Organic marketing for brands is a thing of the past! The latest algorithm updates across social media platforms have made it imperative for brands to go the extra mile to connect with users.
What are the options available?
- Search engine optimization: But that is time consuming.
- Pay-per-click model: It could cost you your entire marketing budget.
- Video ads: You can’t run them without an agency.
Enter, influencer marketing! Think of it as a referral from a source way more credible than the traditional user. It is pertinent to not instantly go for the biggest name available (remember the Fyre Festival?). This is where micro-influencers are real game-changers. Their niche understanding of a market is the fuel that could fire your brand towards exponential growth.
In this blog, let’s take a look at how brands can leverage micro-influencers for a focused approach towards marketing.
Solidify your basics on influencer marketing for brands with our blog: How Can Brands Use Influencer Marketing To Grow.
All You Need To Know About Micro-Influencers
Who are they?
By now, it is evident that influencers have a massive impact on a brand’s reach. Within the entire spectrum of influencers, micro-influencers are probably the most popular choice! They are hyper focussed, subject matter experts. Their audience might be smaller than other categories (10k to 100k followers) but are extremely engaged and involved. Their followers trust them and are willing to take their word when it comes to recommending a product or a service. The reason – it feels like the recommendation is coming from an expert friend rather than a celebrity.
A complete deep-dive into micro-influencers awaits you with our blog: Why B2B Marketing Needs Micro Influencers.
The numbers – reach, engagement & costs
Across all categories, the number of followers is inversely proportional to the engagement. Comments and shares on Instagram tend to drop once the number of followers increases. Micro-influencers tend to impact the sales of a product with more than a 20% conversion rate over bigger influencers. This proves that there is no one-size-fits-all method to influencer marketing. The cost of collaboration with a micro influencer is relatively less when compared to some other influencers with bigger followings, and depends on several factors, including, reach, engagement, time and resources required, campaign length, and usage rights.
Micro-Influencer Marketing To Grow Your Brand
1. Niche marketing strategies for targeted audiences
On Instagram, where influencers thrive, micro-influencers have higher engagement rates. Brands need to focus on the expertise of these influencers, who have a deep understanding of the industry, to a point where consumers trust their opinion and treat their verdict as the gospel truth. In industries that thrive on a sense of community, these influencers manage to stay relevant through their expertise, almost to the level of a highly knowledgeable confidante. When these micro influencers recommend a particular brand as one that they use, the response is usually overwhelmingly positive. The modern social media user is way too savvy to trust anyone. If an influencer has gained their trust through expertise, it is a massive deal that brands need to capitalize. One factor that resonates is shifting towards a social-good model of communication, by starting conversations on issues that are plaguing the society. This helps build trust further.
2. Set clear goals, budgets
Like all marketing campaigns, micro influencer campaigns, too, should begin with goal setting. Brands need to put their deliverables down, and place their key performance indicators up front, to have a clear idea of what they’re dealing with. Within a space like micro-influencer marketing where credibility matters, goal setting usually follows the traditional marketing funnel with a focus on brand awareness through building an engaged audience. This, in turn, drives sales through lead generation. The overall goal is customer loyalty. Also, pen down targets for specific metrics like impressions, reach, click-through rates and sales. There are four specific R’s of micro influencer marketing that can help shape up a campaign — Reach, Resonance, Relevance and RoI.
Budgeting for a micro-influencer campaign is slightly easier on the wallet than going for macro or mega influencers. It depends on several factors — does the influencer just need to repost content or create their own content? The thumb rule states that for every 100 micro influencer posts, you can reach 200k people. This is a great conversion rate! Incentives can also be offered to the creators as a form of compensation and also include free trials, gift cards, discounts, passes, samples, and social media recognition. Overall, the budget of your campaign helps determine the monetary success of the effort.
3. Campaign hashtags and user-generated content
There is no better way to spread awareness about a campaign that users might not even know about, than highly specialized hashtags. They allow the content to be cataloged among similar content that might be attracting an audience online. They also help other niche creators and consumers come into contact with your brand. If a campaign has signed up more than one micro influencer and they simultaneously use the campaign-specific hashtag, it increases its effectiveness exponentially. This leads to more interactions, making the campaign worth it. Hashtags also help create traction and spread awareness among newer audiences who might stumble onto your brand’s content.
Here’s how influencers can up their hashtag game: Hashtag Your Way To Success As An Insta Influencer.
User-generated content is a way to revolutionize content creation without actually creating it. It also drives engagement as users go the extra mile to be a part of the brand’s campaign. The micro influencer plays a key role here in bridging the gap between the brand and the user. Not only does this help generate content for the brand, it serves as a method of analytics as the brand understands the kind of content that resonates with hyper-engaged audiences.
4. Promote brand through storytelling, authenticity
Social media users are tired of mindless brand promotions and constantly seek content that walks the fine line between promotion and genuine story — authenticity drives conversions online. This is where micro influencers are more effective when compared to celebrities. It is hard to take an A-list celebrity’s word when they claim to trust the brand. On the other hand, a micro influencer is a subject matter expert and might not agree to promote a brand blindly only for monetary reasons. These stories make the brand seem less mundane and more approachable. By being more humane than competitors, and crafting a story that truly strikes a chord, micro influencers can impact the sales of a brand.
5. Optimize through available analytics and data
Micro influencer content is super specific, making it easier to optimize, as compared to a massive influencer with whom it is hard to tell several posts apart. A micro-influencer campaign can be constantly assessed through metrics, analytics and data to course-correct and give the audience what they desire. This increases the effectiveness of the campaign as resources are rarely wasted on content that isn’t desired. The brand, in a way, services the needs of the user through dedicated content based on online engagement metrics. All social media channels have sufficient data available to help drive optimization through analytics. Several micro-influencers are knowledgeable enough to curate content based on how it is performing in real-time.
AtisfyReach Can Help With Micro-Influencer Marketing
Find, verify the right influencers for your brand
AtisfyReach understands that there is a deep correlation between the micro-influencer campaign planned and the brand’s target audience. Unless these are aligned, it is a waste of time. Choose an influencer whose engagement rates resemble what your brand is targeting. We can help find these content creators for you and ensure that they are the right fit for your brand values.
The right collaboration is crucial. Here’s how you can Choose The Best Influencer For Your Business.
Negotiations & agreements
This is the trickiest part of the collaboration for a brand, as this is where money goes out before the campaign even begins! Based on several content-related and analytical factors, we at AtisfyReach ensure the best deal is reached for all parties involved and take care of all the required contracts and agreements, allowing the influencer to focus on content while you focus on results.
Track deliverables and monitor results
Once we put down what the influencer needs to do, we follow up and ensure they deliver. This takes away the stress of execution and deliverables away from the brand. We also cover the analytics aspect of the campaign, ensuring that all metrics are met positively and engagement is consistently high.
The team at AtisfyReach specializes in connecting brands with the right influencers to create growth-focused and performance-driven campaigns with our state of the art influencer marketing platform.
Register with us, and let our experts take over right away!
