What are micro-influencers and why they matter to your retail operations

Today’s retailers must compete with the stores down the street, as well as with sellers from all over the world. Succeeding in this milieu involves modifying your strategies to accommodate the changes in sales tools and shopper behaviors. 

Not so long ago, harnessing the complete toolkit contained in your store’s retail POS system was priority number one for most entrepreneurs. Now that this knowledge is ingrained in your sales model, it’s time to embrace the latest trend: micro-influencer marketing.

What is influencer marketing?

Now more than ever, it is vital that you find innovative ways to connect with your customer base. 

Collaborating with micro-influencers, i.e., personalities who have anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 followers on social media, is fast becoming one of the most effective ways to accomplish this goal.

As compared to macro influencers, these social media figures have a much smaller fan base. Consequently, they can foster more intimate relationships with their followers. 

As is the case with their higher-profile contemporaries, they make an impact by endorsing products or services, frequently promoting them through the use of compelling images, videos, unboxings, and other types of demonstrations.

How micro-influencers can revolutionize the way you do business.

Micro-influencers might have a limited reach as compared to their macro and mega counterparts, but their reach should never be underestimated. The benefits of using influencers with smaller followings are very real, for retailers of all sizes.

The fact is that when you partner with a micro-influencer, you gain instant access to their own group of carefully curated followers. 

As long as their specialized niche is compatible with yours, you can organically bring these people into your brand’s circle, leading to profits for you and added access to desired products for them.

You will find that launching a relationship with a micro-influencer is more cost-effective than many other methods of advertising, particularly radio and television ad campaigns. 

What’s more, you will be sharing insights about your goods and services with a customer base that has already demonstrated an interest in your specific offerings, thanks to their pre-established relationship with the micro-influencer. 

This type of campaign represents a much more economical and efficient use of your financial resources.

Your new customers will already be motivated to engage with your brand. This should lead to greater success when you launch new promotions and sales.

Since micro-influencers are more affordable than many other types of marketing campaigns, you can also potentially engage more than one. For example, you could hire one to collaborate with you to focus on customers in a specific geographic area. 

Another could be your partner as you work to sell a particular product line. As a result, your brand’s message can be amplified across more channels and to a greater number of customers.

Never underestimate the power of the influencer with whom you choose to collaborate. This person has not accumulated thousands of followers by chance. They have worked hard to develop their own unique persona and creative engagement strategies. 

When you link your business to theirs and introduce yourself and your products to their loyal followers, you can take advantage of their savviness when it comes to trends, as well as their expertise and product awareness. This takes a good deal of the burden off your shoulders when promoting your own merchandise.

How to find the perfect micro-influencer.

As you look into this marketing option, it is important that you work hard to find the right influencers with whom to partner. After all, you and they will be publicly connected, and what they say and do, as well as their message and tone, will have a direct effect on your own store’s reputation. Therefore, seek only influencers who align closely with your target audience, as well as your brand’s mission and values.

Your first job is to identify the market you are targeting, including demographic details, interests, preferences, and pain points. You can gather this information with customer surveys as well as tools like Google Analytics or social media insights.

Special influencer discovery platforms are available to help you find the best match. Options such as AspireIQ, Upfluence, and Traackr allow you to search by several helpful criteria, including geographic area, engagement metrics, follower numbers, and more in order to connect with compatible options in their large databases.

Social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok have creator marketplaces that help you to search for compatible micro-influencers. They use valuable metrics such as performance indicators, engagement rates, and details about their audiences and content, as well as keywords and hashtags.

You also need to see how well your chosen influencer has done in past campaigns. Pay special attention to ROI and engagement metrics to compare several different influencers, choosing the one that best gels with your brand, values, and goals.

Next, take time to dive into the influencer’s content. Look to see that it is visually appealing and original, as well as consistently relevant to both their message and your own. 

Concentrate on how the influencer interacts with other companies to get a good idea of how your relationship might work. Engagement metrics like shares, comments, likes, and saves are concrete barometers of their actual level of influence on their audience.

Draw a bead on the influencer’s content to make sure that it is authentic and not generated by bots or paid followers. Tools like HypeAuditor and FakeCheck can be invaluable assistants in determining whether a candidate’s followers are inaccurate or artificial.

The next step is to make contact with the micro-influencer. This conversation should express how you believe your content and message mesh with theirs, and emphasize how establishing a relationship could be mutually beneficial. 

Be clear and transparent in all respects, including your expectations about content, posting schedule, messaging guidelines, and anything else you deem important. Specify the exact nature of the compensation you are prepared to offer, including monetary payment, free products, etc. You might even offer a trial period in which both of you can assess your compatibility.

Many companies have already come to appreciate the benefits that collaborating with micro-influencers can bring. Since these partnerships can make such a difference in how your brand and merchandise are perceived by your specific customer niche, incorporating this innovative marketing strategy into your own business model can be a game-changer that jump-starts your store’s success.