Amplify Your Brand with Micro-Influencers: A Simple and Cost-Effective Approach | by Kenny Soto | Apr, 2023

If you’re marketing a small business this year, budgets might be tight. Instead of just focusing on how to “do more with less” when it comes to paid media campaigns and content creation, there is another tactic you can use to both increase conversions while at the same time, creating user-generated content, and building out the top of your marketing funnel.

Sounds too good to be true? It’s not.

I’ll make an assumption that by now you’re no stranger to the power of influencers. However, partnering with big-name celebrities isn’t the only way to make a splash. Micro-influencers, with their smaller but highly engaged followings, are making waves in the influencer marketing landscape and are a cost-effective alternative to spending money on social media ads or Google search ads and can help your team start creating video content at scale.

• Macro-Influencers: With a following of 100,000 to millions, macro-influencers are often celebrities or public figures. They offer wide reach and high visibility but may come with higher costs and lower engagement.
• Micro-Influencers: These individuals have followings of 1,000 to 100,000 and are known for their authenticity and high engagement. They offer a niche audience and content diversity.
• Nano-Influencers: With fewer than 1,000 followers, nano-influencers excel at hyper-local influence and are cost-effective. However, their reach is limited, and they may require more guidance.

For the purposes of this post and to give context to how I define micro-influencers, I see them as anyone who has less than specifically 30,000 followers or less (a combination of both micro and nano).

This is to account for any segment of a micro-influencer’s audience that are either: dormant, bots, or irrelevant as far as your target customer is concerned (think family and friends).

That being said, micro-influencers (and nano) have earned the trust of their audiences, making them ideal candidates to boost brand awareness and provide a lift in conversion rates over time. Even if someone has fewer than 1,000 followers, they can still provide a valuable (and low-cost) partnership opportunity.

Let me explain how.

My experience with a recent client showcases the effectiveness of this approach. The client in question was an affiliate marketing site that was showcasing local home decor stores on their website and they needed to grow their website traffic rapidly grow their revenue and to gain more attention from future partners. The challenge? A limited marketing budget and a team unfamiliar with creating social media content in-house.

I’ll add though, we did have a strong foundation with SEO which helped at the initial stages of the business but because of the fierce competition in the home decor space — the client needed a new channel to get more people to the site.

I proposed a solution, “why not leverage micro-influencers?” Using Instagram and TikTok specifically, I found home decor enthusiasts who had followings of 1,000 to 2,000 max. And note — I didn’t use a website/platform that curates micro-influencers for brands. Those sites charge money for the convenience of not having to do the research and outreach yourself. Your budget is better suited to paying reasonable rates for each partnership you make. Instead, just dedicate a week or two to find the influencers yourself.

My process?

I began by using the same hashtags I expected the micro-influencers were using to promote their content. Using these hashtags made it easy to find them. Instagram and TikTok both have search functions for a reason! With both the search function on those marketing channels and good ol’ Google Sheets, I create a list of 30 micro-influencers to reach out to.

Then I simply DM’d them using this script (feel free to copy it):

Hey [micro-influencer’s first name],

My name is [your name] and I represent the marketing team at [company name and website]. I’m reaching out because I discovered your videos on [TikTok/Instagram] and they are 100% awesome! My team is launching a new brand awareness campaign this month and we wanted to know if you’d be interested in collaborating with us.

This campaign would be for [duration] and you will receive compensation for each video you make on [TikTok/Instagram]. The campaign itself is very straightforward. We are trying to bring more awareness to a specific list of home decor and furniture stores, using your amazing voice and audience engagement [note: you can change this line to whatever the campaign’s goal is, just keep it straightforward and short].

You’d be creating videos that are tied to themes (best kitchen cabinets to use in your apartment, the best types of tiles for your summer home, etc.) where either — you’ll record a video at your place of residence or you’ll visit a specific set of local stores that provide [note: provide examples of the types of videos you want to see!]. You have COMPLETE creative control over the final video, seeing as we are reaching out to you because you know what you’re doing.

If you partner with us, you won’t just be delegated a list of tasks to get done. We truly want to make you a partner in this campaign, which means any ideas you also bring to the table will be supported [note: this line was added in after several failed attempts to make it seem like the micro-influencer wasn’t going to do work that was a waste of their time]!

If you are interested let me know at your earliest convenience!

Best,

[Name & Company & Email Address]

After they responded, I’d schedule a phone call, Zoom meeting, or a call on Google Meets to cover the details and the next steps.

During the kickoff call, start by introducing your brand in more detail. Explain what you’re trying to achieve with the collaboration and the process for how the videos will be drafted and published. Set the expectations for what you’re looking for upfront so that the micro-influencer is fully aware of they need to do so that they know if this is something that they want to do.
Step 4: Negotiate and Finalize the Agreement
Then ask them if they’d like to move forward. If the answer is yes, great! The way I approached negotiating compensation is I told them our expectations for the cost per video based on our budget.

If the micro-influencer thought that was too little for each video, we negotiated either by asking for less videos for the same cost or if they still didn’t want to do the videos, asking them to refer us to someone else in their network who also created videos. Sometimes both tactics didn’t work, which is why I started off with a big list of micro-influencers to reach out to.

After you’ve successfully set up partnerships with each micro-influencer and they’ve signed their contracts, it’s time to have them start recording. When they begin recording their videos, a simple Google Doc that outlines the talking points from the kick-off call plus examples of videos you’d like for them to create is all you need.

You can iterate on this process over time, but try to keep it simple to start. The easier the instructions are, the faster they can record!

Get one video from each micro-influencer to see the output, provide feedback, and see how they implement that feedback. Once you see that they understand the process, you can have them start creating videos in bulk based on the total number of videos you’ve both agreed upon.

And once those videos are done, it’s up to the both of you to set up a posting schedule. That’s it, now you’re off to the races!

Micro-influencers are a valuable asset in today’s marketing landscape. They offer relatability, high engagement, and a cost-effective way to reach your target audience. If you’re exploring new ways to promote your business, consider the potential use case for using micro-influencers. You may find that they’re the perfect fit for your marketing strategy.