Over the years, the influencer marketing space has shifted. The shift coming from brands and businesses beginning to see the value that influencers can bring when it comes to providing exposure to their brands and their business. But it wasn’t always that way and it still isn’t that way across the board. Many people truly think that influencer, whether a micro-influencer or a mega-influencer, are people who are just paid to look pretty and take pretty pictures and get free stuff, and as an influencer myself who also works as an influencer coach, it often hurts to hear that from people.
But like I said, things are shifting and the value of the influencer is getting bigger and bigger. And as many dig into evaluating the influencer marketing space, it is becoming apparent as to what type of influencers are becoming the focus on who brands and businesses seed for marketing campaigns because of their worth.
In this episode of the That Luxe Life podcast, I’m going to be talking about the value and power of the micro-influencer, and how micro-influencers can begin attracting brands and growing their influencer business.
What It Means TO BE A MICRO-INFLUENCER
For those who don’t know, micro-influencers are creators who has below 150,000 followers across their social media platforms. This number tends to shift depending on the source that you are looking at and the year that you are evaluating the number. Over the years, I’ve seen the maximum number go from 500,000 to 50,000 to 10,000, but one thing remains consistent is the connection that micro-influencers have with their community. Micro-influencers are influencers who, though with lower numbers, have higher engagement and tend to have a deeper and more intimate understanding of their community.
As I’ve talked to various micro-influencers, many of them have fell into the rut that because of their lower numbers, they don’t have much to stand upon when it comes to pitching for brand deals and getting paid their worth, but there is a lot more to their value than they know. Being a micro-influencer means that you have the power to demand the value of the work that you are doing and the exposure that you are providing to the brand.
The Power of THE MICRO-INFLUENCER
Contradicting to the nay-sayers out there, being an influencer, blogger, or content creator is a full-time job with lot of potential for growth. Influencers are business owners who base their business and their brand on themselves, which can be a huge undertaking and a major risk. Over the years, I have seen negative comments and posts about how influencers aren’t truly working people and that they should “go get a real job”. But what is funny is that many of these people, when you look at their social media or the things that they do, are following and/or influenced by influencers. Influencers, as a whole, have a lot of power when it comes to how products, services, and even places can be marketed, how trends are shared, and what shifts happen in consumerism, but what many people don’t realize is that it isn’t the larger influencers that are consistently turning the dial, but it is actually that micro-influencers.
Micro-influencers, because of their high-engagement rate and intimate connection with their community, typically have very high conversions and ROI when it comes to working with brands and collaborators. The community trusts them more because a micro-influencer is able to engage with their community to build that trust. When a follower asks a question or leaves a comment, they know that they are going to get a true honest response, which also leads them to know that anything that the influencer is promoting will be something that they truly feel is worth sharing.
The micro-influencer has the power to inspire other beyond just clicking a link and making a purchase, but they have the power to shift trends when it comes to how people style certain looks, what make-up looks they are creating, and even what places they will be traveling to during certain seasons. If you think of how consumers purchase, we rely on reviews and feedback to feel comfortable before making a purchase, and micro-influencers provide that true and detailed feedback to their community to help sway them into making a purchase, visiting a place, or going with a trend. So, if you are an influencer, know that the power you hold is valuable but it is also a power that you should not misuse.
How to Attract Brands AS A MICRO-INFLUENCER
As an influencer, I’ve worked with a variety of brands over the years and have gotten to talk with a variety of marketing departments about what they look for when they are seeding influencers, and the common and most consistent answer is that they are looking for authenticity, creativity, and brand alignment. When you, as an influencer, think about what brands you want to work with, you first want to consider as to whether your influencer brand aligns with their brand. Does the style, values, and community align? If so, then you’re ready to take the next step and pitch a brand partnership, but if you don’t align, then the brand partnership is not going to be beneficial for either party and it’s not something to pursue.
When you are creating your content, make sure that there is intention behind everything that you create and post. Your content should be offering value in some aspect. Whether you are posting the content to provide a tutorial, inspire, entertain, or just to connect, you’re content needs to have intention. A brand’s marketing department can tell when content is just being posted for the sake of posting content and when there is intention behind every post. They want to know that when they work with you, that you won’t just create content to create and post it without any intention behind it.
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
If you enjoyed this episode and are looking forward to future episodes on That Luxe Life, make sure to subscribe! There are new episodes bi-weekly on Fridays covering topics from business to travel to motherhood and more. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And if you really enjoyed this episode, I would love for you to LEAVE A REVIEW on the podcast because more reviews will help the podcast grow and be able to bring you more amazing guests!
