Micro-Influencers Are Using This Epic Strategy to Get #Sponsored

Have you ever wondered how micro-influencers make bank speaking to small audiences?

More and more brands are ditching top tier influencers and choosing to work with micro-influencers with niche audiences. Why? You may ask...engagement, misleading practices and a new generation of social savvy creators. 

A major advantage for new influencers in Miami is the South Florida Blogger's Union. This free community exchanges ideas to help creators have a better overall experience. President Paola Mendez spoke at the very first Flourish Media Conference at Florida International University all about Facebook Ads. Since then the algorithm has changed...heck the algorithm might have changed since you started reading this! 

Request Our Free Facebook Ads Checklist

Engagement 

Followers, likes, and views aren't enough anymore. Now brands are looking at your engagement. "When I get media kits, I don't even look at followers anymore, I go straight to engagement. I want to see how many comments you have. If you have 100K followers and less than 1K comments, we cant's do business." - @nemartinezz

Engagement is the name of the game. Brands need to know what they can expect from your partnership. That means telling them who, what, where, when and how your audience likes to receive content. You are in a power position because you understand your small community better than anyone. If you have a strong Instagram double down with your #tribe. Use every inch of the platform to find out what converts the best. You should be able to tell the brand if you get more engagement from IG Stories, posts or highlights. 

Brands are looking from quality, not quantity. An engaged community of 2K is more valuable to a brand then 20K who won't convert into clients or customers. [PIctured: @vivianolo at South Florida Bloggers Union July Meetup]

Misleading Practices

Have you ever seen a profile with tens of thousands of followers, no comments, and very little likes? I think we all have and I think you know where we are going here. When you are new, it may seem like the easy way out but purchasing followers is a big no-no. First buying your audience gives you a false representation of what your audience enjoys from you. This can make it harder to grow your page. Bots don't care if you are traveling the world or sharing great DIY tips and bot won't buy from brands who want to sponsor you. 

The same logic applies to buying existing pages. Yes, this is happening. In case you didn't know there are business models built around building social media pages and then selling them to the highest bidder. These scale-n-sale pages do great in the beginning but all those followers didn't come to see you so there is a major risk that many of them will unfollow when you start sharing your content. #BuyerBeware. 

Epic Win for Savvy Creators 

The big questions for creators with small audiences are:

How do I get sponsored?

Who should I speak to?

What are they looking for from me?

Yes, you really do need a media kit, an engaged audience and statistics. You already knew that. What sets these top-earning micro-influencers apart is collaboration.

Get to know other creators in your niche and come up with a plan. "The easiest collaborations are when the influencers approach me with an idea and plan. They make it easy to say yes." - @stephanuseche

If you know three influencers in the same niche contact them and create a campaign where ALL THREE of you promote the same brand at the same time. Doing this accelerates your reach. Now the brand has three groups of hyper-engaged communities.

Check out this awesome flyer. One collaboration four brands. What you don't see in this flyer is the over 30 influencers who attended or the seven additional brands that benefitted from this event by offering special items and discounts to the influencers who attended. By using collaboration bloggers with relatively small audiences now have access to partnerships with major brands.

Who are other passionate creators in your niche that you could be collaborating with? Flourish Media works with micro-influncers to help them turn likes into revenue. If you are looking for help building your brand start with our free branding guide.