id you know nearly 70 percent of U.S. adults use at least one social media site? (Pew Research Center) That’s a lot of people scrolling through their news feeds and interacting with social media accounts. The result? Brands are collaborating with leading content creators to achieve their marketing objectives. This technique is commonly referred to as influencer marketing.
Influencer Marketing Hub defines an influencer as “an individual who has the power to affect purchase decisions of others because of his/her authority, knowledge, position or relationship with his/her audience.” As content consumers, we routinely see some of the world’s biggest brands working with influencers to generate buzz around their products and services.
Recently, we have experienced an influx in clients looking to partner with influencers. With many influencers charging brands upward of one thousand dollars per sponsored post, this strategy can be costly. Coming in at nearly $500,000 per Instagram post (Harper’s Bazaar), you may be shocked to learn that a partnership with Kim Kardashian may be slightly outside of most marketing budgets…
Queue the Micro-Influencer
Forbes classifies micro-influencers as “everyday consumers who have a significant social media following of anywhere between 1,000 and 100,000.” Micro-influencers commonly focus on a specific niche and tend to have better engagement with their followers compared to celebrity accounts. On average, most micro-influencers will charge a fee between $137 to $258 per Instagram post. This is relatively affordable considering a recent study by Olapic found that respondents trusted customer generated images on social media seven times more than traditional advertisements.
Better yet, some micro-influencers will work with brands in exchange for free product.
For example, maybe you own a winery and a wine blogger posts a photo of them enjoying your wine in their latest Instagram post—completely unbeknown to you. (This is why it’s important to monitor the social media chatter surrounding your brand and industry! Social Mention and Hootsuite are great tools to do this.) Because you know this individual is already a fan of your products, when you offer them a bottle or two of your new label, they may be more willing to work with you for free. Thanks to the micro-influencer’s previously established appreciation for your brand, the sponsored content will come across as genuine and authentic to their followers.
Conclusion
Regardless of industry, working with micro-influencers who have an applicable connection to your brand can be an authentic and cost-effective strategy to spread the word about your company and get in front of the right audiences. If you’d like to integrate an influencer program into your marketing strategy but aren’t sure where to start, we would love to help!