You’ve surely heard about big influencers that earn tons of money on collabs with brands. But have you considered the power of micro-influencers?
A whopping 82% of consumers stated that a recommendation from a small influencer is more reliable to them. So if you are looking for solid authority and a reliable image that will bring you loyal customers, you should turn towards micro-influencers.
These influencers may have smaller followings, yet they boast high engagement rates and a deeply connected audience, making them incredibly effective for targeted PR campaigns.
Explore why incorporating micro-influencers into your PR strategy is crucial for nuanced and impactful brand communication:
- Who are micro-influencers?
- 4 stats that will make you include micro-influencers in your PR campaigns
- Benefits of rising demand for micro-influencers
- How to identify micro influencers for your brand
- How to use media monitoring in micro influencer campaigns
- 5 examples of successful micro influencer PR campaigns
Looking for the best way to create a media pitch? Check out Prowly’s AI and search for the most suitable journalists for you.
Who are micro-influencers?
The micro influencer definition says that such an influencer has a highly engaged following on social media platforms, like Instagram, Twitter (X), YouTube, or TikTok. Typically, micro-influencers have between 1,000 to 100,000 followers. These numbers can vary depending on the context and platform.
Micro vs macro-influencers
When it comes to comparing macro and micro-influencers, the main difference is the number of followers. Macro influencers usually have over 1k users per platform. They also have a broader audience but less communication with their followers.
Micro influencers, on the other hand, have a lower reach but the quality of their interactions are higher.
4 stats that will make you include micro-influencers in your PR campaigns
When it comes to money, there could be a huge difference between various types of influencers.
👉🏼 Macro- and mega-influencers charge between $5,000-$10,000 per post, Instagram micro-influencers charge a fraction of this price at $100-$500 per publication.
👉🏼 On Instagram, mega-influencers see engagement rates as low as 1.97%. So this is nothing in comparison to micro-influencers’ 6% engagement rate! It is living proof that brands looking for small influencers know what they are doing.
👉🏼 Still wondering if micro influencer marketing works? Micro-influencers have over a 20% higher conversion rate.
👉🏼 Instagram micro-influencer rates are also higher when it comes to Instagram posts’ ROI – their images achieving 20% ROI, which is 7% more than macro-influencers.
Benefits of the rising demand for micro-influencers
When contrasted with macro influencers, micro-influencers boast superior engagement rates, averaging 2.8%, making them an optimal selection for customized campaigns.
#1 Micro influencers have a more engaged community
Micro influencer follower count is lower but tends to foster a more engaged community. Simply put, they focus on their niche and can create a closer connection with their audience.
▪️ To back up these words, 88% of people say it’s important for influencers to be authentic. This means they should have a genuine interest in their topics, which micro-influencers certainly do.
▪️ When it comes to more numbers, Instagram micro-influencers with 10,000 to 50,000 followers may reach about 8.5% in story exposure.
▪️ The average Tik-Tok micro influencer engagement rate is 17.96%
#2 Micro influencers are experts in their fields
When do influencers become a thing? When they become a specialist in their niche. Since small influencers are genuinely interested in the topics they promote, they know them inside and out. They also usually expand their knowledge, participate in dedicated events, etc.
Many micro-influencers discuss just one to three topics on their page, so brands that collaborate with small influencers on Instagram may access their target audience directly.
💡 Pro Tip: Before reaching out to an influencer, do your research and follow their actions. Check if your given topic is one of their interests and whether they support initiatives in opposition to yours.
#3 Micro influencers have a more targeted audience
Micro influencers often gather a more targeted audience because they specialize in specific niches or interests.
It attracts followers who share those particular passions or preferences.
#4 Micro influencers provide more value for money
Micro influencer marketing is always cheaper and may deliver better results. Micro influencer agencies can be a thing for you if your niche is narrow and budget-tight.
As of 2023, 67% of marketers plan on increasing their budgets– why not use micro-influencers to lighten the blow on your budget? Moreover, according to over 40% of marketers, one of the biggest benefits of working with micro-influencers is their lower cost. So less is definitely more in this case.
Small influencers typically charge lower rates, compared to mega- or macro-influencers. And the bonus is influencing a niche community perfect for your product.
A big advantage of micro-influencers is that they tend to be more engaged. It translates to a higher quality of content as they create.
What is more, there is a heightened level of personality in their posts. For brands looking for small influencers, this means more genuine, well-thought-out promotion.
💡 Pro Tip: The baseline for cost should be around $100-$300 per 10k followers. So no worries about wasting your budget.
How to identify micro influencers for your brand
Identifying micro influencers for your brand involves employing strategic methods that leverage social listening and brand tracking software.
Social listening serves as the cornerstone of this process, allowing you to pinpoint relevant influencers and brand advocates who boast engaged audiences. Through this method, you can identify individuals to whom you can send PR packages, fostering authentic connections and amplifying brand visibility.
Utilizing such software enables a comprehensive assessment of potential cooperation opportunities. Both with companies and influencers.
👉🏼 By analyzing brand sentiment, reputation, and contextual appearances, you can determine ideal partners aligned with your brand strategy. Moreover, media monitoring proves invaluable in uncovering advocates and product recommendations. Even when there is no direct tagging.
Track brand mentions (with the most common typos of your brand name), and relevant hashtags. So you can effectively identify micro-influencers poised to elevate your brand's reach and engagement within their niche communities.
How to choose the right B2C micro-influencers?
As usual, when it comes to collaboration, the most important thing is research. Here is your checklist:
- Compatibility with the brand’s identity.
- Quality and consistency of content.
- Engagement and demographic analysis.
- Track record of previous partnerships.
💡 Pro Tip: An ideal engagement rate in micro influencer marketing is 2-3%.
How to Find B2B Micro-Influencers?
Use LinkedIn as your ally. There are a lot of profiles that have a great impact on the B2B market.
- Utilize LinkedIn's search tool to scour profiles and content for keywords pertinent to your industry. Pay particular attention to individuals who consistently post relevant content and actively engage with their network, as these are likely to be influential figures within your niche.
- Engage with industry groups and discussions to immerse yourself in conversations with professionals in your field. Observe active members who offer valuable insights and contribute meaningfully to the community, as they may possess the influence you seek.
- Additionally, seek out content publishers who regularly share articles or posts that garner high engagement, indicating their authority and influence within the sector.
By combining these methods, you can pinpoint micro influencers who have the potential to significantly impact your brand's visibility and reputation on LinkedIn.
How to choose the right B2B micro influencers?
These professionals specialize in sharing industry-specific insights, advice, and content on LinkedIn, making them invaluable for promoting B2B products and services.
When identifying potential influencers, consider key metrics such as:
- engagement rate
- content relevance
- audience quality – cover aspects like the professional backgrounds of their followers to ensure alignment with your target demographic, including factors like industry, job function, and seniority
- influence in niche topics
How to use media monitoring in micro influencer campaigns?
Brands that send PR to small influencers should follow their campaign results. Creating dedicated monitoring streams for influencers in such campaigns is a beneficial practice.
Set up streams to monitor mentions on their social media profiles, blog posts, and pertinent hashtags or keywords associated with the PR campaign or products.
Step 1: Define your goals and key metrics
What you should do first is to define what you want to achieve. Specify your aspirations and quantify them.
Identify what your brand wants to achieve and choose metrics that are the best indicators of those areas.
Step 2: Choose the right media monitoring tool
Now it’s time for the execution, which means you need the best tool. You should choose the best fit for the metrics you want to follow, defined in the previous step.
With Prowly, you can monitor brand mentions including PR-focused ones like outlet reach, AVE and SOV.
Moreover, Prowly's AI discerns the context, sentiment, and over 15 other attributes of each press material and social mention. You can employ this data to craft personalized filters, which will enable you to prioritize the mentions that hold the greatest significance for you.
Step 3: Set up alerts for brand mentions
Keep up to date with what people are saying about you.
Get recurring mention digests daily, weekly, or monthly. With Prowly, you can set up personalized alerts to keep an eye on sudden spikes in mentions or track press coverage in top-tier publications easily.
Thanks to these, you can track trends and follow your competitors as well as react quickly to mentions with negative or positive sentiments.
Step 4: Monitor campaign hashtags
Track your campaign's performance and observe what content resonates with your audience.
Follow hot topics and react to the buzz around the web. Participate in discussions and connect with your audience.
Step 5: Analyze engagement and reach
Gather data and analyze what brought you the most traffic and which topics were the hottest with your audience.
Check what aroused emotions among your audience and draw conclusions for the future.
Step 6: Sentiment Analysis
In social media, hashtags aren't the only factor that counts. The sentiment is even more important.
It indicates the intention and emotion around the content. So it's crucial to identify what brought on the negative sentiment to learn what you should avoid in the future. And to know what brought you positive reactions.
Step 7: Report and refine
With Prowly, you can display essential data and insights using intuitive, visually appealing dashboards. They offer a clear snapshot of your campaign's performance, making it easy to understand at a glance.
By reviewing this information, you can better plan your next steps and campaigns. Understanding trends and audience preferences helps you make smarter decisions to enhance your marketing strategies.
5 examples of successful micro influencer PR campaigns
Let’s get a closer look at some successful influencer social media marketing campaigns.
1️⃣ #LiveInLevis
Industry: Clothing
Strategy: This campaign was all about real-life social media influencer examples.
This project was launched as a film, showcasing people of all kinds living their lives in Levises.
Anyone could join by sharing their story just by adding the hashtag #liveinlevis.
💡 Lessons learned: This campaign was a great answer to the question, “What is a nano influencer?” Nano influencers are even smaller than the micro but can still generate traffic and resonate with audiences. Levis showed that both nano influencer content and UGC mean a lot nowadays.
2️⃣ Glossier: micro influencers & word of mouth
Industry: Beauty
Strategy: Glossier is a cosmetics brand known for its community focus and harnesses micro-influencers by prioritizing real people over models.
They incentivize customers with discounts and commissions, resulting in authentic user-generated content and broad demographic reach. This strategy emphasizes the value of genuine relationships with influencers, fostering a loyal community and driving digital growth.
💡 Lessons learned: Glossier shows how to turn fans into brand advocates and influencers. They post about Glossier products and thus create a community bond, so it is a good way to build your customer loyalty.
3️⃣ Daniel Wellington
Industry: Accessories
Strategy: There was a time when the #DanielWellington hashtag was all over the internet. This showcases the power of micro-influencers and the importance of authenticity and alignment in branding. As more brands adopt this strategy, micro influencer branding will evolve, offering exciting opportunities in digital marketing without relying on celebrities or major influencers.
💡 Lessons learned: By gifting watches to influencers whose style matched the brand's aesthetic and asking them to post with #DanielWellington, they drove high engagement and generated millions of posts.
4️⃣ Lululemon
Industry: Clothing
Strategy: Lululemon taps into the power of micro influencers through its Lululemon Influencer and Ambassador program. By collaborating with creators who are passionate about fitness and healthy living, they've cultivated a dedicated community and boosted brand awareness effectively.
💡 Lessons learned: This brand has shown how to generate big engagement on a small budget. You can use micro or even nano influencers and still make profits.
5️⃣ Macy’s
Industry: Clothing and accessories
Strategy: A few sentences about it
💡 Lessons learned: By collaboration with small influencers, benefits can be achieved by both parties. You can reach your niche and micro influencers can get a shoutout and gain new followers by tagging your brand.
Conclusions
Collaboration with micro influencers may be profitable for brands specialized in narrow niches. Moreover, for those who want to gain a loyal customer base and create a strong bond, it should also be seriously considered.
If you want to reach the right influencers, you can use Prowly to find the ones who fit your niche and create pitches that will start beneficial collaborations.
