If you’ve logged into Instagram in the past few years, you’re likely familiar with the concept of influencer marketing. If you haven’t heard of the term, influencer marketing is when brands team up with influencers (who are social media personalities with large followings) to sell their products.
As a marketing tactic, influencer marketing has exploded in the past several years. In fact, it’s gotten so big that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enacted regulations that require influencers to disclose their relationship with brands when promoting them.
It’s even spawned more niche versions of itself, including micro-influencer marketing. Micro-influencer marketing has the same general premise, but the influencers in this market have much smaller followings.
In this article, we’ll dive into micro-influencer marketing and discuss the ways in which it can help your business.
What is micro-influencer marketing?
To provide a more detailed explanation, micro-influencer marketing is a partnership between businesses and popular social media personalities. In this case, the influencers are considered “micro” if they have between 1,000 – 100,000 followers (the exact follower counts to qualify as “micro” are often debated).
In these types of arrangements, companies will provide influencers with a certain product or service that they’d like to promote. Then, the influencer will post a photo or video to social media (usually Instagram) where they discuss the benefits of the product. They must disclose that they are working with the brand and usually do so by including #ad in the caption of the post.
Although it may seem counterintuitive to work with someone who has a smaller following, there are actually several benefits. First, if you’re a small business owner with a tighter budget, you might find that these influencers are a better match for how much you’re willing to spend. Second, micro-influencers generally have higher engagement rates and more targeted audiences than larger influencers.
How can micro-influencer marketing boost your business?
The biggest advantage of working with a micro-influencer is tapping into their audience. For example, if your business sells athletic apparel, you may find it beneficial to have a fitness influencer promote your clothing or shoes.
You know that their followers enjoy their fitness-related content, so they’ll be more receptive to learning about your company. This is in contrast to an actor or singer, who may have a large following of people with all kinds of varied interests.
Before signing on to work with a micro-influencer, take a look at their followers and make sure their interests are aligned with your product. You should also evaluate how authentic the influencer seems when they pitch products. These days, buyers can see right through disingenuous sales pitches and are more likely to engage with brands when they’re promoted by trusted individuals.
By leveraging micro-influencers, you can also optimize your budget and even work with multiple social media personalities to get your message seen by more of your target audience.
If you’re looking for new and exciting ways to reach new audiences, give micro-influencer marketing a shot. For a relatively small investment, you can get your brand shown to some of your best potential buyers.
