Today I would like to talk about micro influencers because there’s so many people trying to become social media stars, Instagram models, the next big fitness guru, etc.
However, there are some things you should know before diving in and trying your hand at micro influencing.
Here today I will teach you how to become a micro influencer and how to PROPERLY use your following and make a healthy income in the process.
Without further ado, lets get right into it.
What is the Definition of a Micro Influencer?
The definition of a micro influencer is a person with 1,000 – 50,000 followers on any given social media platform.
But just because you have a big follower base, doesn’t mean that you are “somebody”.
To be a somebody that brands want to partner with and continue coming back for more, you need to know how to properly utilize your audience.
Successful micro influencers tend to have a very loyal following who will buy everything they promote or mention.
The definition of a social media influencer is:
Someone with a huge audience that can influence the buying decisions of others
That’s the biggest difference between an influencer and someone with lots of followers.
If you have 20,000 followers and can persuade them to buy your offer or recommendation, you can make more money than someone with 500,000 followers that cannot get any engagement.
So how do we build an audience that will actually do as we say?
Lets look at the most important things.
How to Become a Successful Micro Influencer
1. You Need a Niche
There is no ifs, no buts.
A niche is something very important, especially now that every man and his dog is trying to get their slice of the pie.
Building a niche allows you to target a specific audience that are interested in your work.
If you’re posting fitness content, giving advice on the stock market, showing people how to bake a cake, and everything else about life, you are not going to make it far.
This is called a general niche.
It’s way too hard to influence your audience if they don’t even know what you’re about.
So choose something that you want to teach others about.
I recommend doing something that you’re already good at. It’ll show through your posts and people will trust you more.
Being all over the place is a bad idea. Niching down to target a specific audience will make a huge difference.
2. Be You, Don’t Copycat
Be you, don’t try and put on a persona because people will eventually see that it’s fake.
The best thing you can do is be yourself.
That way you can be natural and don’t have to try and be someone else all of the time.
Even if you’re not an expert, being in a niche that you know a little about is 10 times better than being in a general niche.
And honestly people follow you for your personality.
Some might not like you but a lot of people will. They might like your personality, your mannerisms, the color of your hair, your voice, your humor, or all of the above.
Don’t sweat about anybody not liking you.
Can you become an influencer without showing your face? It’s possible.
The ones that don’t will leave and the ones that do will become loyal followers. They are your true fans.
3. Add a Twist
Instead of flat-out copying someone else’s idea you can draw inspiration from them and add your own twist.
People come into problems when they copy others and don’t even mention their name, as if it’s their own idea.
This is downright bad practice.
You’re better off drawing inspiration from others in your niche and adding a twist. That way you’re less likely to receive bad publicity.
4. Post Consistently
Look at your competitors and see what they’re doing.
They’re probably working harder than you. Those that work harder achieve more, that’s a fact.
No one gets lucky in this game, and if they do, it doesn’t last long because they weren’t offering much in the first place.
If you post consistently you are getting in front of more eyes, more people will follow you and the faster you will grow.
It’s a snowball effect. The start is the hardest.
When you have 50,000 followers or more, that’s when you can start to slow down and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
But starting from the bottom means you need to work harder than everyone else.
Also use hashtags to your advantage. People searching up “chocolate cake recipes” will have a better chance at seeing your post because of your hashtag, rather than stumbling onto your page and finding it.
5. Keep Engagement High
Engagement is the key to any successful influencer.
Like I said, you can have 20,000 followers and make more money than someone with 100,000 followers.
The difference is who has the most influence.
Who can persuade their audience to do what they say by recommending a product?
It’s the person with the most trust.
How can you increase engagement?
- Have a niche and build your brand around it
- Post consistently (at least once a day when first starting out)
- Spark interest to get people to comment. Storytelling is good for this
- Reply to comments
- Choose the right hashtags
- Have a good title and description
- Ask questions in your description
- Don’t be boring
- Encourage shares, likes and comments
- Understand your audience
The last one is highly important. Understanding your audience is a surefire way to fame.
When you know your audiences wants and needs, you can post things that trigger their emotions.
They’ll feel like you understand them and they’ll trust you more and more.
Getting Brand Deals
Right now all you need to worry about is getting your social media following up and building that almighty trust.
Use the tips I mentioned above to maximize your efforts.
However, there comes a time when you can bank in on your efforts and start getting sponsorships and make money.
You can reach out to brands manually, they can come to you, or you can join influencer marketing programs and wait for them to contact you.
All of these work, but know that waiting for a brand can take a very long time.
In the early stages when you have at least 3,000 followers you can start making money off of sponsorships.
Some say 1,000 considers you a micro influencer and brands will consider you, but I don’t think this is enough.
If we’re going to do it we need to do it properly.
We need to make sure the company makes money so that they’ll keep coming back for more deals.
You can’t really do that with 1,000 followers.
So all you need to focus on right now is choosing a niche, being you, posting consistently, and keeping that engagement high.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I build on all social platforms or just one?
I highly recommend sticking to one platform and owning it.
Building a loyal following is hard enough as it is.
You have a better chance of making it by sticking to one social media platform and owning that sucker.
Once you’re successful on one you and move your audience to other platforms.
How long will it take to grow a loyal following?
Well that all depends on your efforts and how bad you want it.
The most successful people are the ones that actually want to help their audience and make a change, so keep that in mind.
If you truly believe in something and you want your message to be heard, it will show through your posts and you can grow really fast.
But that’s the difference between someone who has a message and those that just want money.
You need to be for the people, not yourself. Money will come as a byproduct.
But to answer this question – it can be anywhere from a few months to one year.
Why would brands pick micro over macro influencers?
Here’s the thing.
Brand deals sometimes have to wait months to get their product or service in front of others because everyone’s fighting to partner with the big influencers.
However, micro influencers can promote their company much faster and for a cheaper price.
Plus micro influencers are usually more targeted, providing a better ROI for the company.
Basically they get more money in return for their investment.
How much can I charge for a brand deal?
A good rule of thumb is $100 for every 10k followers.
So if you have 50,000 followers you can easily charge $500.
Some of the more popular influencers like celebrities can charge much more, sometimes up to $20,000 for one post!
But of course that’s for another day. Today we’re talking about micro influencers only.
In Conclusion
Well that’s the lowdown on micro influencers and how to really maximize your chances of getting brand deal after brand deal.
I’ve given you the step-by-step blueprint and now it’s up to you what you want to do with this information.
I guess the final question on your mind is:
Should you go ahead and pursue your dream of becoming an influencer?
Or is it too much work?
Of course you should.
Being an influencer is really fun and can change your life.
There is so much you can do with a loyal following, so it’s definitely recommended.
Not keen on being an influencer? Check out my #1 work from home opportunity. It’s what I use to make 4-figures per month consistently since 2016!
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Brandon
My name is Brandon and this is my website. I'm just a normal guy that had dreams, dreams that would keep me up at night because I wanted them so badly. Now I'm living my dreams of being an influencer and making a good living doing so. Broke Influencers is another of my creations where I teach people how to get rich being an online influencer, or die trying. There is no in between.