Are Micro-Influencers a Part of your Social Media Strategy?

Influencer marketing has been gaining popularity as a tool for social media promotions. Over a few years, brands have collaborated with influencers. As a result, the industry is now worth at least $5-10 billion. Currently, the emerging concept of micro-influencers is all the rage.

Who are these Micro-Influencers?

Influencer marketing with micro-influencers is the same concept on a smaller scale. Brands interact and collaborate with individuals who have a follower base of 1000 to 10000 people. These individuals are well informed and reputed in their areas of interest. They will also have a high rate of engagement on their posts. When brands are looking to reach niche audiences, they typically seek micro-influencers.

A fashion influencer may boast millions of followers and many boutiques et cetera. A micro-influencer, on the other hand, has a smaller audience but a dedicated one. A micro-influencer might only post daily boho outfit designs or videos about DIY outfits.

Are Micro-Influencers Important?

Markerly, in one of their studies, found that with the increase in the number of followers, the engagement rate of influencers went down. But, micro-influencers with less than 1000 followers received likes 8% of the time. In comparison, influencers only received 1.6% likes. ExpertVoice also found in a study that micro-influencers have 22.2 times more conversations than regular users. It is, therefore, logical to assume that businesses would achieve a higher engagement rate with micro-influencers.

Micro-influencers have a defined Target Market

Most celebrity influencers have millions of followers. If a fashion clothing brand collabs with them, the content will reach a lot of people. However, most of these followers aren’t interested in clothing. The brand could, instead, collaborate with 100 micro-fashion-bloggers each with about 1000 followers. The chances of gaining leads from these 100,000 followers, who actively seek fashion advice from these micro-influencers are higher.

Affordability

As a business owner, you would want to invest smartly. Micro-influencers help you achieve a better ROI. Let me explain this further to see how. Captiv8 reports that an influencer with 3 to 7 million followers can charge $75000 on an average for a post on Instagram. In contrast, a micro-influencer charges less than $500 for a post. So even if you employ 10 or even 100 micro-influencers, you spend less and actually reach more people.

Micro-influencers are usually honest with their audience. They have a small following and they don’t want to lose their trust by giving fake reviews. So most of the time, companies may simply send them free goodies for a review instead of paying hard cash. For instance, La Croix Sparkling Water sent free product vouchers to micro-influencers.

Authenticity

Millennials look for authenticity. It is the current trend almost because they know it is easier to fake something on social media. Micro-influencers with their smaller audience do engage with any comment on their posts. They are more likely to behave authentically in the fear of losing their following in case of a fake review. It is also true that Instagram’s algorithm now has adjusted to weed out fake influencers, comments, and followers. So brands now are looking for someone who would be genuine. And micro-influencers are the best bet.

La Croix for example targets micro-influencers by searching branded hashtags like “LiveLaCroix”. They then reach out to people posting these with a lower follower base. The company even reaches out to individuals who have tagged the brand in their posts. They specifically target these individuals with lesser followers to maintain the feel of authenticity or “realness”.

There are a number of other brands that have collaborated with micro-influencers. You can check out our blog post to know more about their success stories. Before you make up your mind to invest in this, make sure you consider your strategy well. Instagram influencer marketing might work well for visual products like sparkling water or a fashionable sweatshirt collection. If you want to promote software, you might have to get creative, move out of Instagram and look for influencers on YouTube perhaps.

Top 6 Influencer Marketing Campaigns of 2018-19

18.5 million posts! That’s the number of posts Instagram turns up if you simply search the keyword “#influencer”! This goes to show how influencer marketing has become more plentiful and successful over time. Over 79% of brands prefer Instagram for influencer marketing campaigns. After all, some influencer marketing campaigns have proved wildly successful. According to Business Insider Intelligence, they plan to spend up to US$15 billion on influencer marketing campaigns by 2022.

We talked about the effectiveness of influencer marketing. Here we will see how some brands effectively implemented their influencer marketing campaigns.

The Best Influencer Marketing Campaigns

67.6% of marketers consider finding the right influencer to be the most difficult job. Agreed. However, when you actually do, results could often be amazing. These brand stories are proof enough.

1. Skittles-Taste the Rainbow

Skittles came up with an innovative idea to advertise via social media. They decided to turn a typical California teen into an ultimate influencer online. Marcos Menendez, a real-life massive skittles fan, was the icon for their “Exclusive the rainbow, Taste the rainbow” campaign. DDB Chicago came up with this idea of making a super bowl commercial which is not about the super bowl.

Skittles announced that they would make a Superbowl ad for only one viewer. This ad would be seen by only one skittles superfan – Marcos Menendez. On February 4th, the Superbowl Sunday, the exclusive ads were shown to Marcos and his reaction to the ads was broadcasted to the world via Facebook Live. The campaign has received over 1.5 billion media impressions, coverage in ABC’s segment and won gold at Cannes 2018 under social and influencer lions.

2. Lyft

Lyft has achieved over 5.9 million engagements per year. How did they do it? One of the ways they guaranteed this success is via influencer marketing campaigns. Their strategy involved different types of influencers. They got a balanced mix of celebrity endorsers and macro-influencers for their campaigns. As a result, Lyft set its position as the most mentioned brand in 2018. This was about sponsored posts, highlighted by the inclusion of hashtags like #paid, #ad, #sponsored. Lyft engaged with over 1.1 thousand influencers over the course of the year. Their list of influencers includes names like Zayn Malik, Snoop Dogg. They also roped in macro-influencers like Peyton Mabry.

3. Fiji Water

Fiji Water collaborated with Instagram influencer Danielle Bernstein for their campaign. Danielle Bernstein runs the fashion blog and brand WeWoreWhat. She boasts a strong follower base of 2.2 million people. Fiji Water joined hands with her for their influencer marketing campaign BodyWoreWhat. This campaign had Danielle Bernstein putting forth 8-minute workout videos. This campaign conveyed Fiji Water’s commitment to hydrate anyone who wishes to be as fit as Danielle Bernstein.

4. Sperry’s Boat Shoes

We all know that social media users often interact with brands online. It could be through comments on brand posts, inquiries via messages or posts that tag them. Most often it is the last. The current generation uses Instagram to post pics of their proud possessions. Sperry has been using this to their advantage. Since the end of 2016, the brand has been working with micro-influencers on Instagram to boost its own following and engagement rates. And the results have been amazing, at no cost at all. Sperry re-posted a photo shared by Slava Daniliuk and it became their most engaged photo in 2016. This process has proved super-successful as it is a win-win for both parties, at no extra cost.

They have been engaging with influencers when reposting photos shared by people, with their permission. Apart from giving a shoutout to the influencer, the brand is also conveying to others in the age group how hip and trendy Sperry Boat shoes are.

5. Daniel Wellington

Daniel Wellington has almost perfected the art of influencer marketing campaigns. They have never focused too much on traditional ways of promotion. Their influencer marketing strategy was to monitor influencers with a high engagement rate. It does not matter what niche they are in. As long as they have an active follower base, Daniel Wellington is willing to work with them. They have collaborated with people with the reputation of celebrities to animals like horses.

6. Nike

Innovative as always, Nike took a creative turn for their influencer marketing campaign. The ‘What’s Inside” Youtube channel has a massive follower base. The current count of their subscriber base is 6.76 million. The channel carries videos of things being cut in half to show us what is inside them. Nike collaborated with them to promote Nike Air VaporMax before it was released in the market. Their video “What’s inside Nike Air VaporMax?” received 6535014 views. It really helped Nike build a buzz around their product.

Give Influencer Marketing a Try

These are just a few examples of how brands have effectively used influencer marketing campaigns to spread their reach and visibility. If you are thinking it would be difficult for you to do the same, you are mistaken. Influencer marketing isn’t rocket science and we are here to guide you step-by-step. Marketers often feel that finding the right influencer is a difficult task which is where AI can help you. Also, social listening tools can help you find the right influencer. Connect with them and get started.

How to find Instagram Influencers?

It’s a well-known fact that influencer marketing is one of the hottest marketing trends right now. Influencers are driving sales for brands around a topic, service or even a niche product. With millennials making up most of the audience, they are moving away from traditional media. Hence, businesses are getting more invested in influencer marketing via social media. And turning Instagram into the most preferred platform for influencers. It’s reported that Influencer marketing on Instagram alone will produce over $1.7 billion in revenue by the end of 2017 and will continue to grow. So how do businesses rope in these popular Instagram influencers and how does the process work?

Why Instagram for Influencer Marketing?

To begin with, the engagement rate on Instagram is higher than on any other social media platform. Images on Instagram get 23% more engagement than their Facebook counterparts on average. Moreover, Instagram has been gaining popularity over the years and it is continuing to grow year-on-year. Here are some stats which show why influencer marketing on Instagram is a good idea.

More than 2 million advertisers worldwide are using Instagram to share their stories
60% of people have said they discover new products via Instagram
More than 200 million Instagrammers visit at least one business page daily
One-third of the most viewed stories are from businesses

And the reason behind influencer marketing being popular on Instagram isn’t surprising. People love visual content and influencers seem to be more trustworthy than with traditional marketing methods which have become intrusive. As opposed to traditional promotions, influencer marketing is two-way communication. The influencer and follower relationships are based on the word-of-mouth concept.

Still wondering how to make this work for your brand?

Who are Instagram Influencers?

Before you start your influencer marketing campaign, you should know a little about the influencers. Influencers are of different kinds.

Celebrity Influencers

It can be seen from the title, that these are celebrities who are famous for their work in their respective fields and are adored by hundreds of people. Personalities like Beyonce or Benedict Cumberbatch fall into this category. Since people admire them, they would like to believe that whatever product these celebrities are endorsing is truly worth possessing. But only large enterprises can afford to work with celebrities, whose charges are usually steep.

Macro Influencers

Macro influencers are famous and a household name many a time. These are almost celebrities themselves with followers ranging from thousands to millions. These people have gained fame in niche fields showcasing their passion and hence people have come to trust and admire them. People like Marques Brownlee – a youtube vlogger who talks about technology and has over 9 million followers – fall into this category.

Micro-Influencers

These people are starting to get famous and recognized. They have a couple of thousands of followers and are suitable to collaborate with if you have a small business. They take a small paycheck or would sometimes endorse your brand even for a product discount, free trial or to build a mutually beneficial partnership.

How to Find Instagram Influencers?

According to EConsultancy, one of the trickiest jobs in influencer marketing is to find the right set of influencers. You can approach this systematically and with some help from social listening tools.

1. Know your target audience

Before you reach out to influencers, you need to know your audience. Which age group are you targeting? Are they from a specific geographic location? What are their interests? The quintessential features that define this target audience have to be studied well.

This step is essential because while searching for an influencer you need someone who has followers from the same category.

You can also divide your audience into niche groups while sourcing for influencers. Say your brand makes organic beauty/health products. You can partner with influencers who talk about organic food and influencers who talk about beauty/health products with organic ingredients.

2. Look for the right influencer

Now that you know your target audience and what message your brand wants to put forth, it is going to be easier to find a suitable influencer. Remember, the influencer you chose has to sound relevant to your audience. A millennial YouTuber may not sound convincing enough to your target audience of middle-aged men if you are trying to sell financial investment plans.

Social media listening tools can help you in this ordeal. Type in your keyword or topic related to your brand and start monitoring. Social listening tools display the top influencers talking about the keyword. Apart from this many social listening tools also track the influencer scores of everyone who shows interest in the topic and is discussing it. So you get to filter out influencers based on their influencer scores.

If you want to do this exercise without a tool, you can always find people organically. Go to the search space on Instagram. Type in the keyword and check out the top posts for the keyword. The people who are trending are probably the top influencers in the field. To be sure, search through their profiles more closely. Look at their posts, the frequency of posts, their engagement rate et cetera.

3. Engage and Implement

Finally, to start your influencer marketing journey you need to convince your chosen influencer to collaborate with you. Engaging with them over direct messaging or contacting them via their secretaries (if they are extremely famous) is the first step. Influencers are human beings too, build a relationship with them and try to see how compatible are they to work with. Once the friendship is in place, you are ready to launch your campaign.

In conclusion, we would like to remind you that launching a campaign isn’t the end of your responsibilities. It is essential to measure your results and track the campaigns. You may pay a fortune to an influencer but you need the data to know how well or poorly the campaign went. Keep experimenting with more cost-effective ways to launch your influencer marketing campaign.