What You Need to Know to Become a Micro Influencer
Last update: 17 May 2023 at 10:49 am
5.00/5A micro-influencer is someone who creates social media content in a certain niche and posts it on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and TikTok. People who are searching these platforms might find these and decide to follow them. Anyone who acquires 10,000 to 50,000 followers is labeled a micro-influencer.
A micro influencer’s content can be about fashion, beauty, food, parenting, music, travel, or practically anything else. Some even post about a combination of subjects but generally stick to content that they are personally knowledgeable about. The more followers the micro-influencer has, the more clout they have in promoting brands they personally find useful. This turns into a virtual word-of-mouth marketing tool for companies.
Influencer Marketing
Some successful micro-influencers use agencies such as these social media agencies in the UK to assist them with finding brands in need. These influencer marketing agencies or platforms match an influencer’s content with company campaigns.
An influencer marketing agency is a team of people who work with brands and influencers to find the best match for different products and services. An influencer marketing platform, however, uses software to match brands with appropriate influencers.
An individual micro-influencer spends a lot of time planning, implementing, launching, and managing marketing campaigns themselves. It’s less expensive for a client company but may require more time. Using an influencer marketing agency costs more, but allows micro-influencers more time to concentrate on writing content.
A sampling of influencer marketing agencies are:
- Kingsmen Agency
- Addicta
- Yellow Branding and Digital
- Markable
- Dotmotions
A sampling of influencer marketing platforms are:
- Brandsnob
- AspireIQ
- BuzZoole
- Tribe
- Activate
Photo by Marcelo Chagas from Pexels
Celebrity Influencers vs Micro-Influencers
Celebrity influencers, or macro-influencers, get paid a ton to promote brands on Instagram. For instance, Kylie Jenner can receive as much as 1.2 million dollars, David Beckham 975 thousand Euros, and Gigi Hadid 300 thousand Dollars for a single post.
Wearing an outfit that a celebrity wore makes a fan feel like a celebrity too. They’re proud to tell their friends that they have an expensive accessory worn by Jennifer Lopez or use the same shaving cream as Michael Jordan.
Micro-influencers have followers that seek them out because they share similar interests. Companies use micro-influencers because they are less expensive. Working with hundreds of micro-influencers, companies can promote a particular product effectively and still not pay as much as they would for a single celebrity post on Instagram.
Data from 2019 showed that for every one celebrity influencer, companies used ten micro-influencers. Besides the expense, micro-influencers are more engaged with their followers on a daily basis, whereas macro-influencers have such a huge audience that they can’t provide much individual attention.
Most micro-influencers engage with a brand because they genuinely like it, not because they’re paid to promote it. Companies find micro-influencers by searching on social media platforms and by using influencer marketing agencies and platforms.
4 Tiers of Influencers
- Nano influencers – followers number from 1k to 5k and are usually good for local business brands.
- Micro-influencers – followers number from 5k to 50k, which is still minimal enough to remain personable.
- Medium influencers – followers number from 50k to 100k, which is the borderline professional influencers.
- Macro influencers – followers number from 100k to 1M+, which can result in less personable engagement, but significant reach.
Micro-influencers hit a sweet spot in terms of follower count. They have just enough to encourage other people to want to join in the fun and few enough that following them feels like it’s still an exclusive club. When they read their blogs, posts, etc., followers still feel as if the micro-influencer is speaking directly to them. They feel connected as if to a friend, someone who will steer them in a good direction. This close connection motivates them to try out brands that the micro-influencer trusts. To be truly successful, a micro-influencer shouldn’t promote products they don’t like or use.
How Do You Become a Micro-Influencer?
If you’ve read this far, then you must be interested in becoming a micro-influencer yourself. When you study successful micro-influencers, you’ll notice that they all have one thing in common. They are good writers. If you don’t like to write then this is not the job for you. Poor grammar skills, misspellings, and poor word choice will not earn you followers.
Write What You Love
There are many different niches to choose from when you decide to become a micro-influencer. To be successful, choose what you love because this will show in your writing. No one is influenced by someone who half-heartedly promotes a topic. Write with your heart and post pictures that inspire. Before long, you’ll find that you hold sway over many followers who love the same things you do.
Specialize
Cooking is a niche. Writing about barbecuing is a specialty. Narrow it down even further to barbecue equipment or sauces you like. Name the brands. Travel is also a niche. Focusing on travel to unusual places is specializing. Whittle that down further to car rental companies that you always use. Make it interesting and readable. People love to read about the obstacles you’ve encountered and the solutions you uncovered to break through them. You traveled to a small out-of-the-way town in Italy where no one spoke English. Maybe, you are starving but cannot communicate that you’re looking for a restaurant. You took out your smartphone and used Google Translate and learned how to ask for one. Problem solved.
Tell a story about the brand that helped you during your time of need. Yes, you can write about brands just to try and attract a company’s attention, but this could ring false if you lack personal experience. Your followers believe in you. Don’t let them down.
Learn Something New
Maybe you don’t really have a niche but there’s something you’ve always wanted to learn. Research it, experience it, find problems with it and solve them with a brand. If you don’t like something, don’t continue. Look for something new to focus on. If you aren’t interested then your prospective followers won’t be either.
Be Patient
All of this will take time. Don’t give up unless you find that you really don’t like the work. Successful micro-influencers are people who have been at it for a long time. Success didn’t just fall in their lap. If you find one thing that doesn’t work, find another. Never stop learning and researching.
Persevere
Writing every once in a while will not work. Make a schedule to write every few days and stick to it. If you write one or two pieces of content that sit for months without attention, people will lose interest. Study other micro-influencers and take notes. What are they writing about? What’s their focus? What do you think makes them successful? Try to pick out their focused niche. Study, study, study and learn from those who have put the work in before you.
Engagement
When you notice your follower count growing, connect with them. Answer their comments. Always speak in a professional voice. Do not argue. If someone writes something negative (as often happens in the world today) do not engage, unless you do so in a positive, uplifting, and professional tone.
Study What Works
There are many micro-influencers on social media. Study the ones that have over a thousand followers but not more than 50,000 followers. Instagram is the platform used to compile the following sample list, but you can find many of these influencers on other social media platforms. Below is a smattering of successful micro-influencers in the UK (April 1st 2021):
Travel
- Victoria @Bridgesandballoons 10.7k followers/2013 posts
- Jasmin White @healthytwenties 27.1k followers 1060 posts
Fashion/Beauty
- Grace Surguy @gracesurguy 42.3k followers 1055 posts
- Sug Sean @sugsean 55.8k followers 675 posts
- Jane @britbeautyblog 36.7k followers 3441 posts
Parenting
- Danielle Duggins @someone_s_mum 39.3k followers 1181 posts
- Ainsley Gray @ainsleygray__ 31.2k followers 4110 posts
Self Empowerment
- Bronte King @brontekingg 49.3k followers 1162 posts
- Robin James @manforhimself 35.8k followers 2630 posts
Food
- Mandy Miller Simmonds @simplyfoodbymandy 70.1k followers 1187 posts
- Matt Duggins (husband to Danielle) @daddy_cooks_food 67.3k followers 257 posts
Brand Guru
- Grow & Glow|Vix Meldrew @growglow.co 14.3 k followers 529 posts
Small Companies Also Use Micro-Influencers
It’s not always just the big guns that are searching for micro-influencers. Small companies also take notice of writers promoting their products. Small companies that don’t have large enough budgets to hire an agency search through social media to see who is writing complimentary content about their products. If a micro-influencer has 10,000 or more followers, a small company might contact them to inquire about sponsoring their product.
#hashtags
When you go fishing, you use bait to attract the fish. When you are posting your content, #hashtags are the bait to draw in followers. Hashtags (#) are content labels. For instance, if you’re writing about spotted ponies, use #spottedponies to label that content. Then, anyone searching for that hashtag will come upon your posts.
Now create a hashtag that’s specific to your own content. Try to get your own hashtag to trend. Be creative and fun. Use proper content to mix in more popular trending hashtags like #tlove, #london, or #instagood. Just make them relevant to your post and don’t overdo it. Before long, those fish will be biting the hook and you can reel them in.
Think Big but Start Small
Nano influencers have under 10,000 followers. You may have to work your way up to become a micro-influencer, but that doesn’t mean you can’t influence a brand at lower levels. Small businesses are really hurting right now while the pandemic rages on. Write about neighborhood businesses like restaurants or small shops that you frequent. They might not be able to pay you, but they will appreciate the free marketing. Writing about them will give you experience as a brand influencer, and that can be its own reward. As your followers increase you can graduate to other niches.
Photo by Julia Volk from Pexels
Start Writing
Getting started is the hardest part. If you feel you aren’t a good writer, then the only thing that’s going to help you is education and practice. When you write every day, you generally get better. There are many platforms online that can help you analyse and improve your writing. It couldn’t hurt to take a writing course or two. If becoming a micro-influencer is something you want to do, then you have to take the work seriously. Reading this guide was the first step. Now it’s time to keep going and don’t be discouraged. It’s not easy, but with a great deal of studying, research, and perseverance, you can work toward becoming a successful micro-influencer in your own right.
