We belong to an age where your social media account defines your personality. However not everybody can reach a huge following on the different social media channel but might fit the definition of micro influencers. For this reason I have created a guide how to make money as a micro influencer.
Only the millennials know what it feels like to ‘live’ your life on social media more than in real life and not become the black sheep. The trend of social media influence gained hype in 2009 when unfamiliar names like Alfie Deyes, Zoella, and Tanya Burr kickstarted the social media influencer phenomena.
That was the beginning of the digital age, where you could be a millionaire without any talent or education. You can say that it has a lot to do with luck, but that’s not all. Being an influencer isn’t as easy as it looks on the screen, so the millions are a paycheck for all the hard work and determination behind the camera. Being a micro-influencer (the lowest degree of influencers) has major perks and money.
With that being said, it may take years to get to that point of recognition for a typical person. This guide is your ultimate savior if you’re a micro-influencer struggling to make money. This article will teach you how to make money as a micro influencer, so stay tuned till the end and watch out for the pro tips.
Most micro influencers have started with an instagram account or youtube channel thus started as a content creator. Both platforms allow it even for smaller channels that have picked an interesting niche to be successful. in the last couple of month and in specific niches there are also a lot of micro influencers successful on TikTok.
What is a micro influencer:
Micro Influencers are users of a social media platform with a lower follower count than a macro influencer. According to a definition of Mavrck a micro influencer as a follower count of 500 to 10,000 followers. Although the follower count is low, they have regularly a higher engagement rate than bigger social media accounts. Micro influencers with such an e.g. Instagram followers have sometimes engagement rates of 20% to 50% on their instagram posts.
Basics to Make Money as a Micro Influencer on Social Media:
If you’re a micro influencer (or not), below are some basic strategies you have to follow to prep your social media account. Without following the basics, you can not move to the major approaches (they won’t benefit). These strategies work-alike for all social media platforms, including Instagram, Youtube, and Snapchat.
Content Production:
The first basic strategy to gain relevant attention for your social media is to focus on content production. And not just any type of content, only high-quality niche-related, meaningful content. When brands search for micro-influencers to collaborate, the first thing they do is conduct an audit of your social media posts. This means they go through your following to check whether it’s organic or not, your captions, your comments, and the main thing, your content.
If your posts are high-quality, with bright visuals and perfect lighting, in short aesthetic, then you might get a chance from a big brand. Brands like to work with micro influencers if the niche they have selected for themself matches the niche of their product.
Thus if your social media posts and your youtube videos or your blog posts matches their niche, they are very likely to contact you. Similarly, if you’re a fashion influencer, ensure that your feed has more fashion-related content than random posts. This way, your social media will act as a portfolio to big brands who could propose you a part in their digital marketing campaigns, which would bring you to the social media spotlight.
Consistent Posting:
Consistency is the king strategy for all social media platforms. It doesn’t matter if you have thousands of followers; inconsistent posting will ruin your following. Since social media by nature has a fast pace, the content you post becomes outdated quickly.
Even if it makes it to the explore page once on Instagram, nobody will notice that afterward. Although if your content has once made it to the explore page, consistent posting will get you more brand offers. A popular way to are on the mind of brands is to publish instagram stories, so that your targeted brands are notified of new posts on Instagram. On YouTube a similar function would be to try to get the brand to subscribe to your content.
Another thing to note here is that while conducting the audit, brands look for your posting consistency to check whether you’re active on social media or not. If you’re active, your posts automatically top the home page of followers; however, if not, it appears at the bottom. Scheduling is the best method to stay consistent. Most micro-influencers create content at the beginning of the week and schedule it using different social media scheduling tools.
Audience Engagement:
Engaging with your audience is as necessary as posting consistently. We suggest micro-influencers engage with their followers as much as possible through comments rather than direct messages. The reason is that it increases the number of comments and brings your comment to attention. However, engagement doesn’t mean that you go on replying to negative in a demeaning tone. When brands and followers stalk your account, these comments appear as a highlight under the post, as the comments with the most likes get featured under the post.
Another great way to engage with your audience is by posting relatable content that could benefit any average follower. For example, a fashion micro-influencer who regularly posts content featuring top-notch brands could create a styling video that features re-styling the same outfit. This method is practically more beneficial and can get you more engagement as it is pretty relatable for many.
Influencer Networking:
Influencer networking can be a game-changer if you’ve perfected your account in the basics mentioned above. Influencer networking is a marketing approach in which micro-influencers get campaign proposals from brands through a network. When the influencer signs up, he gives away his data to the company, which forwards it to the brands.
The companies have a portfolio of e.g. Instagram influencers, thus brands like to work with them, as it saves them time researching the best fitting influencers. These brands then decide whether you’re the right pick or not. If you, as a micro-influencer, are leading the brand’s digital campaign, you will be featured on their pages (and get in the limelight) while they could benefit from your following. Hence, it’s beneficial for both parties.
Strategies to Make Money on Social Media:
Now that you know how to prepare your social media account Let’s get to the actual point. How to make money as a micro-influencer? There are endless possibilities to drive money from social media, like conducting courses and selling skills; however, they require more effort and take time. Below we have mentioned the five best strategies to make money as a micro-influencer on any platform. If you want to read about other ways to make money from affiliate marketing without a website, I have listed some in this article.
Social Media Sponsorships:
Although different social media platforms have different monetization tools and pricing policies, social media sponsorship tops the list as the easiest earning strategy on all platforms. Micro-influencers have a huge following that depends upon them for trends and advice, which creates the possibility for sales generation for sponsored brands. The procedure is quite straightforward.
Brands contact you for sponsorships, describe their product, and discuss the pay rates; all you have to do is post when the deal is locked. This post is called sponsored post and is a very popular way to make money and also for a brand to start working together with a micro influencer. So you create content featuring the brand’s product and describe your experience, plus you encourage the audience to buy it.
Among all social media platforms, Instagram pays the highest amount for sponsorships. An influencer with 2K to 5K followers can charge anything around $130 per post. But you can also create a YouTube Video that is either featured like an ad by a brand or another common way is to let a brand complete pay for the video and you as the micro influencer explain how the product works and how it is a good choice.
Brand Representation:
If you want to upscale your social media following by becoming a macro-influencer, then being a brand representative could help you in many ways while earning you decent money. Back in the days when this concept was not that popular, brand representatives used it to promote a brand for free products. Over time, this approach for marketing has gained popularity, and now influencers promote products in exchange for money or money and free products both.
You can apply for the post of brand ambassador at the brands looking for one. If you get selected, you’ll have to work out the payment process (commission-based, fixed amount, etc.), and from there, you do your regular job. However, getting an offer for a representative can be hard on your own, but if you join a brand representation network, you can get connected to brands of your choice.
Affiliate Marketing:
Affiliate marketing is a commission-based strategy that can bring you a lot of money without any hard work. This strategy encourages the micro-influencer to promote a brand or its products to its followers through its platform and integrate affiliate links into its content. It is pretty much like sponsorship, but it works on a long-term contract basis..As a micro influencer you join the affiliate programs of the companies in your niche. This is actually one of the best ways to earn money as an influencer. In affiliate marketing, the commission depends on the clicks, sales, and lead signups coming from the affiliates’ accounts.
The process starts with brands approaching you or vice versa, and then you set up a discount code or link that the brand would use to note down your orders (generated from your platform). The influencer creators engage content that would lead to sales generation for the brand, and till the time this offer is valid, you will keep getting the ratio or commission described in the contract. So all you have to do is engage and promote. You can easily get brand marketing offers if you have signed up with an influencer marketing network. How much money you can earn from affiliate marketing depends on the commission rates and the amount of clicks you receive.
Brand Collaboration:
Another way of earning passive income through social media is by engaging in brand collaborations. This is a great way to earn money, increasing followers and traffic on the account sideways. If you’ve reached that point as a micro-influencer, you are being recognized by the community no matter how many followers you have. If yes, then you have a high chance of a brand collaboration! Brands offer influencers to co-create product lines where the brand benefits from the influencer’s name and the influencer benefits from high income and great exposure to more proposals.
For example, fashion bloggers do brand collaboration with clothing brands. Now brands will launch a separate clothing line by the influencer’s name, and it will be promoted by guess who? That fashion influencer. The influencers (depending on their following rate) get to participate in the contract decisions equally as the brand. So you can put up an offer or negotiate since the brand will be making a profit from your line for a long time.
E-commerce:
If you have gained enough experience after partnerships and brand collaborations to know how digital marketing works, then launch your own products. This is a great way to add more content to your feed while starting a passive way of income. And if you think you’re not that creative with the manufacturing, white label products and add them to your line. White labeling is a method where you buy merch from an anonymous company and sell it on your own website. With vast social media exposure, you can market your e-commerce business by yourself.
However, make sure that your e-commerce venture has relevance to your niche. For example, a fashion influencer can launch an e-commerce clothing line and make passive income from the generated sales. An aesthetic website, merchandizing, and a small investment are all it takes to build an empire like Kylie Cosmetics. To get more traffic to your SEO website, you can drop the link in your bio. That helps!
Pro Tips to Gain more Traffic on Social Media:
There is no shortcut to becoming a micro-influencer, as you have to start from point zero. However, the following pro-tips can get you the traffic within a short time.
Optimize your social media bio in the best way you can by mentioning your niche and an attractive bio caption. Also, add location and current profession with a few emojis.
Follow relevant accounts; for example, if you’re a fashion blogger, then follow such accounts to get an update on the latest trends and your competitors.
Choose targeted hashtags under every post or video. All social media platforms use hashtags to promote accounts. Getting featured on the hashtags page can get you more traffic.
Every social media platform allows you to monitor your performance by utilizing analytical data. Audit your analytical data on a regular basis to check your account performance.
Collaboration with other micro-influencers of your community. The crossover of two micro-influencers will engage followers of both parties, benefitting both.
Utilize every social media platform but focus on your main account. This way, you can drive the traffic from other platforms to your main money-maker.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Below we have mentioned some of the frequently asked questions related to micro-influencers and money. Head below and give them a look if you like:
Q: How many followers do you need to become a micro-influencer?
A: You need around 10,000 to 50,000 organic followers to become a micro-influencer on different social media platforms.
Q: What are the highest-paying social media platforms?
A: Instagram is the easiest and highest-paying social media platform for micro-influencers. It is estimated that beginners with just 5K+ followers can get $350 or more for a single post.
Q: What’s the net worth of a micro-influencer?
A: There is no fixed net worth of micro-influencers. If you post more content, you get more money; it’s a two-way road.
Q: What is the highest-paying micro-influencer niche?
A: Social media doesn’t favor any niche in particular; however, the demand for travel, beauty, and fashion ranks at the top. This creates these niches competitive and highest-paying of all.
Q: Is micro-influencing a scalable career?
A: Why not! There is no retirement age in the micro-influencer business. In fact, the more followers you gain over time, the better. Plus, you might get promoted to a mega-influencer.
