Influencer marketing
Micro influencer marketing is crucial for businesses who don't have the resources to work with macro influencers but want to target a more specific audience. Influencer content outperforms brand-created content by a wide margin because these influencers have earned trust with their niche's following.
They assist brands in establishing human-to-human connections, which is useful for both B2B and B2C marketing. When developing an influencer marketing strategy, every business must learn how to preserve trust and openness. Not just between the brand and the consumer, but also between the influencer and the brand itself.
But what exactly is micro influencer marketing, how much does it cost, and why should you include it in your social media strategy? Learn how to use micro influencers to grow your brand now!
Is a Micro Influencer Worth It and What Do They Do?
Influencers conduct meaningful dialogues with their followers, and brands may use these conversations to reach consumers who would otherwise be unreachable.
Micro influencers have a large social media presence, often between 10K and 100K followers, despite their small following.Micro influencers, unlike their Macro and Mega counterparts, are frequently more approachable and relatable.
In fact influencers, don't need to have hundreds of thousands of followers to help with your digital marketing campaigns. In reality, the greater the audience, the lower the rate of engagement often tends to be. Although celebrity endorsements typically only affect 3% of consumers, micro-influencers can gain an audience's trust by providing thought leadership.
Micro-influencers have grown in popularity as customers become more skeptical of macro-influencers.
According to a survey by Uproar PR, about three-quarters of customers prefer marketing from micro-influencers. Micro-influencers are particularly beneficial to marketers since they can provide fresh perspectives, are often less expensive to deal with, and have higher engagement rates on their postings, given the authenticity of their followings.
Harshala Patil is a Mumbai-based digital creator. She is also a YouTuber and vlogger, and one of India's top micro-influencers. Harshala Patil has 108K Instagram followers as of March 2021. In addition to that, she has 146K YouTube subscribers. You could even follow her on Twitter! According to GRIN, she has a 13 percent engagement rate.
Harshala Patil’s Instagram
What Does it Cost to Hire Micro Influencers?
Due to the fact that the influencer marketing sector is still relatively new, there is no uniform one-size-fits-all pricing formula.
This means that rates vary depending on the engagement rate of the Micro influencer, the length of the agreement, and the type of material you're seeking for (e.g. feed posts, Instagram Stories, Reels, etc.). Here’s a few important factors to kept in mind:
You should consider the influencer's reach and engagement while calculating this number. The higher the rate of engagement, the higher the expense.
The time and resources needed to produce the material you're looking for.
Setting up shots, possible clothing changes, and screenplay drafting are all part of this process.
The campaign's duration. What is the frequency with which they are required to post about your product or service?
Repurposing their content for your brand's website, ads, or other channels is an example of usage rights.
Despite the fact that micro influencers are not pseudo-celebrities like those with larger followings, they should be appropriately compensated for their efforts.
Majid Hadi is an Indian automotive and lifestyle photographer based in Hyderabad. He provides entertaining automotive content in the form of images and videos. Majid is also one of India's leading automobile micro-influencers, and has 67.4K Instagram followers as of March 2021. According to available data, he has a 9.65 percent engagement rate.
Majid Hadi’s Instagram
Why Should You Collaborate With Micro Influencers?
Influencer marketing has shown to be a successful approach if you’re
looking to increase sales and brand awareness on Instagram.
In fact, by 2022, it's expected to be a $15 billion industry. In other words, the influencers' selling power is here to stay. Despite the fact that Macro influencers have a greater following, working with Micro influencers has three major advantages:
Micro Influencers Are Typically More Cost Effective
Working with influencers with 500K+ followers may be out of reach for many small businesses. Micro (and even Nano) influencers are less expensive and, in some situations, may be willing to engage with you on a long-term basis. Rather than paying a single Macro influencer, you can engage with a group of Micro influencers to reach multiple groups and voices for a campaign or launch.
Manvendra Singh is a digital artist from Rajasthan's Jaipur. In addition, he is one of India's top micro-influencers. Fashion, lifestyle, and travel are among his influencer specialties. Manvendra Singh has 29.1K Instagram followers as of March 2021. Here’s how he goes about product marketing for brands:
Manvendra Singh’s Instagram
On Instagram, micro influencers have niche communities.
Micro influencers have a smaller, but more targeted audience than Macro influencers. Many Micro influencers only discuss one or two topics – a niche — allowing them to flourish naturally on social media.
Like a friend or trusted confidante, they are able to engage with their community and get to know their followers. As a result, when it comes to recommending a product or a brand, the reaction is frequently overwhelmingly positive. Micro influencers are therefore an excellent alternative for brands wishing to reach out to a specific audience and boost their social media exposure.
Here’s a look at marketing within the cooking, or ‘self-taught’ niche:
Surabhi Sehgal is a food stylist and digital creator, and defines herself as a self-taught chef who has travelled the world. Surabhi is one of India's top micro-influencers, and has 57.7K Instagram followers as of March 2021.
Surabhi Sehgal’s Instagram
Micro Influencers have a high level of engagement.
According to the Later x Fohr Influencer Marketing Report, the fewer an influencer's Instagram following, the higher their average engagement rate. In both feed and sponsored posts, micro influencers have an average engagement rate of 2%:
Later x Fohr Marketing Report
Macro and Mega Macro influencers, on the other hand, have engagement rates ranging from 0.8 percent to 1.3 percent. What's the takeaway? Micro influencers are a wonderful method to optimize your marketing plan because they have consistent engagement rates, supportive communities, and pricing that are more in line with small business budgets.
Working with Micro Influencers: What You Need to Know
Working with micro influencers can help you increase traffic and sales. Here's how to get going:
Step 1: Write down your objectives and expectations.
Set your goals and specify the metrics that will be used to measure performance before you begin working on your Micro influencer marketing campaign.
Do you want to boost the number of visitors to your website? Are you looking to generate leads via a promo code or an affiliate link? Would you like to increase your brand awareness?
Spending time establishing your objectives can help you figure out who to collaborate with and what deliverables to request.
TIP: When you're planning, don't forget to include a budget!
Step 2: Identify and verify micro influencers with whom your brand can collaborate
If you're going to work with a micro influencer, make sure they're a good fit for your target demographic and business. Working with influencers who have strong interaction rates, post regularly, and have a distinct personality or voice is great.
Here are some methods for identifying and verifying influencers for your next campaign:
Pay attention to the tags and comments you make on Instagram:
When someone who is a real-life enthusiast of your brand promotes your products to their followers, it will feel like a natural cooperation.
Keep an eye on your branded hashtag:
If a Micro influencer consistently uses your branded hashtag, similar to comments and tags, they are likely to have a passion for your brand and be eager to collaborate on a campaign.
Make use of third-party influencer marketing tools:
Use tools like Fohr and NeoReach to help you narrow down your search.
Request a validated Performance Report from the influencer:
For example, Later is a trustworthy source of performance statistics as an official Instagram Partner, making their Performance Report a dependable way to analyse an influencer's essential KPIs.
“It's crucial to evaluate an influencer's stats and ensure there is an authentic fit with your target audience,” says Chrissy Abram, Later's PR and Influencer Manager.
Step #3: Agree on fees and establish a contract with an influencer.
What happens now that you've discovered a few Micro influencers with whom you'd like to collaborate? The subject of money! The majority of influencers will include a rate card or a media kit with rates.
Rates can fluctuate, as we mentioned before, so be prepared to negotiate a charge depending on your budget and projected deliverables. After you've agreed on a charge, you'll need to draught a contract that includes all pertinent details, such as:
How much will they be compensated? When are they going to get paid? Will there be any other kind of incentives besides cash, such as free products?
Will you give them FAQs, product information, and a caption guide as part of their briefing materials?
Will they be making feed posts, Reels, or Instagram Stories as content deliverables? How many are there?
When do they have to submit their content for approval and what are the deadlines? When must they publish their content?
How much feedback will you provide during the approval process for deliverables? What will be the procedure for reviewing and approving their work?
Contract length – how long will the campaign or partnership last?
Will you use their content for advertising reasons or on other platforms if you have usage rights? How long do you intend to use their content?
Can they cooperate with a competitor during the campaign if they have an exclusivity clause?
Endorsement Disclosures: How should your paid partnership be disclosed?
What are the requirements for either party cancelling the agreement if it is cancelled?
Step #4: Keep an eye on the numbers.
It's critical to track, monitor, and measure the campaign's success.
You'll be able to monitor how the material performed and use that information to shape future initiatives, whether you're working with the same Micro influencers, identifying new ones, or establishing new goals.
Tracking content performance can be done in two ways:
#1: Take advantage of Instagram's branded content tools
Businesses and influencers can collaborate more transparently and efficiently with Instagram's branded content solutions. The "paid partnership" badge on Instagram Stories and feed posts offers a degree of authenticity and legitimacy, as well as another way to declare your collaboration.
Instagram’s Branded Content Tools
You'll be able to view the post's reach and interaction in your Facebook Page Insights as a business, making it simple to keep track of how their content is performing.
#2: Send Influencers Trackable Links
Trackable links are useful for determining how well your campaign as a whole is functioning. You can generate and exchange links with your influencer partners using an automated tool (such as Bit.ly). This is a simple way to keep track of interaction and clicks. UTM tagging — short for "Urchin Tracking Module" — is a more advanced approach. It's a one-of-a-kind bit of code that goes at the end of a URL link.
To track the unique URL you'll allow influencers to use — creating a more in-depth approach to measure their posts' performance — you'll need a Google Analytics account. It will be much easier to look at all the numbers and analyze the campaign's success once you reach the reporting stage.
The Future of Micro Influencers
Influencer marketing has become a high priority in 69 percent of marketers' strategy, thanks to millennials and Gen Z-ers all across the world. Particularly on Instagram, where the global influencer market has already surpassed 1.3 billion people and is anticipated to double by 2020.
At the same time, as online audiences' preferences for visual material grow, branded video content marketing has developed as a potent marketing technique for businesses and influencers alike. In 2017, 51% of marketers cited video as the content format with the highest return on investment. However, just 63 percent of brands used video for marketing at the time; fast forward to 2019, that percentage has risen to 87 percent.
People have clearly become more responsive to a new medium – large-scale social influencers – as they move away from traditional techniques of advertising such as television commercials and web display ads. So, why are today's consumers so obsessed with influencers, particularly micro influencers? It all boils down to being genuine.
Today's generation of consumers is "woke" enough to look for true values in a brand that they can either relate to or want to be a part of, whether it's in the product, the brand, or even the people involved with it.
In fact, an overwhelming 90 percent of young audiences think that the most essential element for them when determining which companies to use and support is authenticity. The global market for influencer marketing has risen by 282 percent in the previous four years, according to this graph from Influencer Marketing Hub.
Statistics by the Influencer Marketing Hub
What are Some Brands and Niches Using Influencer Marketing?
Let’s look at some brands, across various niches, who’ve achieved higher engagement, more followers, and larger brand awareness with micro influencers!
Fitness
Nivedita Samanta is a personal trainer and fitness expert. She is one of India's most popular fitness micro-influencers, and adores marathon running. She also works with Adidas Runners India as a performance lead, attracting higher engagement for @adidasrunning within the fitness niche.
Nivedita Samanta‘s Instagram
Pet Food
This video, released by Indian dog snacks company @doggiedabbas, is a re-shared post from influential pet account @life of sirius, demonstrating how much the dog enjoys his treats. This creates a buzz and gives the relatively new brand @doggiedabbas a direct boost in followers across the pet and pet food niche!
Doggie Dabba’s Instagram
Fashion and Skincare
Urvashi K Bali, a fashion blogger, utilizes Instagram questions to connect with her followers and respond to their questions, in turn promoting the brand innisfree India. This also helps her in establishing a strong bond with her followers across various fashion and skincare niches.
Influencer Marketing via Instagram
Home decor
Nupur Singh is a Mumbai-based digital creator. She's also one of India's top micro-influencers, a stylist, and a photographer. Her collaboration with this brand, Chumbak, of home decor items engages with similar enthusiasts within the niche.
Influencer Marketing for Chumbak
Self-care and Grooming
Mohammed Aneez is one of India's most well-known photography micro-influencers. He is a photographer and a digital creator. He's also a minimalist and a storyteller. Let’s have a look at his partnership with Ambrane India, helping the brand venture out into the self-care and grooming niche for men!
Men’s Grooming via Influencer Marketing
Evaluation
If there's one thing we've learned this year, it's that no one can tell what the future holds. We're willing to bet, though, that influencer marketing will continue to expand and adapt, with brands finding new and inventive ways to use it.
It's a guaranteed approach to enhance engagement, promote brand awareness, and interact with your followers if you're trying to step up your social media game. Always remember to be true to your brand values, never compromise your authenticity, and aim to build partnerships that benefit all parties involved.
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