The influencer marketing industry has become a billion-dollar industry. Brands are understanding that they don’t necessarily have to only collaborate with people who have millions of followers. However, they can connect with smaller-scale creators who can be just as effective.
What’s better engagement or followers?
Influencers that have a smaller following usually have a niche audience that they are appealing to. It can be anything from organic makeup to inspirational shirts for business owners – and the followers are usually more engaged with their content. Businesses are seeking smaller-scale creators to be brand ambassadors, and this how it works.
Usually, influencers are paid a fee to promote a product, service, or brand. However, there is no financial reimbursement, they are usually given free products and inside access to the brand. Lastly affiliates sit in between receiving cash on a commission basis for sales they send through their custom link.
You want to keep in mind that your customers can be converted into brand ambassadors as well. On one of my personal Instagram accounts, I received a message from a clothing brand. The let me know they like my following and would like me to be a brand ambassador for their brand. I’m always down to grow my brand so I replied that I’m interested. They then sent me a link telling me how it works. From that I was able to see that all they wanted me to do is take a picture with their clothes and post in on my page while tagging them on the post. That was easy. Now for me to get their clothing they gave me a 50% discount code for their site. As I thought about it, I seen the genius in their process. I get a discount while shopping on their site which is good for me. They still receive orders from my purchases, and in return I would expose all my followers of their brand by tagging my post with the company, all while giving me clout for being a brand ambassador.
It was a genius process! They were ok with my 10k followers because they knew they could get me to influence my loyal following and expose my followers to this new clothing brand. Brands take on a lot of ambassadors with the goal to be part of the conversation of multiple social communities. I see your gears turning thinking about how you can leverage a micro-influencer, and that’s great!
What to keep in mind
As you think about small-scale influencers that you can collab with you’ll want to keep in mind that ambassadors are business owners to. They have a unique code or link that allows you to track what sales or leads they are sending to you. So, you want to look for influencers that understand how to monetize their content and knows what their audience likes to see.
You’ll want to make sure the niche audience of the influencer fits the demographic of your product or service. Give the influencer the room to be creative, but also keep in mind that they are representing your brand as well. As you explore the small-scale influencer strategy make sure you start small and scale slowly. Allow yourself room to totally master your process so you can smoothly bring on other ambassadors.
The social exposure game is all strategy and make sure you’re exploring moves that will help benefit your business and effectively grow your brand. If. You would like to sit down for a short brand consultation make sure you contact us and let’s have a conversation about steps that can be taken to grow your brand.
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