February 22, 2017
Admit it, we all know someone who thinks that working with a major influencer is an easy way to get their product in front of millions of people. They often fall at the first hurdle when they realise their favourite YouTube Creator is charging a not-so-small fortune for a video and is already working with a competitor who has much deeper pockets.
What they might not realise is the benefit of working with a network of micro-influencers (each one with 1,000 – 100,000 followers), all talking about your product at the same time on the same channels, and probably all for a lot less money.
Getting micro influencer marketing right is easy if you follow some simple rules:
- Know your audience and who they listen to
Research is key here – whilst most of your audience might like a Kardashian or a Jenner sister, chances are your budget won’t stretch that far, so it’s going to take a bit more digging to find your micro influencers. Use listening tools to find out which micro influencers talk about the stuff your customers are interested in, research their content, write up a shortlist, get in touch with your favourites and take it from there. - Give micro influencers the tools they need to make great content
It’s a no-brainer that you’ll need to give your micro influencers your product to try out, but why not give them a little bit more – it could be a fitness challenge, a recipe to follow, a make up tutorial – anything that gets them using your product in a creative way. - Support them
Once your micro influencers start making content, give them a boost – interact with them, share their content on your channels (with attribution of course), and answer product queries on their posts (always ask if they’re OK with you doing that first). If you’ve done your research right, this will be a mutually beneficial relationship – you’ll be opening them up to new audiences too. - Tell them who else you’re working with
The great thing about micro influencers is their knack of networking with each other – if you’ve chosen to work with similar influencers, tell them and they’ll probably start interacting with each other’s content! There’s nothing better than influencers talking about your product in a natural and friendly way – you can’t get better advocacy than that. If your budget allows, you could even think about getting them together to socialise and create content. - Don’t stop when the project ends
You’ve built a relationship with your influencers that doesn’t have to stop when your contract with them is over – if you keep on interacting with them and sharing their content, they might just do the same for you.