Startup companies are facing the biggest challenge in promoting their brand due to limited resources and competition with other growing startups. Low budgets, fewer sales, and a lack of competency are becoming a hindrance to the growth of startups.
However, to bring engagement with trust, and reach your targeted audience micro-influencers are in the trend. Many new and existing businesses are taking their help in introducing their brand to potential customers.
Now, the question arises, are they effective for startups?
Yes, they are truly effective for startups as they help startup companies to boost their brand and drive profitable action. However, the implantation matters.
Shane Barker, who specializes in influencer marketing, sales funnels, and content marketing says that
Micro-influencers will be the primary choice for brand collaboration.
It shows that they can bring high engagement and reach!
Therefore, let us have a look at how micro-influencers are effective for startup companies and how micro-influencers marketing works.
Who are Micro-Influencers?
The definition of micro-influencers varies from person to person. Some people say that they are like a YouTube or Instagram celebrity, and some believe that they don’t have millions of followers but they are interested in contacting people.
However, micro-influencers are social media users with a targeted followers of more than 1000 but less than 100,000. The followers of micro-influencers vary on each social media platform.
They intend to promote the products and services of various brands and earn money. They focus on a particular niche, and build their expertise and audience around that chosen niche.
Micro-influencers are also known as ‘topic specialists’ and ‘industry experts.’ They have fewer followers but they have the skill to bring high engagement and impact people’s opinions and purchase decisions.
As Mark Zuckerberg says,
“People influence people. Nothing influences people more than a recommendation from a trusted friend. A trusted referral influences people more than the best broadcast message. A trusted referral is the holy grail of advertising”.
Micro-Influencers Vs Macro-Influencers
It is important to know the difference between micro-influencers and macro-influencers before choosing one. Many large companies go for macro-influencers because they have 20 times more reach than micro-influencers.
However, macro-influencers reach a wider audience whereas micro-influencers are believed to be experts in a specific niche by the audience.
In terms of popularity, it is seen that micro-influencers are more popular than macro-influencers because they generate unique views and are more affordable than macro-influencers.
To maintain reach on your website it is good to hire macro-influencers. On the other hand, to promote your products and services in a particular community it is advised to hire micro-influencers.
Micro-influencers have small followers but they can reach their targeted audience on contrary to macro-influencers. However, in terms of engagement rates, micro-influencers get 7% to 20% as they have fewer followers whereas macro-influencers get around 3% with more followers.
Further, in terms of trust and efficiency, 82% of people opt for micro-influencers because they work with fewer brands. On the other hand, authenticity and trust lacks in macro-influencers as they work with multiple brands.
Why are Micro-influencers Effective for Startups?
Here are 6 reasons why are micro-influencers effective for your startups.
1. Cost-Effective
Micro-influencers are cost-effective because of their low range of followers.
According to wersm.com, 97% of micro-influencers charges less than $500 per post. On the other hand, macro-influencers or celebrity influencers cost you hundreds of thousands per post.
Micro-Influencers focus on growing their followings and they try to build long-term relationships with the brands. These factors create a strong ROI (Return on Investment), a mathematical formula used to evaluate the performance of investments.
Hence, if you are a startup company, you can collaborate with micro-influencers and promote your products and services at an affordable rate.
2. Higher Engagement
A smaller audience makes micro-influencers more powerful.
Do you know why?
Because it allows them to connect deeply with their audience.
Micro-influencers are experts in their particular niche and they can reach the targeted audience by responding to their queries in a quick manner which brings higher engagement than macro-influencers.
Micro-influencers deliver effective content which has a certain benefit in it. The benefit is that it not only makes people aware of your brands but also brings sales.
They try to understand the pain points of the people and give them genuine reviews about a particular brand or products and services.
3. Trustworthy and Genuine
Micro-influencers are more than a friend and less than a celebrity. Their themes, praising content, and clear storyline hooks the readers and allows them to engage with the content.
In the market of unauthenticity and fake reviews, 93% of people believe in the reviews and feedback of micro-influencers.
Micro-influencers can build personal relationships with the audience and they spend more time engaging with their audience which builds authenticity. Their motivation and their wish to impress the audience and the brands they are working with make them trustworthy and genuine.
4. Targeted Audience
Micro-influencers are good in a particular niche which helps them to reach the targeted audience. They think about their audience, what they value and how they can get the right information.
Micro-influencers are good at making connections and reaching the targeted audience with the help of storytelling. Storytelling is one of the way that attracts the targeted audience because it helps people relate to their own stories.
Robert McAfee Brown an American activist and theologian says,
“ Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.
5. Drive More Conversions
Driving more conversions is not an easy task. However, micro-influencers can operate more conversions.
For example, try to share discount codes through affiliate links.
Do you know why?
Let me explain you.
Micro-influencers are better at achieving engagement and their audiences are more focused. Hence, when micro-influencers will share the discount codes with their followers, they will be encouraged and motivated to buy your products, and automatically your conversion rates will increase.
Genuine reviews, tutorial videos, and the unique experiences of micro-influencers with the content drive more conversions.
Things to Consider Before Hiring Micro-Influencers
For a startup company, hiring micro-influencers is effective as discussed in the above points.
But, while hiring micro-influencers, few things should be considered for exceptional results of using micro-influencer marketing.
Let’s have a look.
1. Always Have a Written Agreement
Before hiring a micro-influencer, a startup company should have a written agreement about its rules and regulations.
The micro-influencers should be aware of the guidelines and confidential information about the company. It should not be shared or disclosed with anybody outside the company.
You have to decide how long a post will be up on every social media. If the post will be for a longer term then the payment will also increase.
For example, if you are paying an influencer for Instagram stories, then you have to consider how many slides should be there and for how long. All these things can be solved if you have a proper written agreement.
2. Know the Demographics of Influencers
Carefully consider the demographics of influencers before hiring one. Evaluating the analytics and impressions of an influencer is an important aspect to be aware of.
Engagement rates will help you to determine how the influencer is good at producing content and making connections with the audience.
Always try to generate a report from them after closing the promotion of your brand. The report further will help you to know the progress of your brands.
3. Research Influencer’s Reputation
Researching the reputation of the micro-influencer is essential. It makes you aware that whether the influencer is useful or harmful to your brand.
As a startup company, if you are looking to invest your time in micro-influencers so you should avoid making connections with those influencers who might become a problem for your company.
You can search for an influencer by typing their name or username and you will be able to know everything about them. Look for what type of content they produce, and whether are they engaged in any controversy or not.
Research about them, and make out a decision about which micro-influencers are the best fit for your brand.
4. Reach them with Preferred Contact Method
Whenever you try to search for a micro-influencer, it is advised to look at their “about” section. It will help you to identify which contact method they prefer.
Some common methods that micro-influencers follow are to contact through email or DM. Always keep in mind that micro-influencers manage multiple tasks so before shooting a DM reach out to them by email.
It is also advised not to ask for collaboration in the comment section as it will be identified as a scam. You can post your thoughts and ideas in the comment section. However, to reach them you can use the preferred contact method.
If you want to know more about them you can follow them and engage with their content. It will help you to build trust and they will be aware that you are interested in a partnership with them.
5. Hire Micro-influencers with Long-Term Goals
Building a long-term relationship with micro-influencers takes time. Hence, it is not an easy task. Therefore, look for those influencers who not only will promote your brand but will also make a relationship with you for the long term.
If you make a long-term positive relationship with micro-influencers, it will create loyalty among the influencers.
They will feel special and make content that will look precise and real, and last but not least they will understand your brand more effectively.
This step will result in building consistency, being familiar with the audience, and will convey the right message to the audience.
6. Pay Attention to Skillset
It is essential to pay attention to the skillset of micro-influencers. They should have the skills which you want for your company besides producing engaging content.
Some common skills for which you should look for a micro-influencer are communication, consistency, and genuineness.
These keen details will help your brand to grow further and the minor details by the micro-influencers will be effective for your company.
7. Can You Give Creative Freedom?
Before getting the best content, responses, and engagement you have to ask yourself whether you can give creative freedom to the micro-influencers.
It does not mean that they can do anything of their choice. As a startup owner you will have some control over them but to drive profitable customer action you have to give creative freedom to the micro-influencers.
Their ideas and strategies will better fit your audience. As they are familiar with their audience more than you. To give your startup a better position close collaboration is vital for your company.
6 Ways to Find Micro-influencers
Do you know how to find micro-influencers for your products and services?
Here are the 6 useful ways you should try to find micro-influencers.
1. Scroll Your Followers List
The best way to find micro-influencers for your startup is to look through your followers on social media. Look for people who have medium followers between 1k to 1lakh.
After scrolling through the followers, look at their profiles, and what type of content they produce. Look whether their content is in align with your startup or not.
Try to get a keen detail of how they connect with their audience. Are they able to build faith and realism among the audience?
2. Search with Hashtags
Appropriate keywords and hashtags are a great way to search for micro-influencers. Search for keywords that are related to your niche and products and services.
For example, you are a startup company that produces content related to business, entrepreneurs, and blogging search for #blogging, #bloggingtips, #business, #businessbranding, #entrepreneurs, #entrepreneurslife, etc.
Search for related keywords, and this way, you will reach your targeted audience and you can easily find the micro-influencers.
3. Scroll Your Competitors' Followers List
In improving the business marketing and sale strategy, looking at your competitors’ followers list is a vital part.
Some common things which you should monitor are:
- Look at their posts and stories.
- Look at the responses, reviews, and comments on the posts and stories.
- Finally, scroll through their followers’ lists.
In this way, you will surely get a micro-influencer of your niche. Remember if you want to approach your competitors’ micro-influencers, address them by asking about their pain points.
4. Join Various Social Media Groups
Joining various social media groups will help you to get several micro-influencers for your niche. Join groups on LinkedIn and Facebook and scroll out to the recent activity of people.
Scroll for those who make regular content and try to make a list of them. Look at their method of sharing content and engaging people and contact them with the preferred contact method.
A review of people and their actions will help you to find valuable micro-influencers for your startup.
5. Make Connection with Bloggers
Do not forget to make connections with bloggers. Do you know that they are also amazing influencers?
Reach out to those bloggers who post daily content related to your niche. For example, if your startup revolves around business, entrepreneurs or startups get in touch with those bloggers who post content around business and startups.
For better and focused results apply one trick. Use Google search and search the specific keywords like “business”, “startups” etc. You will get micro-influencers in your area.
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6. Use Influencer Marketing Tools
If you think that these search methods are time-consuming for you, you can use influencer marketing tools which will make your job easy.
Let us have a quick look at some tools that will permit you to discover micro-influencers.
- Upfluence– To collaborate with the right influencer Upfluence is the best influencer marketing tool. It helps you to choose from several micro-influencers by using keywords. You will be able to see their engagement and all their recent activity by simply logging in to Upfluence.
- Afluencer– It will enable you to directly connect with the micro-influencers of your brand. This tool allows you to chat with the micro-influencers which you picked up for your startup. You will get the process of searching among 50 different niches and categories.
- Heepsy– This tool permits you to find genuine micro-influencers. It allows you to identify the audience of the miro-influencers and effective bloggers. Do you know why? So, that you can collaborate or make partnerships with appropriate influencers that can drive well traffic and engagements to your startups.
- Openinfluence– It is a well-known influencer tool with a proven track record. It gives you a complete image of the micro-influencers about how they create content and improve awareness of your products and services.
How much do Micro-Influencers Cost in 2022
The cost of micro-influencers varies depending on some factors such as engagement, reach, kind of content they produce, demand of a micro-influencer, etc.
However, in 2022 micro-influencer costs varies on every social media platform. Therefore, let us see the social media platforms and the average costs of micro-influencers.
- On Instagram, the average cost of micro-influencers per post is $100 to $500.
- On Twitter, the micro-influencers average cost is $20 to $100 per post.
- The average cost of micro-influencers on YouTube is $200 – $1,000 per video.
- On Facebook, the micro-influencers average cost per post is $250 to $1,250.
- The micro-influencers average cost on TikTok is $25 to $125 per post.
- The average cost of micro-influencers on LinkedIn is $50 per piece of content.
Additionally, in 2022, the cost of micro-influencers vary from $100 to $1 million per post.
Top 5 Brands Working with Micro-influencers
Let us see the top 5 brands that are collaborating with micro-influencers.
1. Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, the famous brand that falls in the category of beverages chooses to work with micro-influencers. Their audience is the consumers of Belgium.
It is interesting to know that Coca-Cola works with 14 Instagram influencers and content creators. Eight micro-influencers have less than 1lakh followers while others have more than 1lakh followers.
Some names of the influencers are Miette Dierckx, Alex Decunha, and Yannick Merckx. Their main focus is to connect with their audience and show them how much people are enjoying Coca-Cola beverages.
2. Sperry
This brand falls in the category of fashion. It is focusing on Instagram to promote its products and services. Sperry is popularly known for boat shoes.
Micro-influencers post images of various products and services of Sperry. Sperry connected with 100 micro-influencers on Instagram.
Based on the research, Sperry has gained massive traffic of over 66% with 4.7 million impressions to their website. Sperry proved to us the power of micro-influencers and their engagement with the audiences.
3. Glossier
Glossier is a beauty product. This brand promotes its products and services on YouTube. They announced a micro-influencer program in which micro-influencer will get incentives to promote their brands.
According to racked.com, more than 500 micro-influencers work with this brand. They created a unique environment in which anyone who will buy their products and like them becomes an influencer.
The genuine reviews and comments of the customers helped the brand Glossier to achieve a remarkable position.
4. Forever 21
The fashion brand Forever 21 uses three social media platforms to promote its products. The social media platforms are Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
To encourage and motivate the audience, they hired micro-influencers. The micro-influencers post content and images of outfits of Forever 21 with the hashtags #F21*Me.
They attract the influencers by providing them certain benefits as they provide them a flat fee plus an apparel budget. They always look for micro-influencers to hire as they build trust among the audience.
5. Asos
The fashion brand Asos also uses three platforms i.e., Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube to promote its services. Behind the success of Asos, micro-influencers are the biggest reason.
With the help of micro-influencers, they generated a revenue of 3.2 billion dollar revenue. The micro-influencers post images of clothes, and accessories with a code.
The ability to connect with the audience and promote content related to their niche micro-influencers has done a great job.
Final Words
Promoting your brands or products and services on social media is not an easy task. However, if you are consistent in this process you can surely gain a massive audience for your brand.
To be consistent in this method micro-influencers will assist you. With the ability to build strong relationships with the audience and build verisimilitude micro-influencers secure large brand deals.
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