Is cooperation with Micro Influencers a good idea for startups?

However, for more than a year, we've been hearing more and more often that the largest and most recognisable creators don't give the best results during promotional campaigns. Instead, what makes the job done is working with smaller ones that have a more limited, yet loyal group of recipients with whom they have close relations. Those content creators are called Micro Influencers, but who are they? Do startups need their help? I will try to answer those questions in my article.

Difference between Macro and Micro Influencers

There are no strict definitions when it comes to opinion leaders. Previously, in the majority of cases, they were only divided into the categories of Macro or Mega Influencers. The latter sometimes have up to millions of followers on their social media platforms and may be considered as "celebrities" in their industries. Collaboration with them must be planned well in advance, because they already have their own schedules, deadlines and, of course, high prices. They have a broad audience and an established market position.

Micro Influencers are described a little differently. Some sources (for instance Dashhudson, Inc., and Later) say that they have social followings that range from 1,000 to 100,000 fans (those brackets sometimes are considered to only reach the maximum of several thousand people). Micro Influencer has a strong bond with fans and, due to their smaller number, has a bigger chance of personal interactions. Besides, Micro Influencers are perceived as more trustworthy since they are not celebrities nor experts, but regular people that will honestly talk about their experience with the product.

Benefits

So why am I writing about Micro Influencers? Because working with them can be an excellent form of promotion and brand support, especially when it's not well known yet! Micro Influencers are the perfect solution for startups. They can be honest advocates of the brand and will create a personalised message of the product or services. The promotion through them will be authentic and with the trustworthy message.

Micro Influencers will appreciate your product and present it with sincerity. Also, they do not generate costs as big as the ones of Macro Influencers. Thanks to the limited and specific group of fans that are focused on the theme of the profile, they reach the target groups of your brand more effectively (of course, if we find the right ambassador).

Micro Influencers are also a good solution because you can work with a few of them at the same time to achieve a multitude of content and reach many recipients. Micro Influencers often do not focus on earning a big amount of money from every post. Usually, they just want to show people what they enjoy using the product or service.

When it comes to costs of working with Micro Influencers, there are several factors. Similar to any other promotional actions, our contractors (in this case Influencers) may already have a ready-made offer, but they can also adapt it to our expectations or specific activities that are planned. The elements that are most often taken into consideration are:

• the scope of promotional activities;
• promotional channels (the number of subscribers, customer reach);
• whether your brand has a product/service that corresponds with the influencer's image (as well as whether they like it).

This may also include the aspect of the Influencer’s private preferences and approach. If a blogger promotes a healthy lifestyle, the proposal to cooperate in the promotion of an innovative energy drink will be a waste of time.

Source: WERSM

Source: WERSM

Plan your campaign earlier

How to start a campaign with Micro Influencer? By conducting a meeting with non-other than yourself. The entire campaign will have high results only if it is well thought out and pre-planned. Before you go to someone with a marketing proposal, you should ask yourself a few questions:

• how do you plan to present your brand and the product?
• what is your goal?
• what is your target group?
• how much money do you want or can spend on it?

It is worth remembering that your goals should be measurable since surely you want to know how many people are reached and whether your campaign brought a real profit. When you've thought about every aspect that concerns you, you can start looking for Micro Influencers that are perfect fit.

Finding the perfect collaborator requires time

Not every creator of opinion will be ideal for you and your industry. Before you buy something, you invest a bit of time in the right market research. And when searching for the proper Influencer, the sources of information for you are Micro Influencer promotion groups on FB, good old Google, and reports on websites that create Influencer databases. There are even bloggers that recommend themselves as collaborators for specific industries.

When you finally find the right candidate, you need to check their statistics (you can ask for them, it is not tactless) and how they interact with fans. Are they answering questions, communicating directly with people, and creating a dialogue?

The region in which the Influencer work and the age group of their recipients are also important. The geolocation factor corresponds with which markets and groups you want to target. If you run a startup from Germany and you don’t plan to ship worldwide - you should look for a local Influencer, not the one from China or Korea.

It is also essential to analyse the content published by the creator (what is its quality, what language is used, whether it can be associated with the product) and whether their personal branding fits our brand.

It is also essential to analyse the content published by the creator (what is its quality, what language is used, whether it can be associated with the product) and the PR they create around them. You also can't forget to check if the Influencer that caught your eye has already cooperated with a similar brand or if promoted a product or service similar to yours. When you find the perfect person (or a group of people), all you need to do is discuss the vision for your joint activities, define the conditions of the cooperation and, after the campaign, to summarise and settle the payment.

After the campaign - do not forget about the post-campaign evaluation!

Source: Experticity - Keller Fay Survey Summary

Although it is worth to know the overall statistics of working with Micro Influencers to create realistic goals, you should summarize the campaign and check whether it was successful (according to your goals). You can find plenty of helpful tools on the Internet that allow monitoring the activity of the Influencer. When discussing your cooperation, you should also talk about whether and how the campaign will be settled after its closure and what results you expect. Communication is an important element of every campaign with an Influencer.

Are these the droids I am looking for?

Every advertising campaign, whether it's focused on sales goals or building brand awareness, is an investment of not only resources but also your time. In the case of activities with Micro Influencers, you can expect at least an increase in the interest in your product, which is confirmed by the numerous of influencer marketing studies. In an ideal situation, they should also increase the number of clients. So if we can see mainly the pros - why not give it a try?