3 Steps to Run an Effective Micro-Influencer Campaign on a Budget

You can’t attend any conference or event without hearing the term, “influencer.” It’s been integrated into the marketing industry as a must-have strategy. When done well, you can see incredible results.

The following blueprint has been tested and proven! Whether you’re looking to grow more followers, or raise awareness and interest in an upcoming event, follow the steps below to create your very own micro-influencer campaign - all with a budget under $100.

So, who really are influencers these days?

YOU are! If you have over 100 followers, congrats you are a nano influencer! Influencers have been classified into different categories over the years.

Nano: 100+ followers
Micro: 1000+ followers
Macro: 100k+ followers
Mega: 1M+ followers

Many people tend to focus on working with the “Kim Kardashians” of the world with millions in reach, so why work with nano or micro-influencers? Authenticity, cost, and engagement. Usually, the higher the follower count, the lower the engagement rate. When accounts have large followings, it’s no longer close friends, but random people who are following for a multitude of reasons. When you have a smaller following, you’re much more likely to see a stronger engagement rate.

Think about the last hair product you tried, place you traveled, or Netflix show you watched. Who influenced your decision? Most likely a close friend.

Nano and micro-influencer campaigns have a more direct impact.

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First thing first: GOALS.

What are your goals for launching this campaign? Some examples could be:

  • Increase meaningful followers.
  • Increase the overall engagement of your social channels.
  • Raise awareness of your brand or cause.
  • Expand the demographics of your current audience

Think through what goals are important to your business. What would you like this campaign to help you achieve?

Now, break down those GOALS into numbers.

What does success look like? Before you even start the campaign, align your goals with measurable KPIs. Again, some example questions to ask yourself are:

  • What % increase in followers is ideal?
  • How many influencers would you like to partner with?
  • What are your engagement metrics now vs. what you’d like them to be?
  • How many pieces of content would you like published?
  • Are you trying to generate some type of conversion?

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Set yourself up for success.

It’s possible to run a campaign manually, but there are amazing tools out there that are extremely reasonable to help you setup, monitor, and track your campaign.

SproutSocial: I use SproutSocial to schedule all of my social content, respond to community comments, and track analytics across all of my social platforms. One of my favorite features is the ability to understand and compare my audiences on each platform. When creating an influencer campaign, this can help you understand the right content and messaging for each channel. You can even do a 30-day free trial!

SocialRank: If you’re looking to run a Twitter influencer campaign, SocialRank does an incredible job finding and analyzing your Twitter audience. It’s low cost at $40/month with no long-term subscriptions. Check it out here!

PeopleMap: I love this tool! PeopleMap was designed as an Instagram marketing tool by Puno, who is also the founder of ilovecreatives.com. PeopleMap allows you to analyze your IG audience and search for like-minded people via hashtags. You can setup a campaign and track the metrics all within this tool. It’s brilliant AND only $20/month. Sign up here!

Now it’s time to get to work!

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Step 1: Know your strategy and what you’re asking for.

You have your goals, know what success metrics you want, and have the tools setup. Awesome! Before you even start researching people to reach out to, think through what your ask is. What do you want them to post? Have you created a custom hashtag and key messaging for them to use?

Tip: In today’s content craze, it’s always better to ask for someone to create content for you instead of asking them to share pre-created content.

Step 2: Research and select your influencers, and set up the campaign.

Depending on the platform you’re planning to launch the campaign on, use SocialRank and/or PeopleMap to research your followers by using their filters to create your ideal list.

Tip: After you have your list, DM each person with a CUSTOM message to see if they’re interested in participating. If you receive a positive response, then ask for an email address to send further information.

Step 3: Track, analyze, and send thank you notes.

Once you’ve sent the emails outlining the ask and received confirmation of their participation, it’s time to watch the stats roll in! In your People Map dashboard you’ll see estimated metric ahead of time and then updated stats as the posts are published.

It’s incredibly important to send a thank you note and gift, if possible. In your email outreach, ask for a mailing address so you can surprise them with some branded swag or special gifts. People want to feel apart of something. Include metrics of how successful the campaign was!

Dana Bakich

Dana Bakich is the CEO and Founder of Positive Equation. Positive Equation is a social media consultancy with a mission to equip purpose-driven businesses with the resources and tools necessary to build impactful digital strategies.