What is Micro-Influencer Marketing? [ The Complete Guide]

Have you ever convinced yourself by your favorite influencer to buy something? Well, this is actually called Micro-Influencer Marketing. It’s true that Micro-Influencing has grown tremendously in the last two years.

Micro-Influencer Marketing is the reality of tomorrow. More and more brands are now hiring 100 micro-influencers instead of one big celebrity. This is because they have a highly targeted audience in a particular segment and they are more engaged with them.

Micro-influencer Marketing is also just like influencer marketing but they have a smaller network of fan-base in a smaller sector.

I also called myself a “Micro-Influencer” because I have nearly 14k followers on Instagram.

Recently, I have made more than $1500 in just a few months because of micro-influencer marketing. Later, in this article, I’ll also tell you how to make money as a “Micro-Influencer” on Instagram.

Now, let’s hop into what is Micro-Influencer Marketing?

What is a Micro-Influencer?

Anyone who is having followers between 1000-100,000 is called a “Micro-Influencer”. They are typically popular in their particular area of interest and have very high rates of engagement from their audiences. They get paid to post and that’s how they make money on Instagram.

Micro-influencer marketing is now a buzzword rolling around in the business & marketing world.

Advertisers and marketers are very much interested in collaborating with small influencers.

Why Micro-Influencer is getting so popular?

According to recent studies, people spend an average of 145 minutes daily on social media platforms. It is one of the reasons why influencer marketing is getting popular. 

Another reason brands are getting comfortable with micro-influencer marketing is their super-specific audience and high engagement rates. 

On the other hand, if you go for a celebrity collaboration, they have a very diversified audience and sometimes. Some of their audience is not so interested in the products they promote. This is the reason, why most marketing campaigns fail every year.

So, to solve this problem, Micro-Influencer Marketing came into existence.

Look,

I can make you understand with a simple example.

Suppose, you are selling a “Daily Planner Notebook” and you want to make more sales on Instagram. But you don’t have a too high budget to collaborate with Kylie Jenner. It must also be possible that Kylie’s followers are not interested in a “Notebook Planner”.

Now, what will you do?

You can go for a micro-influencer who is a “Productivity Guru” and has a following between 1000-50,000 which also costs you very low and you would get better results.

In this way, you can avoid losing your money and would be able to market your product online very easily.

Why do Brands love Micro-Influencer Marketing?

There are main 7 reasons why Brands love Micro-Influencer Marketing—

1. It costs less money.
2. High Audience Engagement
3. Authentic Content 
4. It create Diversified Ads
5. It create Diversified Reach
6. Brands can Manage their Frequency of Campaigns.
7. Brands can manage their budget.

For instance, if you are a travel influencer, you can stay in hotels for free. In exchange, you can give reviews or make a video on it. That’s a kind of influencer marketing.

It has also been seen that in 2020, the Influencer Marketing industry was around 15-20 billion dollars and it will increase by 20-30% more within 2 years. 

In addition, 76% of marketers or strategists will increase their budget allocation on influencer marketing compared to 62% last year.

So, the opportunity is huge and if you have any talent then don’t just waste it. 

How to become a Micro-Influencer?

If you are interested in learning how to become an “Influencer”, you can refer to my previous article “How to Become a Social Media Influencer“.

It is a very detailed and comprehensive article by giving a step-by-step approach.

How to choose a niche on Instagram?

Whenever it comes to choose a niche, I have seen that people face a dilemma that what niche is most profitable?

I will give you a simple answer!

Don’t pick a niche where there is already a huge crowd… Just go with that niche that makes sense to you and which excites you. For me, it is an “Online Business Niche”.

I didn’t suffer a lot in choosing my niche because I was very much passionate about online businesses and I knew that this is my field of interest.

So, go with a niche that your heart says to you otherwise you’ll later run out of ideas.

Although, there are few steps that you can follow to find out your niche —

1. Identify your passion and interest

This might sound like a cliche that to identify passion, although it’s the main thing that people can’t identify.

But don’t worry! Make a list of the are of interest that excites you the most and in which you will never run out of content ideas.

If possible, also make a content list in a specific field. For example, if you love cooking, then plan your content for at least one month before starting out.

In this way, you will never run out of content ideas and it helps in knowing your true passion.

2. Explore what people are doing

This is my favorite part because I think this helped me a lot in my passion in my early days.

By exploring, you come to know what people are doing in the world, what possibilities are there, and what can be done to make money.

This step is the most important in finding a niche in my opinion. When you explore what others are doing, sometimes your reaction would be like this- “Oh, I can make money by this way also, I never thought about that.”

It happened to me often because I believe when you have zero ideas about your passion and interests then EXPLORATION is the only solution.

So, just go and surf around the internet and see how people are making money.

I can guarantee you that if you explore deeply, you will get ideas that blow your mind.

3. Identify Problems

This is another superb way to find out your niche. You can become a micro-influencer by solving people’s problems.

Just see what problems people generally face in their day-to-day lives. Are they in trouble because they don’t know how to bake a cake? Or they don’t know how to make a beautiful graphic?

In any way possible, you can solve their problems, you are on the right path!

These ways will surely help you if you follow them properly. Don’t be in a hurry, apply these steps with patience to see the great results.

How to plan your content?

Once you have decided on your niche, it’s time to plan your content for Instagram. So, now I will tell you how to create well-defined content that would bring higher engagement.

1. Have Clear Goals

You can’t map out a path without knowing your destination! Before thinking about what to post on Instagram, make sure to have proper goals.

Don’t just post randomly, plan out why you are posting, whatever you are posting. The more you have crystal clear goals, the higher the success chances are for you to become a Micro-Influencer.

Is your goal to have a certain number of followers so you can work with brands as an influencer? Or, perhaps you want to increase your conversions so you can turn your followers into paying customers? 

By figuring out exactly what your objectives are on Instagram, you can ensure you’re using your time, energy, and resources wisely.

2. Choose a Theme 

If you want to become a popular micro-influencer, then a consistent theme is a significant part. Most of the popular influencers use a consistent pattern of posting content on their Instagram Page.

As you can see, I have a blue & white color theme that I follow on my Instagram.

You can choose whatever color you may like but I will suggest you go for these colors (as they are popular)—

Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Orange, Violet, and Beige.

3. Use Scheduling tools

Scheduling tools are useful in posting your pre-made content especially if you are on multiple social media platforms.

There are multiple free and paid scheduling tools that you can use—

Facebook Creator Studio,
CoSchedule,
SproutSocial,
Planable,
Tailwind.

How to get your first 1000 followers on Instagram?

Your first 1000 followers matter a lot. I remember in April 2020, I got my first 1000 followers.

Now, I have nearly 14k followers on Instagram.

So, what was my strategy?

Let’s break down with those actionable steps—

1. Optimize Your Bio

The very first step is to optimize your bio so that people would understand what do you exactly do.

I have already provided a detailed guide on “Influencer Marketing” on my blog.

2. Engage with your followers

Followers are everything for micro-influencers!

You cannot expect to make money from Instagram without any support from your followers. Try to answer every message you get, reply to every comment and if possible, go live once in a month so that people would know you better.

3. Use Instagram Reels

Reels is the no.1 way to increase your followers overnight. Yes, that’s true! It is 100% possible that you can get 1000 followers within a single night through reels.

It is Instagram’s new feature and this is why Instagram is promoting it at a higher level than it does with its other feature. I did get 5000 new followers within a week once my reels were going viral.

If your content is good, you’ll surely get new followers at a higher rate, and it’s proven!

Make 2 Reels once a week if you want to see great results.

4. Follow other People

When you are new to Instagram, there is a possibility that Instagram doesn’t give much reach. In this case, you have to manually reach out to others.

You can follow people similar to your niche and in most cases, people do give a follow-back. Like & Comment on others’ posts. This is a tried and tested strategy for newbie Instagrammers.

Micro-Influencers Vs Macro-Influencers

Most of the time, big companies go for macro-influencers (who have a following between 100K-1M). It is good if they have a good amount budget and they wanted a wider audience reach.

But having a large number of followers is now always good. Sometimes, small brands don’t have that much amount of money to spend on bog celebrities.

So, they spend on micro-influencer marketing who are having a smaller but highly engaged audience network. And this marketing strategy works really well.

According to Markerly, analyzed more than 800,000 Instagram users, with the majority having at least 1,000 followers. They have observed that the rate of engagement (likes and comments) decreases as the follower number increases.

People who have less than 1,000 followers generally received likes on their posts 8% of the time.

Influencers with 10 million+ followers only received likes 1.6% of the time.

So, from this data, it is clear that how the rate is influenced by the increasing number of followers.

How to get Brand Deals?

When you completely understood how to become a “micro-influencer”, now it’s time to makeover your profile so that brands will reach out to you.

There are many strategies you can adopt to collaborate with brands. So, let’s learn about those strategies—

1. Use your Instagram Bio

Use a clear Call to Action (CTA) in your bio to let others know that you are open to collaborate.

Like we can take an example of my Instagram account, I have provided a clear CTA in bio.

By this method only, I daily get 10-20 emails for brand collaboration. Of course, it’s not possible to collaborate with each and every brand. 

You have to be very authentic towards your content and collaborations. Collaborate only with those brands whoever you trust the most otherwise you may lose the trust of your followers.

2. Use Instagram Feed Posts 

Make collaboration posts to let other brands know that you are open to collaborate. You can either make some beautiful posters as well.

3. Direct Message to Brands

Till now, I have messaged over 100s of brands for collaboration. Don’t take it wrong to direct message, anyone.

Let me explain to you why it is valid.

If you are new on Instagram and you don’t have much reach. Instagram’s algorithm also doesn’t promote small influencers quickly. So, what you can do is a message directly to those brands who are not so popular but willing to spend money on “Micro-Influencer Marketing”.

Don’t directly approach Louis Vuitton asking for collaboration, they would never reply!

Approach only small businesses or brands that are new but have a small budget to spend on marketing. In this way, you will create a win-win situation for both parties.

4. Sign up for Influencer Marketing Platforms

Did you know that today, we have some influencer marketing agencies that work as a connecting link between brands and influencers?

Influencer marketing Agencies are those people who earn by taking commissions from brands by giving them the right influencers for their product.

Let’s take another example, sometimes it becomes difficult to search for the right influencer for a particular product. It takes a lot of time and effort to search for those people who are the best fit for a brand. 

So, what will an influencer agency do, they find “the best fit” influencers who have great engagement rates and a good number of followers on social media platforms.

This makes it a lot easier for businesses to market their brands.

Some Popular Influencer marketing Agencies

Let’s see what are some popular Influencer Marketing agencies are—

1. Neoreach

NeoReach has created world-class original influencer campaigns for leading brands and Global Fortune 500 companies. 

It was founded in 2013 and managing over $250 million dollars in influencer spend to date. Their team is responsible for creating some of the most successful influencer campaigns.

2. MoreInfluence

Their mission is to help brands close more sales, attract more customers, and generate more influence within their market. 

They offer widespread access to over 300 million social media users in a broad variety of content categories.

3. ViralNation

ViralNation has outperformed on 95% of its influencer marketing campaigns. The agency is entrusted by leading brands globally and has a client retention rate of over 90%.

So, there are different kinds of influencer marketing agencies existing already. You can also sign up on different platforms.

Over to You

In today’s highly competitive world, it’s always important to do something that nobody or only a few people are doing. If you want to become a highly paid micro-influencer, you need to pay attention to your content strategy.

If you properly follow the steps mentioned above, that would be more than enough to become a micro-influencer on Instagram.

Maintain consistency, have patience and you will soon become a popular influencer.

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