How to Find Micro-Influencers for your Small Business

By QuikPlace | May 21, 2021

Social media makes it possible for small businesses to compete with the big ones.You do not need to spend a bomb for this, only the right strategy would do. In thispost, we’ll see how this is possible, with the help of micro-influencers.

What is a micro-influencer?

A micro-influencer is an online social influencer who has a following between 1,000 to 100,000. This following could be on any platform- blog, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. The micro-influencer should consistently engage with his followers. The influencer could be anything- a college student advising his peers on grooming, a gym trainer showing the right way to exercise, a chef giving cooking tips, etc.

The smaller audiences mean there is a greater personal engagement between the micro-influencer and his followers. This makes it more effective for small businesses to expect greater conversions with the help of micro-influencers as against bigger influencers who have a mixed audience of various buyer personas.

What further works in the micro influencer’s favor is that they offer a better Return on Investment (ROI) to small businesses by being lighter on the pocket.

How to find micro-influencers?

Look in your backyard

Micro-influencers could be much nearer than you think. For example, if there is this one cafe customer who is regular and also has a significant following on social media, you can approach him to write about your latest cold coffee offerings online in return for a limited supply of cold coffee.

You can do a simple Google search to know who is active in your neighborhood/niche and is attracting a lot of attention online. Check how consistent they are in publishing quality content for your niche and think of ways you could use their popularity to promote your stuff.

Search the right hashtags

The whole concept of hashtags is to help people find content on social media. You can start searching for keywords that are relevant to your business to know what content is trending with the maximum reach. With this search, you will find those people whose posts are trending and who get the most engagement.

Remember, just the number of followers isn’t enough, the engagement on each post of the micro-influencer also makes a big difference. This shows how much people like the posts of the micro-influencer.

Influencer Marketing Platforms

If you ask any seasoned marketer how to find micro-influencers, they would suggest using an influencer marketing platform. These social media management tools help you get the right people at the right time. They use many ways to compile lists of potential influencers for your business. All you gotta do is to state your requirements and they’ll give you a list of potential influencers for various regions/countries all across the world.

If you are inexperienced with the whole process of hiring a micro-influencer, these services are for you. As there are hundreds of influencers to choose from, it is best to use these services especially if you are short on time. Though there are many such influencer marketplaces, one that stands out is Quikplace, which helps you choose the right influencer and monitors the entire marketing campaign on your behalf.

Search for bloggers to promote your stuff

Micro-influencers in specific niches mostly do not just limit themselves to one social media platform. Many of them have websites which they use for blogging and other purposes. You could research bloggers who double up as micro-influencers who could promote your stuff on various mediums for maximum impact.

How to check if the micro-influencer is ideal for the brand

Though you have a set of micro-influencers to choose from, now you need to choose those that fit your brand. Think for yourself- you are hiring a micro-influencer that should help you increase conversions. How do you ensure this is done? Ask yourself these questions-

• Do they post content that resonates with your target audience?
• Do they interact well with their target audience?
• What is the geographical/sectoral reach of their followers? Do they represent the target audience of your brand?
• Have they sponsored a product before? If yes, how was the response?

After you have the answers to these questions, double-check the credentials of the micro-influencer. Ensure they have not sponsored a competitor's product- if this is so, move on to the next

Finding the right micro-influencer is just half the battle won. You will need to do intense research about their posts to understand how well they can help you with conversions.

Once you have selected the right micro-influencer, you will need to discuss ways in which they will help you promote the product and how it will help you.

Finally, let them implement and publish the post. Hopefully, you’ll get what you need.