To know your prey, you have to stalk your prey. Like a leopard, you will need to learn the habits of the gazelle. Which watering hole do they frequent, when, how often, which one is older and slower, and what is the best angle of attack?
Sorry if this analogy is a bit gruesome for animal lovers, but you can’t ignore the marketing strategy needed to obtain and retain clients. Suppose a leopard chases after every single gazelle or antelope it sees. In that case, it will quickly fatigue and become easy prey for another animal.
Similarly, if you start blindly running ads, printing flyers, and paying influencers with no real strategy for efficiency or a realistic ROI, you will join the graveyard of failed businesses. Know your customers. Where do they live (cities and neighborhoods)? How old are they? What social media platforms do they use? How do they typically go about seeking your services?
These questions may seem daunting, and you may not initially have all the answers. Still, now you have a place to start, and you can observe your current customers with a keen eye or, if possible, ASK YOUR CURRENT CLIENTS.
- Here’s a few helpful tools to automate the process. My steps below are FREE and EFFECTIVE, but spending a little money on the below tools could speed up the process.
- Collabstr – Influencer Search Tool
- Hype Auditor – Review Influencer Analytics
- Influencer Marketing Hub– Influencer Recruiting Service
Don’t be afraid to ask your existing customers how they found you because this information is GOLD. It will make your current question easier to answer…
How do you find micro-influencers for your brand? Search for the product or service you sell on social media and find pages with at least 2k followers but no more than 50k. These pages talking about your industry will be potential micro-influencers you can use to promote/advertise your business.
For example, I launched a micro influencer campaign for my catering business though micro influencer content. I searched for ‘Foodie’ pages on Instagram and TikTok. I typed in searches like “AZFoodie”, “PhoenixFoodie”, and “AZCatering” to find the pages my potential customers were following.
Essentially, I was hiring modern-day food critics who gained a following via social media instead of magazines or newspapers. We are trying to reverse engineer how customers find businesses like yours. In my case, potential customers were finding restaurants, caterers, and venues with those search terms on social media.
6 Effective Steps to hiring your first Micro Influencer
● Choose a platform and search for your industry
● Pick the top pages/accounts with less than 100k followers
● Analyze activity on their page
● Review their engagement on their 5 most recent posts
● Send them a message and introduce yourself
● Strike a deal
A micro-influencer provides flexibility, affordability, and reliable results. Micro-influencers with 15k followers and brand deal experience can help you gauge the success of your marketing campaign. They can provide insights from their previous collaborations with other companies. They can share insights from working with other businesses in the past.
There are three indicators of an effective micro-influencer. 1st is a close relationship with their following. You can see this in the comment section if you see people in the comment section speaking positively about the influencer and testifying to their excellence. 2nd, They create unique content for every brand they promote.
A great example is Donut Media, which makes unique and engaging commercials for the brands it works with. I recommend avoiding micro-influencers, who are little too phony when posting paid promotional content. You can see this by checking the likes and comments.
If their remarks drop by more than 50% on sponsor posts, their audience may see them as phony. A good micro-influencer can demonstrate the benefits of working with them. They can provide marketing materials and proof of their skills. * A bonus if they can provide you with recommendations or feedback about your product or service.
Step 1: Choose a platform and search for your industry
Our primary goal is to find the right types of influencers to promote for you influencer marketing campaign.
The first step is to search for the type of product and/or service you sell on social media (Facebook, IG, TikTok, Linkedin, and YouTube), which are all acceptable platforms. When looking to increase your pool of potential micro-influencers, it is important to search for 2 or 3 platforms that cater to your specific niche.
For example, if you are in the landscaping industry in Phoenix, you might search for platforms such as “Landscaping Phoenix” or “Best Mechanic Phoenix”. By focusing on platforms that are relevant to your industry and location, you can find influencers who have a strong following and engagement within your target audience.
This will help you to connect with influencers who can effectively promote your brand and products to their followers. Additionally, by diversifying your search across multiple platforms, you can increase your chances of finding the right influencers who align with your brand values and goals.
Step 2: Pick the top pages/accounts with less than 100k followers
Once you find pages about your industry, you will need to check their number of followers. Anything between 2k and 50k followers is acceptable. You can go higher, but their rates will be more expensive; if you go too low, they may not want to work with you. Surprisingly, some people are okay with not making money with their social media.
Avoid mega influencers or macro influencers who have over 100k followers.
Step 3: Analyze activity on their page
Find 5 to 10 accounts and check their three most recent posts. They should have at least two posts within the last 30 days. Sometimes social media influencers take a mental health break, and go months without posting.
A break from social media will slow down the momentum of your brand awareness. The true power of micro influencer is being able to producer higher engagement rates
Step 4: Review their engagement on their 5 most recent posts
Check at least 6 of their most recent posts and review the comment section of each post. Ideally, the page has at least 10 to 15 comments, but the more they have, the better. This step confirms the micro influencer has an engaged audience and plenty of user generated content.
Step 5: Send them a message and introduce yourself
Send them an email or Direct Message. Both are acceptable, but email is preferred. Briefly tell them about your business, your location, the product or service you want help selling, and their rates. (You can also download my free template to reach out to micro-influencers)
Step 6: Strike a deal
If they are interested, then it’s time to strike a deal. Give the micro-influencers a clear description of your media strategy, target demographics, ideal conversion rates, and what you want their followers to know about your business.
*Bonus. Do not worry if the page does not have any brand deals or collaborations yet. If the small influencer is happy to work with you, they might be willing to negotiate on the price. You could also give them free products or services in exchange for a review.
**Double Bonus. If you want to share secret information with an influencer, have them sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). This can help protect your business and control what they say about it. For example, if you own a restaurant and want an influencer to film in your kitchen, an NDA is important.
The right Micro Influencer for your brand is out there.
The best micro influencer to hire is going to be the micro influencer who values your brand or service. It’s easier to promote a brand you enjoy, than to promote the brand paying a little more. Money talk, but so do actions and principles. Don’t get discouraged about working with micro influencers, you just have to find the right influencer in your budget.
Remember, social media marketing via influencers has little to no regulation. You are paying an entity to endorse or review your product, so there is no guarantee of the results you will get. A highly professional micro-influencer or influencer can provide you with estimated engagement and reach.
After that, there are a lot of other factors to consider. Quality of content posted, quality of offer/discount, perceived quality of your product or service, and how easily it is purchased.
Please don’t think any influencer other than Keith Lee has the magic to change your fortunes overnight. It will require multiple micro-influencers to see significant and sustainable growth over a month or two.