The field of digital marketing is constantly expanding and evolving. As a result, now it has grown many branches. There are various ways you can market your brand on digital platforms. One of the contemporary and famous marketing methods is influencer marketing. But anyway, it has existed for some years now. And being a component of digital marketing, it has also greatly evolved. As a result, micro-influencer marketing is increasingly gaining more prominence. What is it? What do you need to know about influencer marketing? Read on to find out.
Influencers are social media entities that have a large number of online followers. They can be celebrities, journalists, industry experts, or might have earned their popularity online only.
It’s been quite some years that businesses have been using this form of marketing. It allows businesses to reach and engage with their target audience better. Many companies enjoy higher conversions and better lead generation—thanks to influencer marketing.
The general notion has been—the higher the number of followers, the better for marketing. However, it is not exactly true. In fact, you’d be surprised to know that micro-influencers enjoy higher rates of engagement than those with a larger following.
Firstly, let’s properly understand…
Who are micro influencers?
Influencers can be categorized in a number of ways. If divided on the basis of how many followers one has, influencers can be of the following types:
- Mega influencers: Above 1M followers
- Macro influencers: 500k – 1M followers
- Mid-tier influencers: 50k – 500k followers
- Micro-influencers: 10k – 50k followers
- Nano influencers: 1k – 10k followers
As you can see, micro-influencers are those that have a number of followers ranging from 10,000 to 50,000.
Micro-influencers are generally industry experts or topic specialists. They have usually a specific niche or area of expertise.
Why micro-influencer marketing is better than other forms of influencer marketing?
Businesses using influencer marketing are increasingly sorting to micro-influencers more than those with a higher reach. Why is that?
Micro-influencers tend to have stronger relationships with the audience than the typical influencers. They are more relatable since they are generally at a peer level. Moreover, the audience tends to trust such influencers better. That is why over 82% are likely to follow their recommendation.
Also, micro-influencers have a higher engagement rate. Why?
They generally don’t look for a global reach and their targeting is very refined. Moreover, they generally deal in a very particular niche. Hence with the highly targeted content, they are able to engage their audience better. In fact, micro-influencers have the highest engagement rate among influencers.
Why you should use micro influencer promoting for your business
If you are promoting or planning to promote your business online with influencer marketing, you should consider micro-influencer marketing. Why?
- They have a higher engagement rate than the other types of influencers.
- Hiring micro-influencers is cost-effective.
- It is generally suitable for all types and sizes of business.
- You get a high ROI on marketing.
- It helps increase brand awareness.
- You get to enjoy increased top-of-funnel traffic and conversions.
- People find micro-influencers more trustworthy.
- You get to connect with your target audience better.
- The audience is highly likely to follow product recommendations made by micro-influencers.
- It also adds to your business’s content marketing.
And these are just a few micro influencer marketing benefits to name!
How to go about micro-influencer marketing?
If you are strategizing for micro-influencer marketing, the following tips can come really handy:
# Set clear goals
Before beginning with any type of marketing, it is important to have your goals clear. Businesses sort to micro-influencer marketing for a number of reasons like:
- Brand awareness
- Web-traffic
- Increased social engagement
- Sales
- Event promotion
…and so on.
Your objectives greatly shape the course you take. Hence, you should have your goals clear. This will also help you identify the right KPIs and measure your campaign’s success effectively.
# Set your target audience
Once you are done defining your goals, it is now time to define your target audience. Whom do you want to reach with your brand? It is an important question to consider before strategizing for your micro-influencer marketing campaign.
Defining your audience for micro-influencer marketing is similar to creating a buyer persona. You have to take different characteristics of your audience into consideration like age, demographics, likes, dislikes, preferences, locations, and so on.
It is crucial as it helps you choose the right micro-influencer(s) for marketing. Before deciding on the influencer, it is important to compare the traits of their audience with that of your target customers. This will help you make sure that your campaign reaches the right people.
# Research your influencers thoroughly
After you have shortlisted the influencers for marketing your brand, it is important to research them thoroughly. Unfortunately, there are many fake social media influencers out there.
It is not uncommon for fake influencers to buy followers and likes. Partnering with such fake influencers can cause your business great loss. Though their posts will be receiving likes but they won’t translate into any leads.
Therefore, never go just for numbers. You should perform thorough background research on your chosen influencers and observe their social handles carefully.
It is also important to always put quality over quantity.
# Align influencer marketing with social media marketing
Since most influencer marketing takes place on social media, it is best to align your influencer marketing campaign with your social media marketing.
For example, you should make sure that both yours and your influencer’s content marketing strategies on social media fit well with each other.
Moreover, you can sometimes give your influencer partial control of your social media handles. This is a common and very effective marketing tactic. It helps increase traffic and engagement on your social media accounts.
You should also make sure to engage with your influencers publically on social media. This way, their audience will be able to trust your business better.
So, this sums up some of the most important things to take care of when strategizing for micro-influencer marketing.
Read Also: What You Need to Know About Social Media Influencers?
Final word
Appointing social media influencers for brand promotion has existed for quite a while now. However, the influencer market is constantly evolving. Looking at its current pattern, it’s a safe assumption that micro-influencers are the future of influencer marketing. Businesses sponsoring micro-influencers enjoy high ROI. Moreover, it is a very cost-effective medium of digital marketing. With due research and carefulness, your business can enjoy high conversions and better social media engagement rates with micro-influencer marketing.
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