Defining Micro-Influencers: Getting Started with Influencer Marketing

Written by Kristen Wiley | April 23, 2018

Platforms like instagram and YouTube have allowed more people to be able to build their own platform and brand. This has completely revolutionized how people (especially millennials) find out about new products. Gone are the days of paying for big celebrities to promote your product, much less a TV ad. These “micro-influencers” are more relatable to their audience, and working with micro-influencers in mass is paying off huge for brands in variety of industries.

Defining Micro-Influencers

There are a few different opinions about the definition of a micro-influencer. Here at Statusphere, we typically see them fall between 2,500 to 25,000 followers, but to be honest, follower count is the least important metric we look at. Instead, it is much more important to look at their engagement rate, and authenticity of their following.

Benefits of Micro-Influencers

The benefit of micro-influencers (or power-middle influencers like we like to call them), is that they have a genuine relationship with their following. At the end of the day, what really matters is how well they interact and have built trust with their followers. Here are some of biggest benefits of working with micro-influencers:

Higher engagement rate - Studies show that micro-influencers have 4x the engagement rate of their celebrity counterparts
More content - Because you are working with more influencers, you will receive more user-generated content about your brand
Social Proofing - When people search your brand on instagram or YouTube, they will see lots of content, which will instantly make your brand look established and builds credibility
ROI - With more engagement and authenticity, it leads to more ROI for brands. Check out our post on the different types of influencer marketing ROI for more info.

Down-Sides of Micro-Influencers

Although there are many upsides to using micro-influencers as part of your marketing strategy, there are still challenges. Because you need to work with a large amount of influencers on a consistent basis to see impact, it can be challenging for brands. Here are a few challenges to consider if you are planning to start working with micro-influencers

Hard to find enough influencers - By the time you find the influencers, negotiate, send them the product, and follow-up, it quickly turns into a full time job. Make sure you understand how much time you need to a lot before getting started.
Hard to manage - Once you find the influencers, it takes a substantial amount of time to communicate with them, send them your product and follow up with them.
Need to work with several consistently - the key to working with micro-influencers is that you aren’t just working with a couple inconsistently. Some will perform better than others, which is why you need to be working with enough influencers to balance your efforts and make impact.

How to Work with Micro-Influencers

Here at Statusphere, we specialize in micro-influencer marketing at scale. Contact us if you would like us to ramp up your micro-influencer marketing efforts. If you want to do it on your own here are a couple other resources to help you:

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