MICRO-INFLUENCER MARKETING

Micro-Influencer Marketing: The Ultimate Guide

Daniel Cruz

By Daniel Cruz
48 min READ | Apr 11 2024

    What Is a Micro-Influencer?

    Micro-influencers are types of influencers with a smaller but more dedicated following of 10,000-100,000.

    They typically specialize in a specific niche, such as fashion, beauty, or travel.

    Pro tip: The micro-influencer follower count varies by platform.

    Unlike celebrity influencers, who often have millions of followers, micro-influencers have a more personal relationship with their fans.

    This allows them to create content that feels more relatable and trustworthy to everyday people.

    As a result, micro-influencer marketing can be very effective.

    As people become increasingly inundated with marketing messages, they are more likely to pay attention to recommendations from people they know and trust.

    Companies often work with micro-influencers because they:

    • Offer a more targeted way to reach potential customers.
    • Guarantee more engagement.
    • Can elicit certain emotions, like FOMO and desire.
    • Have more time to engage with their followers.

    Research around the world’s top dream jobs shows that becoming an influencer is one of the most popular career aspirations globally.

    Content creators often begin their journey as micro-influencers during the initial stages of community growth.

    They may remain at this level, particularly if their content caters to a niche audience.

    Micro-Influencer Follower Count By Platform

    1. TikTok micro-influencers vs Instagram micro-influencers:

    Instagram micro-influencers usually have 10,000 to 50,000 followers.

    Conversely, TikTok micro-influencers can reach 500,000 followers.

    2. YouTube micro-influencers vs Twitch micro-influencers:

    • YouTube micro-influencers have 5,000 – 25,000 subscribers, but:
    • Twitch micro-influencers have 10-30 ACV (average concurrent viewership).

    As you can see, even the measuring units differ.

    Twitch’s unique MO is keeping people engaged with live videos streamed right then.

    By comparison, YouTube followers can watch those videos anytime they want to.

    This follower count difference between platforms boils down to:

    • Engagement
    • Platform algorithm
    • User behavior

    For example, Instagram delivers people content from the influencers they follow, but TikTok shows the most viewed videos all over the platform.

    Thus, an Instagram micro-influencer’s engagement rate will be much higher, and that’s why they need fewer people in their community.

    Research-Backed Benefits of Influencer Marketing

    Influencer marketing has been shown to:

    1. Help Companies Reach New Markets

    According to influencer marketing statistics, 86% of marketers set brand awareness as their main purpose.

    74% want to reach new or targeted emarkets. And they do achieve those goals because 80% of shoppers have purchased something following an influencer’s recommendation.

    2. Establish Credibility and Trust

    Studies show that a trustworthy, authentic influencer can enhance brand credibility.

    The catch?

    Your company has to deliver the promised products and live up to the standard it created.

    Besides, marketers claim that influencer-generated content receives 8x more engagement than conventional branded content.

    3. Create More Engaged Relationships between Brands and Prospects

    Social media influencers offer insights into the minds of your audience that you can use to adapt your product and your communications strategy.

    Besides, influencers will also have more conversations about your product than you can do because they’re so engaged with their audience.

    And those two factors combined lead to a tighter relationship between you and your target audience.

    In the example below, Eddie Motta is shown as one of Dr. Zenovia’s brand ambassadors:

    Dr. Zenovia always partners with micro and nano – influencers that can have more genuine conversations with their followers.

    Eddie Motta is one of them, as you can notice from the comments to this post:

    Notice the genuine comment, Eddie’s authentic reply from his own experience, and how he tagged the Dr. Zenovia brand in this conversation.

    The company immediately responded, and that’s how influencers can create a direct bond between brands and people.

    Side note: A more personal reply from Dr. Zenovia would have been better, so remember to do that in your conversations.

    4. Build Long-Term Loyalty

    Studies and experience show that influencers can build brand loyalty.

    But if that content creator’s audience stops believing in them, your relationship with those people will take a hit too.

    5. Decrease Shopping Cart Abandonment

    Social proof and needing more time to research are among the main reasons for cart abandonment.

    Conversely, an effective influencer marketing strategy can solve those issues; content creators are trustworthy and genuinely connect with their followers.

    That’s how they can help you build that social proof and offer people the research they need in advance.

    6. Increase Sales

    Every $1 invested in your influencer marketing budget brings you a $4 return. That’s a massive 400% ROI.

    And it also explains why 90% of marketers believe in the power of influencer marketing.

    Nano vs. Micro-Influencers

    When choosing between nano and micro-influencers, we advise our clients to consider their campaign's specific goals, budget, and the level of audience engagement they want to achieve.

    Brands seeking highly authentic engagement and trust-building at a lower cost might lean towards nano-influencers, while those looking for a balance between reach and relatability within a niche may find micro-influencers more suitable.

    Nano vs. Micro Influencers Reach and Targeting

    The first variable that sets these content creators apart is their community size.

    Nano-influencers have:

    • Less than 5,000 YouTube subscribers
    • 1,000-10,000 Instagram followers
    • 5,000-50,000 TikTok followers

    Nano-influencers may have a smaller reach, but their followers are often highly dedicated and more likely to take action based on the influencer's recommendations.

    Micro-influencers provide a wider reach within their niche, which can be beneficial for campaigns aiming to hit larger numbers without sacrificing the focus of their audience.

    Nano vs. Micro- Influencers Engagement and Authenticity

    According to Statista, nano-influencers' engagement level is 5% and micro-influencers' 1.7%.

    But while nano-influencers take the cake with a 5% engagement rate, that number still means only 500 people out of a 10,000 audience.

    Micro-influencers’ 1.7% engagement rate translates into a broader reach of 850 people for a 50,000 audience.

    Nano vs. Micro-Influencers Authenticity and Trust

    Nano-influencers are perceived as highly trustworthy due to their close-knit relationship with their audience, making their endorsements feel like friends' recommendations.

    Micro-influencers, with their larger following, still maintain a level of trust and relatability, though the personal connection might not be as strong as with nano-influencers.

    Nano vs. Micro-Influencers Cost Efficiency

    Nano-influencers are often more cost-effective, making them a great option for brands with smaller budgets or those looking to maximize their return on investment through authentic engagement.

    Micro-influencers might require a higher investment than nano-influencers, but they offer the benefit of increased reach and potential impact within a specific niche.

    Nano vs. Micro-Influencers Benefits for Your Campaign

    Nano-influencers excel in generating authentic, grassroots marketing moments that can feel more genuine and less commercial, making them ideal for brands looking to build trust.

    Micro-influencers offer the advantage of reaching a larger yet still targeted audience, making them suitable for brands aiming to increase visibility within a specific niche.

    Macro vs. Micro-Influencers

    Here's the TL;DR based on our experience as an influencer platform:

    • Macro-influencers have a large following and are good for quick brand recognition and market entry but might have lower engagement rates.
    • Micro-influencers have smaller, niche audiences with high engagement rates, offering personalized and trustworthy interactions, which can lead to better conversion rates.

    Macro vs. Micro-Influencers Engagement and Numbers

    Micro-influencers prioritize engagement, leading to 60% higher engagement and 20% higher conversion rates than macro-influencers, according to Forbes.

    Pro tip: Engagement rates vary across influencers, emphasizing the importance of selecting those with high engagement for campaign effectiveness.

    Dr. Chris Lee is a digital creator interested in neuroscience and stress management, with 44.7K followers on Instagram.

    Some of his posts have over 700 likes, such as the one below:

    Dr Chris Lee on Instagram
    Source

    That’s a 1.7 engagement rate, the average industry standard.

    But if you use an engagement rate calculator, you’ll notice his average engagement rate is 1.07%.

    That’s not bad for a content creator.

    But it could get better.

    Using the inBeat app, you could source a more engaged content creator in the same niche.

    Notice the filters and keywords that help you narrow your search.

    That's how you can streamline your influencer marketing campaigns.

    But just using one keyword, “mobility instructor,” brings us to this profile:

    So, although Andreita Levin has fewer followers, her engagement rate is obviously better.

    By comparison, Jason van Ruler is a licensed therapist with a following of 139k people.

    Source

    Notice the increased number of followers and average likes and comments.

    This means that this mental health specialist has a wider reach but a lower engagement rate than Andreita Levin.

    Macro vs. Micro-Influencers Reach

    Macro-influencers have a broader reach, with their follower counts varying significantly across platforms.

    Macro influencers have:

    • 250,000-1,000,000 YouTube subscribers
    • 100,000-2,500,000 Instagram followers
    • 750,000-2,500,000 TikTok followers

    Micro-influencers have:

    • 5,000-25,000 YouTube subscribers
    • 10,000-50,000 Instagram followers
    • Up to 500,000 TikTok followers

    Pro tip: Though micro-influencers have fewer followers, they can achieve substantial reach within their niches, especially when they select the right platform for their content.

    Macro vs. Micro-Influencers: Real vs. Fake Followers

    Macro and micro-influencers can have fake followers.

    Due to their larger follower base, macro-influencers may have a higher number of inauthentic followers.

    Hailey Bieber is a macro-influencer.

    Her score is “excellent,” but 14.9M out of her 36.3M followers are inactive.

    Source

    That could be a sign of bot accounts following her.

    However, she does get a high number of comments and likes, which could assuage suspicions:

    Pro tip: Use a fake follower checker to assess the authenticity of an influencer's followers to ensure genuine engagement and reach.

    Macro vs. Micro-Influencers: Cost Efficiency

    Macro-influencers generally charge more for collaborations, varying prices based on various campaign factors.

    Data at inBeat suggests that micro-influencers receive an average of $150 per post.

    If they promote a high-tech product, that fee can rise to $500.

    And according to Shopify, micro-influencers charge $100-$500 per Instagram post, whereas macro-influencers ask for $5,000 to $10,000.

    Shopify also suggests that a TikTok post costs up to $1,500 for a micro-influencer and $5,000 for a macro-influencer.

    Pro tip: Engaging multiple micro-influencers can achieve similar reach to a single macro-influencer but at a lower cost and with higher engagement rates.

    Macro vs. Micro-Influencers Benefits for Your Campaign

    • Micro-influencers excel in building brand reputation and fostering deep audience relationships due to their authenticity and targeted reach.
    • Macro-influencers provide broader visibility, beneficial for brands seeking widespread recognition.

    How Much Do Micro-Influencers Cost?

    From our experience at inBeat, micro-influencers’ fees vary from $50 to $500.

    Pro tip: Many content creators prefer recognition or supporting a specific cause over money. Offering specific products or exclusives may also help you negotiate with potential micro-influencers more successfully.

    Pro tip (2): Use our Instagram Money Calculator to evaluate potential costs.

    What Factors Affect Influencer Pricing?

    There is no clear-cut answer to how much influencer marketing costs, but those are the five factors that affect it:

    1. Social media platform

    The cost of influencer marketing varies across social media channels.

    Instagram is the top choice for most marketers, so prepare to spend more on Instagram than on most platforms.

    YouTube follows Instagram by popularity.

    However, creating and editing YouTube videos requires more work as they are usually longer than those on Instagram.

    As a result, Influencer campaigns on YouTube cost more than on Instagram.

    TikTok has taken social media by storm, so many advertisers started working with influencers on this channel.

    Brands chose Twitter and Facebook less frequently for influencer marketing.

    2. Number of followers

    Until recently, the number of followers determined the pricing for influencer marketing.

    As it became possible to buy fake followers, brands started looking at other metrics, such as engagement.

    A recent study shows that the fewer followers an influencer has, the higher their engagement rate.

    This explains why micro-influencer marketing is on the rise.

    Micro-influencers with 5,000 to 25,000 followers often collaborate in exchange for products.

    3. Scale of the influencer marketing campaign and type of content

    The more work influencers do for you, the more they charge.

    So, the cost of influencer marketing depends on the complexity of the content (cross-posting on other social media profiles, long-form video, Carousel, etc.)

    4. Direct partnership with an influencer or through a talent agent

    You can find influencers yourself or use an agency to connect you to the right ones for your campaign.

    The benefit of partnering up with agencies is that they usually work with more experienced influencers. Note that you will pay a premium.

    5. The product you want to advertise

    The costs of influencer marketing can be affected by both your product and the industry you are in.

    For example, collaborating with an influencer to promote a gambling app will generally cost more than promoting a fitness gadget.

    Continue reading to learn more about influencer pricing on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook.

    How Much Does YouTube Influencer Marketing Cost?

    As a rule of thumb, YouTube influencers follow two main pricing strategies.

    You can use them as a guideline when planning your marketing costs:

    • Price per subscriber. On average, prepare to pay $20 for every 1,000 subscribers of a YouTube influencer unless you have a great product or a brand that stands for something.
    • Price per video views. Not everyone will watch every single video produced by the YouTuber. Thus, video views are an important metric to measure the influencer's engagement rate. Look at the last 30-40 videos to calculate the view rate. Price per view varies depending on the type of content. For example, an integrated video sponsorship will cost you from $40 to $70 per view. Dedicated videos range from $80 to $150 per view.

    Pro tip: You can also use a platform like FameBit by YouTube to have influencers reach out to you based on the budget you set.

    How Much Does Instagram Influencer Marketing Cost?

    Some influencers charge based on their niche, reach, and impressions, while others use the number of followers as a guideline.

    For example, @christinagalbato and other large Instagram influencers can charge $100 per 10,000 followers.

    So, on average, an Instagram post from an influencer with 100K followers costs approximately $1000.

    Don't forget to negotiate, we have worked with top influencers for much cheaper than that.

    Big Instagram influencers with 100,000+ followers come with a big price tag.

    So How Much Do Micro-Influencers Charge?

    On average, micro-influencers charge from $0 to $2000 per Instagram post. Yet, many of them are happy to collaborate with brands in exchange for other perks instead of hard cash:

    • VIP passes to exclusive brand events and virtual summits (fashion shows, product launches, etc.).
    • Mentions on your brand’s social media and website.
    • Exclusive discounts and free trials for the influencer and their followers.
    • Pre-launch product samples.
    • Gift cards for Instagram contests.

    You can even get micro-influencers working with you for free if your brand donates to charity or stands for a good cause.

    How Much Does TikTok Influencer Marketing Cost?

    Similar to other social media channels, influencer pricing on TikTok varies based on what the brand and the influencer consider a fair value.

    It depends on the influencer’s niche, country, engagement, and audience brand affinity.

    Influencer marketing costs on this channel are far from standardized:

    • Some influencers charge a flat of $200 to $20,000 for a branded video on TikTok.
    • The cost per sponsored video view ranges from $0,01 to $0,02.
    • Other TikTok influencers agree to get paid based on sales or conversion. For example, they charge per app download or per activation of a unique promo code.

    Many TikTok influencers have a significant presence on other social media platforms.

    So if you want to bring down the cost of your campaign, we recommend you work with the same influencer on Instagram and YouTube.

    How Much Does Facebook Influencer Marketing Cost?

    Here is how much Facebook influencers charge on average:

    • $250 per post of a Facebook influencer with 10,000 to 100,00 followers.
    • $2,500 per post of an influencer with 100,000 to 1,000,000 followers.
    • $25,000 per post of a Facebook influencer with 1,000,000+ followers.

    Pro tip: Facebook also offers Brand Collabs Manager to streamline influencer and social media marketing campaigns. This platform helps businesses find and connect with relevant influencers. Brands and influencers can discuss pricing and agree on the campaign details.

    How to Find Micro-Influencers

    You can read more in our article about how to find relevant influencers.

    Side note: I will also show you how we do our research using our influencer database - inBeat (full disclosure: I am a co-founder, and we use this tool internally within our agency).

    There is a free plan, which you can use to toy around with influencer marketing.

    Find Influencers Manually

    You could also hire a virtual assistant to find influencers manually.

    Here is the best way to find influencers on Instagram:

    1. Find relevant hashtags for your product

    I recommend you use Display Purposes to simplify your research:

    2. Find influencers in the hashtag feed

    3. Explore the influencers’ following

    Add all the influencers you find to a Google Sheets or an Excel file. Include relevant information such as handle, email and follower count.

    Typically, you want to create a workflow describing this task and outsource it to a VA.

    Use inBeat to Find Influencers

    inBeat allows you to filter influencers by keyword and engagement. Here is what it looks like:

    PLatform-Preview

    Within the agency, we like working with influencers through email.

    It makes managing the relationship more straightforward, which is why we filter for accounts with an email address.

    Once you have selected your filters, find influencers relevant, and add them to your campaign. When you finish, export your list.

    We will add this list to our CRM tool to perform the outreach.

    How to Pitch and Negotiate Influencers

    You now have a list of influencers to contact.

    You will import these influencers into your favorite CRM.

    We use Mailshake internally, but any tool you like to do mass outreach will do.

    You can also use email sequence software for pitching because it allows you to personalize your emails and automate follow-ups.

    Use Mailshake to Pitch Influencers

    Mailshake is a paid tool, which allows you to send cold emails at scale.

    If you’re just playing around with influencer marketing, you should manually send emails.

    There aren’t any free options from what I know.

    Let’s go through a brief walkthrough of how to use Mailshake.

    1. Create a campaign and import your list using a CSV importer

    2. Create your pitches and follow-ups

    Author's note

    Import their handle as a custom field; it allows you to personalize your subject line, which drives open rates up.

    3. Schedule your outreach

    Let it run! Check your open and response rates regularly to ensure everything is running smoothly.

    Negotiate with Your Influencers

    Influencers are replying to you. One is asking for $ 2,000; the other is seeking $50.

    How much should I pay?

    This is a typical question. The answer is just as typical: it depends.

    Rates will vary depending on the influencer type and their audience size.

    You will use your first batch of influencers to set a benchmark.

    Use our price guidelines above to get a solid idea. You can also draw insights from your first round of outreach.

    Pro tip: Negotiate as much as you can and set your base price where you feel the resistance.

    Managing negotiations

    If you are using Mailshake, use the Lead Catcher feature to make negotiating easy.

    How to Onboard Influencers [Our Platform's 9-Step Plan]

    Influencer onboarding looks something like this:

    1. Negotiation: You both accept the negotiation.
    2. Onboarding: An introduction email is sent, including an onboarding form that captures all relevant influencers from your influencer.
    3. Quality Control: You review the influencer’s profile and details. If you don’t select the influencer for any reason, you must email them to advise them that they weren’t retained.
    4. Agreement: An email is sent with the agreement, and the influencer signs this contract.
    5. Shipping: The product is shipped.
    6. Confirmation and Guidelines: An email confirms that the product has been shipped and includes a mood board and guidelines relevant to product sharing.
    7. Content: The image is posted to Instagram.
    8. Payment: The influencer is paid if you agree on a collaboration fee
    9. Feedback: An email is sent to ask for feedback

    Let’s walk through each step.

    1. Negotiation Is Accepted

    You have settled on a price.

    Mark the lead as won in your CRM, and move on to onboarding the influencer.

    If you need a second approval (another department, for example), make sure to let your ambassador know.

    The feeling of being told “You’re in,” just to be denied a couple of days later, is bad for your brand.

    2. Onboarding

    An introduction email is sent with an onboarding form to capture all the relevant information from your influencer: Address, Name, Email, Phone Number, Etc.

    When asking for the address, I advise you retrieve the information in the right format A.K.A how it feeds into your e-commerce platform.

    You might want to trigger automatic order, which makes it crucial for you to have the proper format.

    You will want to port your form responses to Google Sheets.

    All decent form builders have a smooth integration to help you do this.

    If they don’t, look into Zapier. If they don’t integrate with Zapier as well, change tool.

    We use Typerforms most of the time.

    3. Quality Control

    We always plan for a quality checkup, before sending the product.

    This checkpoint allows our clients to refuse influencers that don’t match their guidelines, while allowing us to verify their contact details.

    We set this up in Google Sheets with a Zapier trigger.

    • If you approve the influencer, Zapier triggers Hello Sign, and the influencer will receive the agreement.
    • If you reject the influencer, we send them an email to let them know they weren’t selected

    4. Agreement

    The influencer receives and signs the agreement, and Zapier sends a PO to our e-commerce platform.

    The automatic creation of a PO or a coupon is optional and will depend on your e-commerce platform limitations.

    5. Shipping

    The product is shipped to the influencer. Nothing out of the ordinary here; the process just falls into your regular e-commerce operations.

    6. Confirmation and Guidelines

    An email is sent to confirm that the product has been shipped.

    The email also includes a mood board and guidelines relevant to product sharing.

    You also want to share a promo code the influencer can share with their audience, allowing you to track sales.

    7. Content is Posted to Instagram

    The influencer informs you that the content was published on Instagram.

    Planning strategy with a marketing calendar can streamline the entire content process.

    At this stage, you can require a review of the content before it goes live.

    This is up to you and becomes relevant if you have strict FDA or FTC guidelines surrounding your product.

    Add a post URL to your Sheets and track the final results (sales, likes, comments).

    Pro tip: We use an in-house tool to do this, but you can also use a virtual assistant (we are adding a tracker to the inBeat platform; you can message me at [email protected] if you want beta access).

    8. Influencer is Paid

    Some people pay influencers earlier in the process, but we choose to pay them at the end.

    This has been working well for our agency, but you might consider that paying upfront is a better option.

    Pro tip: PayPal is our favorite tool to get this job done.

    9. Asking for Feedback

    Asking your influencers for feedback is a great way to generate new ideas for your brand. These folks are a creative bunch, and receiving their critiques will help you build a stronger brand.

    To create customer feedback forms, you can use the WordPress Survey plugin.

    Author's note

    Send out an email with specific questions such as:

    How was the unpackaging experience? How was the product?

    How was our support?

    Any ideas on how we can make our marketing better?

    Bonus Step: 10. Optimize and Repeat

    You want to make your process better.

    This means finding better ways to do things. Think of your email templates, influencer targeting, incentive structure, etc.

    Keeping at it will build a robust process to help you scale influencer marketing without much effort.

    Influencer Management Tools

    There are enterprise tools out there that allow you to manage a campaign from A to Z within the software.

    I don’t advocate for such tools. I believe that building apps through integrations is a powerful way to adapt a business process to your unique needs.

    Enterprise tooling is sold at a much higher price point ($2000+ / month), locks you in, and will rarely fit your specific use case.

    Google Sheets, Typeform, Mailshake, Zapier, and inBeat will cost you $150 to $200 a month, allowing you to get 100s of influencers.

    Each of these apps is built with a single purpose in mind, such as cold emailing, finding influencers, sending forms, or CRM to unite all the data.

    No enterprise tool can be best on all these features, making for a clunky and rigid experience. Trying to do everything is a road to disaster.

    In my sense, bringing a bunch of self-serve SAAS tools together is always a better solution.

    Businesses just don’t believe they can execute properly on these “complex problems”.

    It’s not hard to plug Google Sheets with Zapier and Mailshake and then use inBeat to find your influencers.

    4 Micro-Influencer Marketing Strategies for Stellar Results

    Micro-influencers can determine (many of) their followers to make specific purchase decisions.

    However, you have to pick the right strategy according to:

    • Your company’s profile
    • Your campaign’s requirements
    • Your audience’s interests

    1. Influencer-Generated Content

    Use micro-influencers to run your entire content strategy for all of your social media marketing.

    The advantage of using micro-influencers in this process is that you can address your target audience efficiently.

    After all, the content creators have unique insights into your customers’ minds, so they know what works.

    Of course, user-generated content also means relinquishing some of your control over the content.

    That’s why you need a solid contract – but we’ll discuss that further below.

    Alternatively, you can ask micro-influencers to sample and review your products.

    This strategy works if you have low-cost products and can afford to gift some to specific content creators.

    Here’s how to do that:

    • Make a database of potential collaborators. Ideally, you’d have at least a few hundred influencers – we go into deeper detail in this podcast.
    • Send them cold emails, no strings attached, explaining why you would love for them to test your products and post genuine content about them. For effective outreach, seasoned marketers use tested cold email outreach tools, such as Instantly. Moreover, they also rely on Instantly alternatives to streamline and automate communication, enhancing efficiency and response rates.
    • Don’t send the products without getting in touch first. You need to underline your expectations and see if the influencer is willing to test/post about your company.
    • Package the product neatly and include a personal touch, such as a handwritten note.
    • Reach out to the content creators a few days after sending the products to ask what they thought about your gift. In most cases, these influencers will post user-generated content about your products.
    • Make sure you repost that content and mention specifically the micro-influencer on your website/ social media.

    2. Power Your Influencer Marketing Campaign with Events

    Bring people who have a niche following to your event. After getting their RSVPs:

    • Tease their presence at your event on your social media.
    • Give shout-outs and mentions to these influencers.
    • Remember to take plenty of photos during the event.
    • Ask your micro-influencers to post their branded content before, during, and after that event.

    3. Use Contests

    Grow your following through contests.

    For example, Jonas Furstone (@furstonetravels) has partnered with Harry McNulty (@saltynuts) for a unique giveaway.

    Participants worldwide could have won a helicopter flight over Ireland’s staggering Cliffs of Moher.

    They had to follow certain accounts, share the reel, and tag the person they wanted to share the flight with.

    Now, consider that the adventure tour for two over the Cliffs of Moher is €200, while the post got 500+ likes and 229 comments.

    Therefore, each new follower gained cost the team of six influencers less than €1.

    And that’s genuine value for money.

    4. Leverage Ambassador Marketing

    Onboard influencers on a long-term relationship to create a base of ambassadors that will support your brand.

    These content creators will build your social proof on an ongoing basis.

    One excellent example is the #Cokeambassador campaign. Micro-influencers worldwide post regularly using this hashtag, thus:

    • Creating desire
    • Showcasing Coca-Cola as part of their daily lives
    • Associating the brand with specific feelings (freedom, family, happiness, etc.) and values (veganism, minority rights, etc.)

    How to Create an Influencer Marketing Strategy

    Want to reap those advantages? Learn to create an influencer marketing strategy from the ground up.

    1. Determine Your Goals and KPIs

    Setting your goals correctly is the first step of every influencer marketing campaign.

    If you don’t know what you’re trying to achieve, you won’t be able to set the other stages of your strategy.

    Your intentions are the backbone of your entire strategy.

    Besides, these goals define your campaign’s metrics; you know the variables that help you monitor your campaign and measure its success.

    Possible goals include:

    • Brand awareness: Having more people know about your brand and products. It’s what inBeat did for Phone Loops, as you can see from the plethora of Instagram Posts popularizing these loops. We based our influencer content strategy on having more people discover these functional straps and associate them with awesome selfies.
    • Brand identity: Getting people to understand what your brand stands for.
    • Audience building: Influencers can help you reach more people to increase your audience size. That was inBeat’s strategy for Deux Par Deux, a brand selling children’s clothes.
    • Sales: Influencer marketing can boost sales in the short term by popularizing various discounts and rewards. However, do it correctly, and this campaign will increase your ROI steadily in the long run.
    momfluencer campaign

    inBeat’s Deux par Deux campaign featured product seeding to momfluencers to reach a broader audience.

    Of course, you shouldn’t limit yourself to these goals.

    You can focus on creating more engagement, product launches, link building, etc. Practically, the world is your oyster.

    Remember: Regardless of your goals, you should always break them into smaller, attainable objectives.

    If you want to talk strategy, you can always schedule a free call with our influencer marketing agency, and we’ll assist you happily.

    Then, set your key performance indicators.

    Here are the KPIs you can follow for each goal:

    • Brand Awareness: Website traffic, page views, social mentions, time on site, website users
    • Building Brand Identity: Social mentions, PR coverage (number of articles or links)
    • Audience Building: Opt-ins, new followers
    • Engagement: Shares, following, comments, and likes from social media users
    • Lead Generation: Opt-ins
    • Sales: New sales, revenue changes, promo codes
    • Customer Loyalty: Customer retention rates, renewal rates
    • Link Building: Number and quality of links

    2. Identify Your Audience

    You should be very clear about who you’re speaking to.

    You can’t hook your potential customers without understanding your audience’s interests and needs.

    Once you research and grasp those things, you must speak their language.

    That means you’ll know which types of content will motivate them best to meet your campaign’s marketing goals.

    Take what Carter Sullivan did for Mogo.

    This young woman articulately describes her financial problems and how this app helped her solve them.

    She not only addresses but also represents an entire generation (Gen Z).

    This content creator knows that advertising isn’t about selling a product; it’s about selling people better versions of themselves.

    Carter Sullivan for MOGO
    An example of inBeat influencer content: a YouTube campaign with Mogo.ca

    That’s another thing you’ll want to consider:

    Don’t just throw your messages into the vast black hole of social media.

    Instead, create a buyer persona based on demographic and psychographic factors.

    As a result, you’ll reach these people’s hearts and minds to:

    • Guarantee more user engagement
    • Build a loyal brand community
    • Boost your sales

    3. Choose the Right Influencers

    Sifting through hundreds of influencers can seem daunting.

    We get it.

    That’s why we’ve created a robust influencer database so that more marketers can find the right content creators.

    But that’s not the point.

    The point is understanding what makes someone a potential influencer.

    Content creators:

    • Shape and define the conversation
    • Advocate for the matters they care about with passion
    • Ask the right questions that nobody else dares to put forth or thinks about
    • Challenge the status quo

    The biggest mistakes you can make at this point are to:

    • Choose compliant influencers with large follower counts without looking at other engagement metrics
    • Impose specific messages and perspectives to these influencers instead of asking them to challenge your perspective

    Apart from that, the right influencers:

    • Own a particular niche, such as travel, wellness, or fin-tech.
    • Can persuade other influencers, not just a larger audience. From that perspective, the best target audience is the one that can convince different, smaller groups.
    • Posts consistently, helping your brand stay at your audience’s top of mind.

    How do you choose the right influencers?

    • Ensure those content creators you’ve found align with your target audience, brand, and goals. If you are in the world of NFTs, finding relevant influencers for your campaign can be difficult. So, it is better to work with an NFT influencer marketing agency to find and engage with the most suitable influencers for your brand.
    • Choose influencers with a high engagement level. Micro-influencers represent a great choice, as they are a cost-effective way to reach your audience. Plus, their average engagement rates are higher, they create quality content, and they have credibility.
    Influencer audience reach vs. engagement rate

    This visual from Later shows how engagement rates drop when the follower count increases.

    Here are free tools to verify the quality of your influencers:

    And here are the variables you should consider:

    • Follower number
    • Comments
    • Shares
    • On-site metrics
    • Pageviews
    • Time spent on the website
    • Bounce rate
    • Number of visitors
    • Number of websites linking in

    4. Choose the Right Type of Influencer Campaign

    You need to set the campaign type according to your goals. For example:

    • Contest influencer campaigns build fast awareness
    • Discount-based campaigns increase sales
    • Value-based campaigns boost engagement

    Successful influencer marketing campaigns leverage the strategies below:

    • Product seeding: You give specific influencers free products to test, and they write about them. Gifting products is one of the most common strategies.
    • Sponsored content: Pay an influencer to feature your brand on their social media platforms.
    • Co-creating content: You and that influencer create specific content together. This strategy works well on TikTok, but you can also try it on other social media.
    • Challenges and contests: These contests are highly motivating and can produce extra user-generated content.
    • Discount codes: Mobilize your influencer’s audience to buy more of your products.
    • QR codes: Create a unique QR code and add it to the influencer's post or story so their followers can easily access the page and learn more about your product or service.

    5. Choose the Right Messages

    Once you know the type of influencer marketing campaign you want to run, choosing the right messages is essential.

    At this point, you have to think about whether:

    • You will establish a creative brief that the influencer has to follow or:
    • You’ll give more creative freedom to your content creators

    In the first scenario, you’ll have more control over the creative process, but the content your influencers publish may sound too salesy.

    The second alternative means relinquishing some control for more natural-sounding social media posts.

    Pro tip: In this case, you can use our UGC Studio to partner with the top 1% of influencers on social media that create authentic user-generated-like content.

    Creator studio in Inbeat
    Source

    6. Choose the Right Channels

    Each audience is on a different (mix of) social channels.

    You and your content creators have to be where those people congregate.

    For some, this is Instagram. For others, it would be TikTok or YouTube.

    Why is that important?

    Because the content will look differently depending on the channel:

    • YouTube allows you to explain your product’s characteristics and benefits in more depth.
    • TikTok is best for short social media content – funny, relaxing, or incredibly powerful.
    • Instagram can help you reap the best of both worlds thanks to the lengthy-enough videos and right-side descriptions.

    7. Set up the Contract

    You need a solid contract to ensure your campaign runs smoothly.

    You need your micro-influencers to stick to the plan and deliver the agreed-upon content. You also want your content creators to be satisfied with what you offer them.

    The contract should include details such as:

    • Payment method, time, and deadlines
    • Briefing materials
    • Expected deliverables and social channels
    • Content deadlines
    • Approval process
    • Contract length
    • Copyrights
    • Exclusivity clause
    • Cancellation policy

    You can download our time-saving, ready-to-use influencer contract template and influencer creative brief template.

    8. Track and Monitor Results

    It’s vital to track and evaluate micro-influencer campaigns carefully.

    We already told you that many marketing managers and digital marketers are apprehensive about this point.

    But if you’ve set the right KPIs according to well-thought campaign goals, you shouldn’t have any problems.

    Here are some strategies you can use to follow your campaign’s performance:

    • Instagram’s tools. Seeing as the micro-influencers’ preferred platform is Instagram, you’re probably using this channel, too. There’s no reason you shouldn’t also use its tools. You can easily track their performance as each micro-influencer uses the “paid partnership” hashtag.
    • Trackable links. Tracking your links allows you to centralize all of your influencers’ posts. That way, you can evaluate all the numbers and see the campaign’s success.
    • Promo codes. Putting a unique discount code on each influencer’s post will tell how many people have converted using each code. That way, you’ll know how many sales your influencers generated.
    • Google Analytics. This tool allows you to quantify traffic increases from a new market, which is tough unless everyone uses hashtags and trackable links in GA4 reporting.
    • Task management tools. To run effective marketing campaigns, you need a tool where you can skim through all data and determine what needs to be done and what is already in process.
    • UTMs. These codes help you track the traffic generated through a post. This strategy is usually used for more expensive products people don’t buy after seeing the first recommendation.
    • inBeat tracking software. inBeat is an influencer marketing agency that identifies your KPIs and automatically tracks each of your influencers’ performance. Besides, inBeat organizes all the types of content created by Instagram and TikTok micro-influencers. You will get overall influencer marketing campaign metrics, top performance, and one-click reporting to make your life easier.
    An Instagram screenshot of one of inBeat's campaign showing a branded hashtag and a promo code.
    An example of an inBeat influencer marketing strategy with branded hashtags and a promo code.

    Pro tip: Influencer tracking software is a powerful tool for easy reporting.

    9. Whitelisting & Paid Media

    Double down on your top-performing creators, and amplify their content through whitelisting.

    Whitelisting implies influencers have advertising access to run paid media on Facebook and Instagram about your brand.

    These paid ads complement the user-generated content created about your brand.

    The main advantages are higher visibility and recall, ultimately leading to more conversions.

    Streamlining influencer partnerships at scale requires implementing automated project management tools.

    Robust project management tools centralize workflows, provide real-time tracking, and enable seamless content usage across channels.

    How to Collaborate With Influencers – 6 Tips for Success

    If you want to collaborate with influencers, you must follow the tips below:

    1. Do Your Research

    • Know who you’re reaching out to and what their interests are.
    • Make sure they can fit your brand and audience.
    • Ensure these content creators have high engagement rates and beware of phony followers. Our free fake follower checker will help you sleuth them out instantly.
    • Check who they’ve worked with before. Make sure they don’t represent anyone whose profile or values might clash with your brand.
    • Research their work ethic. Make sure they can deliver the desired results in the timeframe you need.

    2. Keep It Personal

    • A generic message is more likely to be ignored. Instead, try to bond with your content creators.
    • Ask for their input regarding your product, the packaging, and brand communication.
    • Ask for their insights regarding your audience.
    • Try to keep those suggestions in mind.

    3. Offer Something Of Value

    What can you give them in return for their help? Consider:

    • Monetary incentives
    • Access to exclusive products and events
    • Recognition
    • The chance to make a difference for a value or an ideal they believe in

    4. Be Clear About What You Want

    You need an influencer agreement to make everything as clear as possible:

    • Goals
    • Type of campaign and messages
    • Deadlines
    • Payment
    • And all other expectations, rights, and obligations

    5. Build A Relationship

    Take the time to get to know your content creators. Whether you’ll work with them in the long-term or just on a one-time project, remember:

    Influencer relationships are everything in this world.

    If you do not build that closeness, your content creator won’t be able to convey your intentions to your shared audience.

    And you’ll get a glorified ad instead of compelling content with a high potential of becoming viral.

    Here’s how to strengthen that relationship:

    • Build rapport by engaging with the influencer’s content
    • Offer something of value (e.g., a discount, exclusive access, or behind-the-scenes content)
    • Consider gamification to ensure your influencer stays motivated to create the content you need
    • Be patient; building relationships takes time, so don’t expect results overnight

    6. Be Professional

    Influencer partnerships are still business transactions, so act accordingly.

    Yes, you need to build that relationship, but professionally.

    Your content creators aren’t your besties; they are your business partners and/or employees. So, treat them as such.

    Make sure your interactions help with/lead to:

    • Social listening
    • Content creation
    • Goal reaching

    Brands Using Micro-Influencer Marketing

    We’ve featured several examples of micro-influencers throughout this article.

    Now, let’s see how inBeat-helped brands are leveraging micro-influencers:

    1. Greenpark

    In the case of Greenpark, inBeat Agency leveraged micro-influencers across various niches to boost brand awareness and create high-quality content.

    The brand faced the challenge of launching a new app, for which it needed not only to generate awareness but also to attract new users in a cost-effectively.

    This task was made more daunting competing with larger industry players with significantly larger budgets.

    The key was differentiating their ad creatives to offer a superior consumer experience that would stand out.

    Source

    Our influencers developed unique user-generated content that was performance-driven and capable of outperforming competitor content, thus ensuring more efficient cost-per-thousand impressions.

    A notable strategy employed in this process was the scaling of day-parting campaigns, which were strategically scheduled two hours before and after game times.

    This approach reduced the cost per acquisition and attracted a higher-quality audience likely to retain interest in the app.

    The results of these efforts were remarkable.

    Within just three weeks, Greenpark was able to triple its budget while still maintaining its target cost per install.

    Genomelink tackled the challenges of rising customer acquisition costs, exacerbated by creative fatigue and the demands of content-hungry platforms like TikTok, alongside tighter cost per acquisition targets set by the leadership amid tough economic conditions.

    inBeat Agency implemented a comprehensive creative strategy to combat these issues by increasing creative throughput. This approach was designed to constantly refresh content, preventing creative fatigue.

    Source

    The process involved developing an ongoing creative production system, ensuring a pipeline of 5-10 performance-based UGC videos at all times.

    This strategy was predicated on the understanding that a higher volume of video variations would enhance the chances of content going viral, increasing overall campaign success.

    Results: Within just three months, the average customer acquisition cost decreased by threefold.

    Moreover, establishing an ongoing creative production and testing system enabled Genomelink to scale its advertising budget to six figures monthly.

    3. Phone Loops

    Phone Loops has hired a slew of micro-influencers to advocate for its easy-to-use system that keeps your phone steady while taking selfies.

    These content creators first aimed to normalize the device.

    After all, using this attachment to avoid clumsiness may have been perceived as uncool by the younger generation.

    That’s why we at inBeat cherry-picked confident, fashionable micro-influencers across platforms.

    Secondly, the aim was to create desire in that these loops were perceived as necessary and in-demand.

    Micro-influencers showed that phone loops are easily matched with any outfit, stylish, and hip.

    Source

    The constant flow of content increased the brand’s visibility, memorability, and desirability.

    4. NielsenIQ

    Nielsen IQ embarked on an ambitious project to enhance global customer acquisition by generating multilingual content across more than 15 countries, covering regions such as Europe, North America, LATAM, and Southeast Asia.

    The initiative aimed at recruiting panelists for their website and app, all while adhering to the dual objectives of maintaining low customer acquisition costs and achieving high volume.

    inBeat Agency’s solution involved the onboarding of over 100 international UGC creators, influencers, and actors to produce content in various languages and accents.

    This was achieved through innovative techniques like employing voiceover actors and creating video mashups, allowing for the generation of multiple international content variations from single video pieces.

    Source

    Results: Nielsen IQ successfully managed a seven-figure budget across all targeted countries on multiple paid media platforms, including TikTok, Meta, and Google.

    This comprehensive approach led to successfully implementing a performance-based content strategy, coupled with an effective paid media customer acquisition strategy across all 15 countries.

    5. Mogo.ca

    Mogo is a financial app mainly aimed at Gen Z.

    The brand wants to educate and empower the younger generation other than telling them the best bank account for teens to save money.

    People can use the app to invest, save, plan their budget and contribute to protecting the environment.

    Mogo managed this with a slew of influencers.

    Carter Sullivan, for example, has posted YouTube content showcasing in detail how the app works and, more importantly, its benefits.

    However, Mogo also used TikTok content.

    6. Thera Ice RX

    Thera Ice is essentially a sleeve that people can use to alleviate muscle pain, such as post-workout soreness.

    inBeat collaborated with several influencers across platforms for this, including Carla and Larry, a famous TikTok couple.

    Their videos depict scenes from their otherwise everyday life, with challenges, joys, and a good dose of humor.

    The couple’s TikTok clip on Thera Ice RX has over 200,000 views because everyone can relate to post-workout soreness and because the couple is so genuine about sharing their life advice online.

    @thecarlawhite If your muscles get soar like mine feel free to check out the link in my bio. Use code LARRY15 for 15% off. #workouttips #weightlosstips #TheralCERx #painrelief ♬ Work Out (Talkbox) - Adam Tahere

    Side note: Notice the discount code we used to monitor purchases following these influencers’ recommendations.

    7. TS Shampoo

    TS Shampoo is another brand that inBeat worked with.

    This organic shampoo is made with natural ingredients that help promote healthy hair.

    Thus, we had to choose trustworthy influencers across tiers that could honestly showcase these advantages.

    @heyzulai is one of them.

    As a mom of a 7-month-old at the time, she experienced post-pregnancy hair loss first-hand.

    Thus, her post was genuine and helpful to an audience going through similar difficulties.

    After discussing the shampoo’s benefits at length on her Instagram post, @heyzulai offered two more incentives:

    • The prize giveaway was hosted by TS Shampoo, and:
    • The discounted link in her bio to purchase the product.

    Of course, that link was used across influencers for campaign monitoring purposes.

    How to Scale Micro-Influencer Marketing

    Financial management becomes crucial as your influencer partnerships evolve.

    Influencers and brands alike must navigate budget allocations, campaign expenses, and revenue tracking efficiently.

    Pro tip: This is where tools like Empower come into play.

    Empower offers comprehensive financial management solutions that can significantly aid influencers in keeping their finances in check, ensuring they can focus more on creating content and less on financial stress.

    For a detailed look into how Empower can streamline the financial aspect of influencer marketing, consider reading this Empower review.

    Now that you’re here, you know why micro-influencers can be the backbone of your content marketing campaign.

    You also learned how to find, connect, and work with them.

    What happens after onboarding, though?

    Organization happens.

    Managing your micro-influencer campaign effectively is essential.

    That’s why you need online software and tools to:

    • Set goals/objectives
    • Communicate with your content creators by using CTI, email, or other means
    • Monitor the campaign

    The tools you’ll find most helpful are:

    • Google spreadsheets to keep track of what’s happening
    • Type Form to build engaging polls
    • A cold email system to send bulk messages
    • Facebook groups and Instagram DMs to brainstorm

    Also, remember that getting in touch regularly with your micro-influencers is essential for your campaign.

    On the one hand, you’re showing your interest, and on the other, you’re reminding them about their contractual obligations.

    Besides, some content creators may get overwhelmed or disregard deadlines.

    As such, you have to set clear expectations but also be there to support your partners.

    Alternatively, if you're new to this, consider using inBeat because we can help you with organization, monitoring, and communication from A to Z.

    The combination of specialized SaaS tools provides flexibility and is more efficient than all-in-one enterprise solutions.

    We can schedule a complimentary consultation at any time to discuss your goals and see what the logistics would entail.

    And to really hone your strategy, review the influencer marketing trends that seem to be catching wind:

    The influencer marketing industry will continue to expand in 2024 because your audience trusts other real people’s recommendations.

    Influencer marketing trends are evolving, and you have to follow them to keep that connection you have with your loyal audience.

    Besides, these new trends will help you forge your way into new markets, expand your business, and increase your ROI.

    TL;DR: 2024 will focus on quality, authentic content enhanced by new features like AI and virtual reality.

    The challenge lies in leveraging these trends effectively. Services like inBeat offer solutions to navigate these trends effectively.

    1. Hybrid Events

    The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us how much we like the virtual world.

    Therefore, virtual events are becoming increasingly popular on all social media platforms.

    The truth is, some people prefer to stay inside.

    In 2024, companies will have to adapt to hybrid events, aka in-person meetings with well-organized digital components for people at home.

    2. Artificial Intelligence

    AI will help you in 2024 with top-notch technology that streamlines influencer marketing.

    Imagine this: you want to start an influencer campaign, so you’re sifting hashtags on Instagram and TikTok.

    You’re analyzing profiles, reading posts, and double-checking comments to ensure they don’t have fake followers.

    This will take weeks if you don’t work with a marketing agency.

    But Artificial Intelligence can do all that work in minutes, thanks to generative AI and novel language models.

    You can even produce high-quality AI art in moments, and you don’t need to have skill or experience in graphic design to get great results, like with an AI logo generator where users can now create stunning designs effortlessly.

    That means you can speed up the process of:

    • Finding micro-influencers
    • AI content automation
    • Creating AI-generated images
    • Researching about your competitors and target audience
    • Assessing your campaign messages across all social media channels
    • Evaluating performance
    • Improving your marketing strategy
    Influencer search tool by inBeat

    Online marketing tools, such as an influencer database, are of tremendous help.

    3. Podcast Influencers

    People don't just listen to podcasts to stay busy.

    Podcasts discuss essential info for a specific target.

    So, if you want more successful campaigns in 2024, add those podcast influencers to your paid media mix.

    The audience you’ll reach is high-income, educated, and purchasing products they hear about on podcasts.

    4. Better Contracts

    As marketing professionals and influencers become more educated, their contracts will become more nuanced.

    Moreover, having a free project management software is a must to make the process even more precise and accurate.

    Make sure you have solid contracts for your influencer collaborations; our free influencer agreement template and creative brief template are great time savers.

    5. Social Themes

    Equality, diversity, and inclusion are poignant themes that will be reflected even more in 2024’s influencer marketing space.

    People worldwide strive to create an inclusive culture, and companies will follow their lead.

    6. Live Shopping

    Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest allow companies to organize live shopping events.

    You should harness this trend, too because:

    • You can see your ROI increase before your eyes because you create FOMO and desire.
    • You can evaluate tangible campaign results.
    • You can rank your influencers and their messages according to the sales they produce.

    Pro tip: Platforms like Amazon (integrated with QuickBooks) and Facebook promote real-time shopping events, increasing ROI and enabling tangible campaign evaluation.

    7. Live Content

    People are social creatures, so they need online communities.

    Although your friends can’t share all of your interests, you can find several communities that support you.

    Harness the LIVE stream trend and allow your influencers to interact with your audience.

    You can use this feature on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and Pinterest.

    8. Longer Micro Videos

    TikTok allows social media users to create longer, 3-minute videos.

    Instagram will also allow longer video Stories.

    This transition from short-form video content allows your influencers to create more in-depth posts.

    That will engage your audience even more because uninterrupted entertainment consolidates storytelling better.

    9. All-encompassing UX

    Instagram added two new exciting features this year:

    • An audio feature so that people can seek and save songs they like
    • A map feature with different businesses

    So, when creating content guidelines for your influencers in 2024, ensure you include these features as well.

    Evidence shows that people want an inclusive user experience on each social media platform instead of using different engines.

    10. More Ecommerce

    People are becoming more attached to ecommerce.

    Many companies create a seamless buying experience that replaces in-store shopping.

    People can now search for, look at, and virtually try on different products from the comfort of their homes.

    Think of all the social media algorithms that show people the products they’re most likely to love.

    Now, use these to your advantage.

    Hire influencers who can make people love your products and direct them towards those products.

    Your audience should find pertinent info and easily purchase anything they want from any post your influencers create.

    11. Augmented Reality

    Social channels increasingly employ AR, from Snapchat Filters to apps that age you or allow you to talk as different animals.

    As a result, people expect to see that AR in your influencer marketing campaigns.

    You, too, can leverage virtual reality in your influencer marketing campaigns through:

    • Targeting a larger audience
    • Virtual testing phases
    • Interactive content
    • Promo codes

    For example, you can allow customers to test your clothes or make-up in VR.

    People can also immerse themselves in virtual reality to look at different devices on all sides or try them during an interactive story.

    Imagine creating an online shop.

    People can put their VR on, enter your store and have a lifelike shopping experience, like China’s Alibaba planned since 2016.

    Well, Amazon and other social platforms will soon hone these features, so keep an eye out for them.

    An example of a virtual reality online shop project in China, showing hologram graphic elements inside a real store.
    Source

    12. Influencer Collaborations

    Influencer collaborations are becoming a thing on various social media platforms.

    In 2024, you can harness different app functions that allow your influencers to:

    • Work together from distinct accounts
    • Reach and share audiences

    The purpose, of course, is to amplify your brand content.

    For instance, Instagram allows users to:

    • Co-author posts and Instagram Reels
    • Share their pictures on other people’s Instagram Stories

    13. Long-term Partnerships

    Brands are looking to make their relationship with influencers long-term.

    Because, let’s face it, looking for and selecting the right influencers is a tedious job.

    Besides, when you find someone capable of producing value-driven content, you try to keep that person for as long as possible.

    As a result, one-off contracts will become increasingly scarce in 2024.

    To be honest, we’re surprised it didn’t happen sooner.

    After all, loyal communities imply long-term relationships based on mutual beliefs, shared language, etc.

    All that can’t be built with one-time sponsored posts.

    14. Bigger Screens

    Mobile apps are climbing their way up to larger screens.

    Just consider TikTok’s partnership with Amazon Fire TV.

    That means your influencers will have to produce longer videos with better images and deliver high-quality content.

    How can you leverage this influencer marketing trend?

    Just consider live tutorials.

    If you’re selling make-up or clothes, your audience will love to see how to use these on a larger screen.

    Your customers will want to see influencers cooking with your products if you own a food-selling company.

    Practically, the world is your oyster!

    15. More UGC

    User-generated content is becoming more pervasive across all social media channels.

    Brands ask regular people to post content about their products or company using specific guidelines, and it works.

    The graph below shows people's trust in UGC over traditional media.

    A graph showing user-generated content is trusted more than traditional media.
    Source

    User-generated content is deemed as more trustworthy.

    For example, people are now used to:

    • Post pictures (e.g., within a particular place or using a particular product) as part of different contests
    • Answer different questions or write in-depth reviews
    • Use hashtags
    • Repost brand content
    • Come up with intriguing product ideas or strategies

    How can you integrate UGC with influencer marketing in 2024?

    • Give precise guidelines to people who want to create and disseminate brand-related content.
    • Make sure your influencers engage with those users.
    • Hire influencers that create original UGC following your guidelines but with enough flexibility. That way, your influencers will use their creativity and insights to create unique content. This content is highly trustworthy, so it ultimately generates more sales.

    16. Local Targeting

    In 2024, your influencers will have to target more local audiences. This strategy, proximity marketing, is very successful.

    People identify more with local influencers.

    Research shows that proximity is a critical factor in attraction; as a result, local influencers have more appeal in their geographical location and can trigger more sales.

    Here’s what you can do:

    17. Memes

    Memes have a substantial rhetorical impact on people because they are quickly understood and relatable.

    Micro-content, with its bite-sized format and clever visuals, further amplifies the persuasive power of memes in capturing attention and shaping opinions.

    Besides, memes short-circuit rational thinking because they’re based on visual arguments, so people tend to agree with their messages faster.

    That’s a gold mine for brands.

    Influencers who can create meme-based content for your brand will help you:

    • Create trust and authority
    • Show people that you share their values
    • Talk to that community using their language
    • Build a stronger community
    • Sell your products faster

    If your influencers are really talented, they can turn your entire brand into a meme.

    Take “Netflix and chill,” for instance.

    Thanks to it, Netflix has become the number one association in people’s minds when you say the word “streaming platform.” Even people who don’t have Netflix know exactly what this brand is.

    There’s a catch, though.

    Your influencers have to use the right memes, or your brand will become the subject of mockery on the entire Internet.

    That’s what happened when McDonald’s used the “say no more fam” meme format incorrectly and got laughed at for trying to be hip.

    18. CGI Influencers

    Many influencer marketing experts struggle to find the right influencers.

    It’s tough finding people who share your values, audience, language, and mindset and are willing to work for you.

    Luckily, a savvy team of programmers and social media experts can create the influencers of your dreams.

    UGG, Prada, and Diesel have already partnered with Lil Miquela, a robot social star with over three million followers, to attract more people and gain more customers.

    A screenshot of digital influencer Lil Maquela's Instagram feed.

    Lil Miquela’s Instagram very much looks like an actual human’s feed.

    19. Employee Influencers

    Employee influencers will become more prominent in 2024 because they:

    • Produce informed UGC based on their unique insights
    • Have credibility and expertise for your audience

    As such, employee influencers can trigger more sales.

    Macy has hopped on this train since 2018, and its program produced terrific results, including better sales and a tighter relationship between the company and its employees.

    Kickstart Your Micro-Influencer Marketing Campaign

    If you have read so far, you now understand how an effective influencer marketing strategy can help you and how you can build a campaign from the ground up.

    Remember that it’s essential to establish your campaign goals and pick the right influencers.

    The rest will follow if you stick to the tips in this article and enforce the lessons from the examples we reviewed.

    Need help to start?

    Try inBeat for free, or book a strategy call to start working on that campaign today.

    Our team will help you connect to the right influencers for your brand and handle your entire influencer campaign.

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