small businesses don't have the resources necessary to go for the big influencers or celebrities.

But there's another option: micro-influencers.

Micro-influencers are those who have anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 followers on social media - not as many as those with millions of followers but more than those with just a few thousand. The best thing about them is that they're almost always much cheaper than other influencers and they can still provide great exposure for your brand.

With this guide, you'll learn how to find and use them as a way to grow your brand and engage with your audience. Ready?

Let’s dive in!

What are Micro-influencers and why should you leverage them?

First off, what is the definition of a micro-influencer?

With the rise of social media, everyone is a potential influencer. There are people who have more followers than others and are therefore able to promote your brand more effectively. But what's the difference between them and people who have less reach?

 A micro-influencer is someone who has less of a following than other influencers, but nonetheless has a lot of influence. Because of their smaller following, they are able to provide more personal interaction and feedback with their audience.

 The reason why they're so effective as an influencer is because they're typically younger bloggers or vloggers and fashionistas who enjoy sharing their unique aesthetic with their followers on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. In addition, because they are up-and-coming influencers with niche audiences (rather than celebrities living unattainable lifestyles), micro-influencers have a more genuine connection with smaller yet more highly engaged audiences—meaning their endorsement carries more weight with consumers.

Plus, they tend to be more accessible and cheaper for brands to work with. Unlike traditional macro-influencers, micro-influencers aren’t usually looking for significant direct payments from brands. Instead, they are often happy to have a free product sample, early access to new products, or simply the exposure a brand can provide them by sharing the content they create. As a result, your brand is helping them grow their followings, and they’re helping you make high-quality social proof.

There are two interesting key takeaways from the graph above.

1. The general pattern of Instagram accounts with large numbers of followers having a lower engagement rate than smaller influencers is because popular influencers have less time to reply and interact with as many people. This is because it takes more effort for them to do so, which relates back to their limited time. There are also many people who passively follow popular influencers, abandoning active participation in favor of passive looking-on.

2. The average engagement rate for nano (100 - 10,000 followers) & micro (10,000 - 100,000 followers) influencers is really good when it comes to Instagram, TikTok & YouTube.

How to find the right micro-influencer for your needs

Finding micro-influencers starts with identifying who you're trying to reach. For some brands, the goal is to attract millennials or influencers with a certain niche. In order to find them, start by looking for people who are consistently posting content that relates to your brand and audience. Look at their top posts, engagement on social media, follower count, and the number of followers they've acquired in a short period of time. Another way is by looking through related hashtags on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. This can help you find people who have been posting about similar topics which might be a good fit for your company's target market.

Once you've found someone that seems promising, reach out to them! Start by sending them a private message or tweeting at them with something personal. If they do not respond to your message in a timely manner (within 24 hours), move on from them and try again with another potential influencer.

How to pay them

A common misconception about influencers is that the more followers they have, the more money you'll have to pay them. But this isn't always the case. Many micro-influencers are able to monetize their marketing efforts by using affiliate marketing, which means they receive a commission on your purchases or clicks. They also work with brands who want to promote their product without spending a lot of money on traditional marketing efforts.

What's also important to note is that there are ways for you as a brand to help influencers grow their following and make money for themselves. This could be as simple as giving them a shout-out on social media and offering social media support through likes, shares, and comments. You can also offer coupons or free products in exchange for reviews from these influencers on your social media platform as well.

But let’s back the aforementioned statements with some data. Research has shown that as many brands (34.4%) admitted to paying money to influencers as giving them free products. In addition, 25% gave their influencers a discount on their product or services (presumably more expensive items), and a much reduced 5.9% entered their influencers in a giveaway.

How do you measure the return-on-investment?

The most common method is to use referral links. Other methods used include coupon codes, email addresses and product SKUs. Most businesses understand that the best way to measure their influencer marketing ROI is by using a metric that measures their campaigns' goals. Clearly, more brands now focus on using their influencer marketing to generate tangible results hence they believe that they should gauge a campaign by the conversions/sales that result.

It could definitely be overwhelming to keep everything under control, but fear not; there are platforms that can centralize data from different sources (website, email, social media, apps plus more) and give you a holistic view of your marketing efforts.

How to build a successful micro-influencer marketing campaign

Here is how you can create a micro-influencer marketing strategy for your brand:

1. Set your business goals: When creating a micro-influencers marketing campaign, it's important to set goals around what your team hopes to get out of it. Working with influencers should help you move the needle on your overarching brand goals; therefore, a micro-influencer marketing campaign shouldn't live separate from other initiatives that are being used in order for them not to be in their own silo.

2. Identify KPIs to track under each goal: Once you know your goals, then you can start drilling down and getting specific about KPIs (key performance indicators) for each goal you set.

3. Determine your team’s capacity to launch and manage a micro-influencer program: Evaluating how much time and effort will go into a micro-influencer marketing strategy is essential. Who are the key stakeholders involved? How much time each week do you think it would take to accomplish this project (outreach, content management, communication, drafting creative briefs)?

4. Set a budget: What is the cost of a micro-influencer marketing strategy? It can be an investment, but it should help to save money in the long run. Knowing your goals and how you want to measure them will give you a better idea about what you need at this point.

5. Find the right influencers: Search your brand’s mentions and any branded hashtags you may have. If a person with a growing following has mentioned your product or service, follow them. You can find these people by searching for their username on Twitter or Instagram and plugging in the hashtag of their name (try googling “Twitter Username Hashtag”). This is often the most natural way to reach those who are already likely to be interested in what you offer—and who will also share content about it because they are passionate about sharing things that make them feel good.

6. Offer rewards: Rewarding your micro-influencers can deepen their level of engagement with you, by providing them with new opportunities to create content for you that is high-quality.

7. Measure results: You might be doing well on some of your goals but not others, and you might need to evaluate the ROI of your micro-influencer campaigns. You can take a step back and assess what’s working or not in order to make adjustments so that you can continue measuring return on investment for all campaign efforts.

Bringing it all together, micro-influencers are key individuals to reach your target demographic. A quick and effective way to stay ahead of the competition, by working with them you can build a brand that's personal, authentic and stays ahead of trends. Give it a try and let me know the results!