What Is a Micro-Influencer? Benefits for Brands and How to Choose

“We don’t have the budget for a famous influencer, but we want people on social media to know our product.” When we hear this, working with micro-influencers is often one of the options we suggest.

Micro-influencers are creators who may not have huge followings but are trusted within a specific genre or area. This article covers what micro-influencers are, the benefits and cautions of working with them, the campaigns they suit, and how to choose and approach them.

What is a micro-influencer?

A micro-influencer has a relatively small following and, because of that, a closer relationship with their followers. Many of them post consistently about one genre, such as food, beauty, parenting, fashion or games.

Influencers are sometimes grouped by follower count into “mega,” “mid,” “micro” and “nano,” but there is no fixed number where “micro” begins. Since the categories differ by company and media, we recommend thinking about who they reach and how, rather than drawing lines by numbers.

We also cover the basics of influencer marketing in our article What Is Influencer Marketing?.

Benefits of working with micro-influencers

Easy to reach exactly the people you want

Micro-influencers usually have a clear genre, and their followers are people interested in it. They are a good fit for products and services with a clear target, such as “people looking for cafés in this area” or “people who love this kind of game.”

Received like a recommendation from someone close

Because they are close to their followers, replies to comments and conversations in Stories are often part of daily life. When they introduce a product as an extension of their usual posts, it feels less like an ad and more like a recommendation from someone close.

More angles by working with several people

Working with several micro-influencers instead of one big influencer produces posts with many different angles on the same product. You can compare which angles got the best response, which gives you more clues for the next campaign.

Easy to build ongoing campaigns

Instead of a one-off post, it is easy to set up ongoing campaigns, such as monthly store visits or a post for each new product. When the same person introduces you repeatedly, followers are more likely to remember you.

Points to watch out for

There are also points to watch out for when working with micro-influencers.

• Each person’s reach is limited, so they may not suit campaigns that need large awareness all at once
• The more people you work with, the more communication, product shipping and post checks you need
• Expression and quality can vary, so share what you want conveyed and what rules to follow at the start
• Check not only follower counts but also engagement on usual posts and who the followers are

Also, disclosing that a post was requested by a company is required regardless of follower count. The disclosure rules are summarized in our article on the stealth marketing regulation.

Campaigns that suit micro-influencers

Micro-influencers are often chosen for campaigns like these:

• Campaigns to bring local customers to restaurants or shopping facilities
• Introducing products where hands-on impressions matter, such as beauty, health or parenting
• Building buzz through many people’s posts before an event or product launch
• Spreading the word in fan-driven genres such as music or games

At nicoichii, for the ongoing PR of a café in Umeda, Osaka, we cast Osaka-based influencers every month to share the café’s appeal through Instagram feed posts and Stories. See our Works page.

How to choose micro-influencers

Choosing micro-influencers is basically the same as choosing any influencer. On top of that, it helps to check the following points in particular.

Fit between their usual posts and the product

Look at the themes and tone of their usual posts and consider whether your product would fit in naturally. An introduction far from their usual content feels out of place to followers too.

How they interact with followers

Comments and how they reply show their relationship with followers. Accounts where comments like “Where can I buy this?” or “I want to go!” are common tend to draw interest in products they introduce.

Where and when they are active

For local stores and events, it is important to choose people who live in or often visit that area.

For how to choose people, see our article on how to choose influencers.

From request to post

1. Decide the campaign goal and who you want to reach
2. Find micro-influencer candidates who fit the goal
3. Reach out with the request, posting timing, disclosure rules and any secondary use
4. Arrange product shipping or visit schedules
5. Check content before posting and get the numbers shared after posting

When working with several people, every step from finding candidates to checking posts has to be done for each person. If that is hard to handle in-house, you can leave it to a casting company. What a casting company can do is covered in the benefits of hiring a casting company.

Talk to nicoichii about working with micro-influencers

Micro-influencers suit products and services with a clear target, and working with several of them lets you show your appeal from many angles. On the other hand, choosing people and communication add up, so it is important to choose people who fit the goal and decide how to proceed at the start.

nicoichii supports everything from casting influencers and talent to checking posts and summarizing results afterward. Details are on our Marketing page.

Even if you are just at the stage of “we want local customers to know us” or “we want to try with a few people first,” that’s fine. If you have questions about micro-influencers or casting, feel free to reach out via Contact.