You don’t need 10,000 followers on Instagram to land campaigns and sponsored posts. However, you do need to know how to leverage your skills as a micro-influencer and how they can benefit brands that come your way.
According to Buffer, a micro-influencer is someone who has less than 10,000 followers on a social media platform. Despite their intimate community, their followers are authentic with buying power. In other words, micro-influencers have built the trust of their audience up to the point that they will buy what they see on their Instagram feed or Instagram stories. This makes it easier for them to land brand deals and sponsored campaigns since brands know that they’ll see a return on their investment (ROI).
Micro-influencers aren’t just a subset of influencer marketing, it’s the most successful category.
Influencers with over 10,000 followers have less than 4% engagement rates, while influencers from 5,000 to 10,000 followers tend to have a 6% engagement rate. Mirco-influencers continue to have a higher engagement rate than both categories averaging at an 8.8% engagement rate, with some influencers consistently reaching over 10%. This means that micro-influencers are getting more clicks and purchases on their sponsored content that influencers with higher follower counts.
With that being said, it’s important to know the value that you can bring to a brand as a micro-influencer and how to leverage it while negotiating contracts and collaborations. The ball is in our court! Here are 5 sure-proof ways you can show your worth as a micro-influencer to gain access to more sponsored posts and more coins!
Create Valuable Content
When a brand comes across your content, it acts as a first impression of what they can expect in a collaboration. The content that you create speaks for you and you want it to say good things. I feel like I say this all of the time but it all starts with creating valuable content. You have to create valuable content because valuable content converts.
I’m sure you guys have come across an Instagram page or brand that has lackluster surface-level content. There’s nothing worse than a piece of content that lacks substance. You want your audience to know they will learn something new every time they come to your blog or one of your social media platforms. This goes back to my content ideas blog post where I suggested that you find out what content your audience would like to see. There’s value in creating content that tackles your audience’s pain points!
Be Consistent
If the content is Queen then consistency is King. Brands know that consistent content brings consistent coins. We can’t expect brands to pay us to create content when we can’t even consistently show up on our platforms. Imagine that you’re shopping at an online store, but every time you go back to see something new there are no updates. You’d be disappointed right? That’s why it’s important to create a consistent posting schedule. You don’t have to post every single day, it could be three times a week, or even twice a week. Whatever posting schedule you pick for yourself, stick to it, and post consistently because consistent content is valuable.
Quantify Your Value
Brands need to know that when they choose to collaborate with you they will make a return on their investment (ROI). It’s important to know what your analytics means so you can use them as leverage when negotiating with brands. Metrics like your engagement rate, conversion rate, and even analytics from your blog and social media are all important. These numbers will be deciding factors for brands and can be used as tools to negotiate higher pay. They can even help convert a gifted collaboration into a paid one.
According to Buffer, engagement rates are at an all-time low, except in the micro-influencer market. This means that brands are willing to pass over someone with 10,000 followers and a low engagement rate, for an influencer that has an intimate following with massive buying power.
For example, my personal engagement rate stands well above 10%. When I post a piece of content I have the likes, shares, comments, and saves that prove to brands my community is serious about shopping with me. As a result, I’ve been able to negotiate for higher paid collaborations though I don’t have as many followers as some of my counterparts.
Quantifying your value in ways that brands can understand leads to more collaborations and more money. Take the time to fully understand your analytics and capitalize on your strengths.
Align Your Skills with Your Client’s Goals
So you’ve been approached by a brand! They reach out to you concerning a specific project or product they had in mind and they need your help publicizing it. It’s important to think about what your client hopes to achieve with this collaboration. You should ask yourself a few questions. How can you tell their brand story? What skills do you have that can shine during this project?
It’s important that you find a direct parallel between the content you create and their product.
Here’s an example. I recently posted a video where I showed my audience how to simply repot plants. I noticed that a lot of my followers and friends were getting new plants without really knowing how to take care of them. That simple video got around 1,200 views and I had a brand reach out to me to create something similar. They loved how comfortable I was on camera and needed a video to promote a course they had coming up. In that instance, I knew that my skills in recording and editing would work perfectly for the project at hand.
If a content idea doesn’t jump out to you immediately, take the time to think about what you’ve created recently. Don’t hesitate to ask the brand what content drew them to you and what they have in mind for the project. Choose the skills that will help you shine while meeting your client goals.
Share Your Past Experiences
In the corporate world, you have a resume. In the influencer world, have a media kit. A media kit is essentially a blogger’s resume. It tells brands who you are, what you’re good at, and what type of community you’ve built for your brand. Media kits help brands decide if you can reach their target audience and promote their products. Think of it as a digital portfolio that highlights all of your accomplishments as an influencer.
I plan on creating a more in-depth blog post on media kits and how to create one, but for now, let’s talk about what to include. Here are 6 things you need on your media kit:
- A photo of You (no selfies)
- Demographics of Your Audience
- About Me Section
- Social Media and Blog Metrics
- Past Brand Collaborations
- Contact Information
That’s the basic anatomy of a media kit that will provide a quick snapshot of what brands can expect when they decide to work with you. You can utilize Canva and their resume templates to create a media kit of your own!
Now you have an entire took kit that will assist you when creating or responding to pitches. Once you can prove your value to brands you’ll be able to lock up more collaborations and negotiate for more money. As micro-influencers it’s time for us to stop feeling bad about our intimate communities and to start using it to our benefit. We have a trusted audience that purchases from us and takes our suggestions seriously. After all, that’s true influence!
What’s your favorite way to show your value to brands?
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