What is a Micro-Influencer? They’re Small, But Mighty

Every year it seems the blogosphere creates a new industry term. Mommy bloggers are now parenting experts. Food bloggers are now recipe creators. For 2018, the breakout industry term has been: micro-influencer. Even Forbes magazine projected micro-influencers are the future of marketing. We’ll break down what a micro-influencer is, what they do and why it’s a term the marketing industry needs to embrace.

Are you a Micro-Influencer?

Small, Dedicated Following

A micro-influencer is a content creator with a smaller, often dedicated social media following. You can find various definitions online that describe a micro-influencer as one who has less than 20,000 followers on social media.

Compared to celebrities who have millions of followers, that may seem insignificant. But we’ll dive deeper into why micro-influencers are still influential and effective for marketing purposes.

Local Influence

Think of a hyperlocal blog or resource you rely on. Its overall reach may not be huge, but it has a reliable local focus.

A micro-influencer can have a targeted local following on one or all of its social channels.

The Network Niche has worked with members of our community to cover hyperlocal events in Chicago, Atlanta, and New York City.

RELATED TOPIC: Best Cities for Bloggers for Events and Brand Relationships

As an influencer, it’s important to include your location on your social media profiles and your media kit. Local PR agencies and family-friendly attractions often target hyperlocal bloggers to cover events or create an ambassadorship.

Targeted Niche

When we think of a blogging niche, some of the most popular ones are parenting, crafts, food, and fashion.

In terms of a micro-influencer, they often have an even more specific niche like autism advocacy, green crafting, gluten-free recipes or plus-sized fashion.

We recently completed a campaign with American Standard  (#AmericanStandard) where our influencers created content about bathroom upgrades with the Spa Let bidet. They shared the cultural and religious reasons that this product was important for their families. Their stories went deeper and provided more perspective on the brand’s connection to their lives.

Our community members are sharing their cultural & religious experiences thanks to a client collaboration with #AmericanStandard . . . @Regrann from @mommyweek – (#ad) Have you ever used a bidet? I know most of you know by now that my family is Muslim. But did you know that as apart of our faith we have to cleanse ourselves with running water after using the bathroom? 💧For years my family has been using your standard watering can for this purpose. I’m so excited I’ve upgraded to the new, much nicer @american_standard SpaLet bidet! It has so many features and basically changed my life in the bathroom. On the blog I’m sharing my personal story and all of the details on my new bidet! Link in the bio 💦 #AmericanStandard

A post shared by The Network Niche (@thenetworkniche) on Aug 13, 2018 at 2:42pm PDT

Higher engagement

Even though a micro-influencer has an overall smaller following than a celebrity or a big name blogger, they often have higher engagement.

If a micro-influencer gets 20 comments on a Facebook post, that’s still better than a celebrity’s Facebook post that resulted in no comments.

For brands who are looking for a target return on investment (ROI), working with a micro-influencer may be an effective way to reach your goals.

Comment below: Do you embrace the term micro-influencer? Have you been approached by brands because you are a micro-influencer?

Click to tweet: Are you micro-influencer? Here’s why you should embrace the term. Read “What is a Micro-Influencer? They’re Small, But Mighty” via @TheNetworkNiche

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