This is How Micro-Influencers can Drive the Growth of Your (Small) Business.
Nowadays, influencer marketing has become one of the most powerful tools for small businesses looking to increase brand awareness. By collaborating with the right micro-influencers, companies can effectively present their products or services to a new, engaged audience. But how do micro-influencers drive growth? The key lies in their ability to create authentic connections with their followers, resulting in higher engagement and more trust in your brand.
If you’re new to influencer marketing, it might seem overwhelming. However, with the right approach, you can achieve amazing results. In this blog, we’ll discuss how to develop an effective influencer strategy, how to find the right Micro-Influencers for Growth that fit your brand, and how to set up collaborations that lead to measurable results. Let’s dive into how influencer marketing works and how it can help your business grow.
Why is influencer marketing so important?
The rise of social commerce, like selling through platforms such as TikTok Shop, has seen tremendous growth in the U.S. Especially for small businesses using influencer marketing on TikTok Shop, there’s a significant influx of new customers.
Although TikTok Shop is not yet available in the Netherlands, influencers—especially micro-influencers—still offer valuable opportunities through User Generated Content (UGC) and viral potential.
Should you choose Micro- or Macro-Influencers?
One unique feature of TikTok is that every video has the chance to go viral. Unlike platforms like Instagram, TikTok is less community-driven, giving each video the potential to reach a vast audience. This is how micro-influencers drive growth by putting your brand in front of more people. For the price of one video from a macro-influencer (1,000,000+ followers), you can collaborate with 50-150 micro-influencers (1,500-150,000 followers, according to Klout). The content created by these micro-influencers captures engagement on their platforms and can also be repurposed on your own social media channels and used in ads. This is the beauty of User Generated Content.
How other companies do it:
Loavies has been working with micro-influencers for some time through their own platform. On their website, they have a section called 'influencer collabs,' where micro-influencers can choose products to promote. The founder of Klout, a digital marketing agency, with their own micro-influencer platform, @Lisa.pdm, has also collaborated with Loavies several times in the past. It’s quite simple; you receive an email with store credit to spend on the influencer page, select the items you want to promote, receive them for free, and create a video about them. This concept is now being made available to smaller businesses through her platform.
How can you recruit Micro-Influencers for a campaign?
Once you’ve established your influencer marketing strategy and identified the right micro-influencers, it’s time to reach out to them. Here are a few key steps for small businesses aiming for growth and more engagement:
Know the influencer’s platform: It’s essential to understand why the micro-influencer is a good fit for your brand. Make sure you know their niche and audience, and be specific about why you want to collaborate with them. This ensures an authentic partnership that boosts engagement.
Approach them correctly: For micro-influencers, you can usually contact them directly through social media. However, for larger influencers, follow the professional contact procedures they often outline. To streamline this process, you can use a platform like Klout, where brands and micro-influencers are easily and freely connected.
Share ideas and listen to their input: Come prepared with clear ideas for the collaboration but be open to their suggestions. Micro-influencers know their audience better and can help make the partnership more successful. Give them the freedom to add their personal touch to the campaign.
Keep it simple: Make sure to respond quickly and provide all the information influencers need.
Conclusion:
Micro-influencers are a vital part of your digital marketing plan. They offer a highly engaged audience and quality content that you can repurpose. The decision between micro- and macro-influencers largely depends on the goal of your campaign. If you’re looking for immediate sales, go with a large influencer. But if your campaign is more focused on brand awareness and showing that people are satisfied with your product through UGC, choose micro-influencers.
Starting an influencer campaign takes time and effort. You need to learn how to contact influencers, set up collaborations, and give them the space to express themselves in videos. Our tip is to outsource this work, with no upfront costs. With Klout’s micro-influencer platform, you only pay once an influencer posts a video, and they handle everything else.
Whether you choose to manage it yourself or partner with a service, micro-influencers will always be an essential part of your business!
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