Influencers. They’re famous, they’re knowledgeable and most of the time very expensive. Yet there is nothing better than word of mouth marketing is there? If an influencer promotes your product and talks about it, you suddenly gain a lot more credibility, trust, and a reason to buy from you. However, a lot of these influencers are hard to deal with since the big ones are controlled by the dreaded M-word. Yes, management. Good luck trying to actually negotiate a good partnership or collaboration that is somewhat personal as management usually gets in the way of that trying to sell you the bare minimum for the absolute maximum.
However, not all influencers have management especially the smaller ones who are usually cheaper. What are these cheaper smaller ones called then? Micro-influencers, and if you don’t know then what are you doing? A micro-influencer is someone with say under 50,0000 followers if that. They usually do not have management, Instagram is not their job, they really only post for fun and they are also quite open. A micro-influencer would probably charge may be at a maximum of $100 or so. They are more than happy to work for free with you if you send them a product and an affiliate code.
Finding a micro-influencer is simple but tedious. It’s a task that will take a bit of time to find the right one but at the end of the day, it is worth it. So let’s look at some ways you can find these micro-influencers and how you can appoint them to work with you. Get it right and you will really end up with a very special partnership. Micro-influencers are the future for small businesses and new businesses, so now is the time to get to know how to deal with them before things get too late.
Where To Find a Micro influencer
The easiest way to find a micro-influencer is to find larger influencers first on Instagram. Once you have found them you can firstly click the little arrow under where their “follow” button is (you may have to follow the page first) and suggested will pop down which is essentially similar accounts. Scroll through and click one with fewer followers than the original. Keep doing that and then you will start to find some smaller influencer pages.
You can also check the comments of larger influencers too as there are bound to be many smaller influencers commenting etc. Always check the most recent posts. You can also find micro-influencers via hashtags too by searching for tags relating to your niche. For example, if your niche is makeup you could search #halloweenmakeuptutorial and there are bound to be a few influencers pop up here and there.
You can also find micro-influencers via Youtube. There are a few websites such as the channel crawler. On that site, you can set preferences for what channels you want to see. How many subscribers you want them to have, what niche, when they started, etc. Then once you find the YouTube channels, search for their Instagram. You can find their Instagram either by searching their YouTube name on Instagram or going onto their videos etc or about section and finding it there. Alternatively, you can email them by finding their email address on the about section or through their videos.
The YouTube channels you want to find should have no more than around 50 to 60 thousand subscribers. After that things get expensive and messy. You can also use these YouTubers as micro-influencers. Though you need to make sure that they are getting the right amount of views for their subscriber count and that they are uploading regularly. Always check their latest videos. If they have 40,000 subscribers they should be at least getting around say 5000 to 8000 views, etc. They should be getting say at least over 2.5% of subscribers watching their videos etc.
Same with Instagram micro-influencers. They should be getting good engagement on their posts and they should be posting regularly. They should be getting around 2.5% engagement again at least on their posts.
You can also use TikTok influencers too. You can find them on TikTok via again hashtags etc. TikTok is the new platform to go viral since anyone can do it, even if you have only 10 followers. Again though you need someone who consistently gets good views not someone who has a few videos with a few views and one with many.
How To Contact Them
Its quite easy contacting them. You can email them or DM them. Them getting back to you on the other hand is a lot harder. The easiest way for them to get them to get back to you is imple. Follow them first then messge them. Your chances of getting a reply will be faster. Secondly you can comment on their posts. However, do not comment the usual nonsense of “check DM” etc. Instead compliment them. You need to give back first before you can get something. Aim to build a friendship rather than something proffesional. The first DM should be a compliment or a question, before you ask them to work with you.
Aim to make sure your influencer is as passionate as you in your niche. You want to make them feel part of your brand hence why a friendship is key. Give them more than they give you. Don’t act silly with them either. If they ignore you or don’t seem intrested, just ignore them. There is plenty more fish in the sea.
When its time to reach out about promoting your item, dictate the message in a way that your benefiting them. Say to them that you want to collab as your both very passionate about the certain niche etc, then tell them that you would be willing to send them a free item in exchange for a review. If they say they charge fees, negotiate.
Normally people give tou templates of what to say to people. However, its 2021. A template is fake and your better off sending each influencer their own personal message as firstly its a lot better for the algorithm as it wont look like robot spam which Instagram, Twitter, etc hate. Secondly you seem so much more genuine. Nowadays, people prefer a person who is genuine as lets face it, the world is full of fakes.
Don’t beg off them either. However, make it seem like your intrested. If they say no, negotiate a bit but ultimately move on. Do not get attached to people. Its all about being real and you do not want to come across as that brand who begs. Stay proffesional but friendly.
When working with them, send your item over. Sometimes they will screw you over and just keep the product so be aware. Once they have taken the pictures, etc ask if you can also use them on your socials and website. More than likely they would say yes. Ask them to put a link in their bio and also if possible a swipe up link in stories.
Of course you may not get sales. Its possible. But sometimes you will. Keep pushing on. What we find is for every 50 influencers you contact, one or two will contact you. For every ten or so who you work with only a few will be succsesful. Maybe one or two if that.
Featured image credits via: istockphoto.com