What Is A Micro Influencer?

You haven’t been hiding under a rock for the last 5 years, so you know what influencers are. PHEW! But now this new term "Micro Influencer" has come along and you're scratching your head.

What is a micro influencer?!!

Is it a legit way to market products or just some new fad.

No-one wants to use a faddy, headline grabbing strategy which doesn’t get results.  That’s a sure way to get the boot.

As always the first place to go when analysing such matters… GOOGLE TRENDS! There is no better way to get a feel for the market than Google’s bright, shiny graphs (which also make great screen grabs to show clients, by the way).

Blue: Influencer Marketing
Red: Micro Influencer
​

Blue: Micro Influencer


Influencer Marketing has been growing in popularity for the last 5 years and it is going through-the-roof right now. Micro influencer is a new term which has only just started to rise in popularity in the last year.  It is still very, very new!

The concepts which these terms represent have been around for a lot longer of course, there is just a new name for it. Product and service endorsement has been a technique used by marketing professionals for hundreds of years.

Recently this technique has had a revival in response to the growing distrust from consumers at being “advertised to”.

Influencers & micro influencers recommend products and services to their audience which leads to trust and sales.



So, What Is The Definition Of A Micro Influencer?


A micro influencer is an online personality with a small but highly engaged audience.  It is so new that the industry hasn’t exactly defined “small” or “engaged” yet.  As a rough guide, they should have over 3000 social media follows and several thousand pageviews a month to their blog (if they are a blogger).  

What is more important is the level of engagement + trust they have with their audience.  A micro influencer is probably on a first name basis with many people in their audience, they will have regular readers who they speak to in the comment section of their blog.  Many have even met up with their readers in person at blogger events.


Why Are Micro Influencers Important For Brands?

Let me ask you a question. Why do we even bother marketing products and services? Why do we need to generate ad copy and graphics and come up with campaign plans etc etc?

We do it because we must generate trust.

Trust is the most important asset a company has and everything we do as a Content Marketeer is about building more of it with potential customers.

As Jones and Leonard states in this study,

“It is fundamental for both the firm (in B2C exchanges) and for the individual (in C2C exchanges), to know how to generate trust and understand perceived risk so as to achieve satisfactory sales relations in an online context (Constantinides, 2004; Jones and Leonard, 2007; Chen et al., 2008)”

Trust is so, so important, especially in an online context when clients often don't get to meet you. 

Working with micro influencers is like working with something who can recommend and ad their stamp of approval to your product or service. 

Micro influencers can spread word of mouth recommendation because they are actively engaged with their community and know some of them personally and face to face.  But, they have a slightly wider reaching audience so they can also spread the recommendation further than 1-2-1.

So, stop looking at smaller bloggers as just a low quality link building opportunity. NO! You are completely missing the point.  They are very, very valuable people who have a small but high engaged following which can transform the success of your campaign IF you approach it in the right way.

How Can Micro Influencers Fit Into Your Client's Marketing Strategy?

When it comes to selling something to clients the first thing they want to know is ROI.  You must be able to prove and show some measured effect you have created from your campaign.  As such I recommend you fit micro influencers into your marketing strategy via Guest Posting.

It is the simplest way to ensure you will always have some solid traffic growth to show your clients.  At the same time you are also executing your micro influencer campaign & growing trust.

Your guest posts build back high quality links to your clients which grows organic traffic.
Your guest posts also start word of mouth conversation & improve positive sentiment which grows trust.

Measuring trust is a little bit harder to prove to a client than showing them an organic traffic chart going in the right direction.

Top Micro Influencer Platforms:

The easiest way to find micro influencers is through a platform or by working with an Agency. Ginger Marketing can help you with your micro influencer campaign if you are targeting a UK audience, so get in touch via our Enquire form and lets chat!

If you want to DIY your campaign but just need the connections there are several platforms you can use.

Guest Bloggers Wanted is a micro influencer marketing platform which is UK focused.  If you want to make a big impact on a small budget then check it out and post up your projects for free. 

Tribe is an influencer marketing platform which connects bloggers and brands together.  If you are focused on a USA audience and have a larger budget then check out this platform!

We hope you've learnt what a micro influencer is and encouraged you to add working with them to your strategy.   As usual let us know your thoughts in the comments below!