The biggest obstacle for brands is finding the right micro influencer for their product. And it has been and still is the case that cooperating with celebrities and big influencers is the path of least resistance – potential candidates can be quickly identified and contacted, and on top of that, these people also have a good image and a large reach. But if you are in fact looking to get the maximum out of your marketing efforts, then unfortunately it is not that easy.
Anyone looking to be more target group-orientated by working with multiple micro influencers will have to invest more time and effort. A poorly placed product comes across as unnatural and in the worst case may lead to negative headlines and an unintended comedic effect. To give an example: Many followers will undoubtedly be bemused if a picture of sports equipment suddenly appears in the middle of an account’s long stream of architecture photos. As a result, this could lead to the image and reputation of both the micro influencer and the company involved being harmed. There is also the danger that inadequately characterized sponsored posts bring about negative attention.
Above all, micro influencer marketing has to be sustainable. Anyone who carefully and deliberately chooses their micro influencer or influencers can benefit long-term from such a collaboration. How do you even go about linking with the right contacts these days in the jungle that is the social media in Web 2.0? Admittedly, the search for celebrities and big influencers, who can be identified through their number of followers, through their ‘influencer score’ (how authoritative their online presence is), or with the help of other online tools, is altogether a lot easier than trying to find micro influencers. But luckily there are several promising possibilities for doing this – and they are definitely worth the effort in the long run.
1. Look for potential micro influencers among your own followers and then contact any eligible individuals. Ideally you will find someone who is already familiar with your brand, knows the product, and has maybe even posted something to do with your brand in the past.
2. Use hashtags in ways that are effective and relevant. Useful hashtags have two decisive advantages when it comes to micro influencer marketing. Firstly, they act as a way of keyword indexing consumers, allowing for a comprehensive analysis of target groups. The second advantage is that it’s very easy to identify the interest in particular hashtags, their reach, and finally the respective individual who sees themselves as a micro influencer. These factors make hashtags an effective research instrument.
3. Use the filter options of research tools. These are especially useful if your account happens to have a lot of followers, making a manual search almost impossible. Many tools also offer a lot more than just the possibility of finding and identifying the users with the largest reach. For example, the tool Brandwatch Audiences gives detailed information regarding influencers and audiences. More information on social media monitoring tools can be found in our digital guide.
4. Specialized micro influencer agencies also provide further opportunities in this area, as they bring micro influencers and brands together. Both profit from this relationship: the influencers can remain active and focus on themselves; the agencies can focus on making connections with brands and potential collaborators. This in turn means that a high level of thematic relevance can be achieved, i.e. brands can find users that are genuinely interested in their products, so that these users only receive suggestions for campaigns that are actually relevant to them.