For the average start-up, being able to grow a brand without running over budget is a priority. Successfully reaching as many people as possible cost-effectively is a recipe for increasing revenue and building out a client base. For that to happen, having a shrewd and economical marketing plan is essential. One strategy that has been rapidly gaining popularity amongst businesses of all sizes, but particularly start-ups, is micro-influencer marketing.
Micro-influencer marketing focuses on social media influencers that have a significant but not massive following. Typically, a micro-influencer will have anywhere from 10,000-50,000 followers. They have an impactful voice, a large cohort interested in their day-to-day lives, and are a valuable resource for brands to mine. Here are some of the ways micro-influencers help start-ups create scalable growth.
A More Authentic Connection
One advantage that micro-influencers provide for businesses is that they aren’t major celebrities who exist in their own world. They are everyday people, and because of that, they have a more personal connection with their following. Typically, they’ll have a higher engagement rate than major influencers and are more willing to have a back-and-forth conversation with the people that follow them. This is a significant asset for brands because there is a genuine legitimacy provided by authenticity. This is one of the reasons influencers are so trusted by the people that follow them.
According to findings from MuseFind, 92% of consumers trust an influencer more than an advertisement or a celebrity endorsement. If people trust the influencer that brands are using to market, there will be a carry-over to the brand. This can lead to long-term brand growth and loyalty to the company. A high-value marketing tool for brands to tap into is a micro-influencer with a high engagement rate and an established personal bond to their following.
Cost-Effectively Reach New Customers
If a business is targeting influencers to grow its brand, it may be tempting for some to reach out to the biggest names. But major influencers demand a major payday, and micro-influencers are a more cost-effective way to fuel growth. Influencers with a smaller following are often willing to make posts for products, which is known as gifting. Influencer gifting allows brands to exchange something they have a lot of (their product) for something they need (publicity and new customers). It is mutually beneficial because many micro-influencers will only partner with brands from whom they want products.
Marketing with micro-influencers gives businesses the ability to reach a significant amount of people at a low cost, making it the perfect strategy for a company with limited capital trying to grow.
Content Brands Can Repurpose
One significant benefit of influencer marketing is that it provides brands with high-quality, user-generated content that they have near limitless usage of. When influencers promote a brand’s products, they are essentially creating advertisements for the brand that seems more natural and authentic than the vast majority of marketing forms. This content doesn’t have to stop at the end of the Instagram feed, as brands can repurpose what the influencers create. Whether posting it onto their own social media accounts, sharing it on their website, or using it in additional advertising materials, influencer-generated content can help brands boost their reach. Influencers tend to be appealing and creative, making them ideal brand ambassadors, and their promotional content can have a wide range of benefits for businesses.
Target Your Niche
Targeting a marketing campaign towards a specific niche allows businesses to appeal to people more likely to become customers. With micro-influencer marketing, brands can find influencers that appeal to a particular niche and use their platform to generate sales. Whether it is health and wellness, parenting, or the home décor niche, there are countless different sub-cultures in social media that brands can target their products towards. This is an area micro-influencers specialize in because typically, the biggest influencers are aiming for broad appeal. Micro-influencers can cultivate a following within more specific areas. Targeting a distinct niche might limit their follower count, but it enhances their value to businesses.
For a business looking to accelerate its growth, micro-influencer marketing is an essential strategy. It allows brands to target specific niches, bank on the authentic connections the influencers have created, acquire high-quality user-generated content, and cost-effectively reach new customers. Influencers have quickly become a core component of many brands’ digital marketing, and micro-influencers are a critical way to optimize these campaigns.
When finding the right influencer fit, making sure you’re partnered with a team of experienced industry experts makes sense. Influence Hunter helps businesses create customizable and scalable influencer marketing campaigns that have proven results. Influence Hunter helps brands work with all types of influencers, including nano-influencers.
Author’s Bio:
Daniel Moayanda is a Digital Marketing Expert/Consultant. Thought Leader. He’s also a Guest Contributor to InfoSecurity Magazine, Huffington Post, Dzone, SAP, etc.