The Lion's Den

Micro Influencers On Instagram in 2023

Influencer Marketing
Micro Influencers On Instagram in 2023

In the world of influencer marketing, social media users with millions of followers get the most attention. It makes sense — more followers means a bigger audience for your sponsorship if your brand does a deal with one of those influencers. But is working with the most famous influencers always the best option for your brand?

A major prediction about influencer marketing trends in 2023 is that more and more brands will turn to micro influencers. Let’s break down what exactly micro influencers are and why you might choose to partner with them.

What Is a Micro Influencer?

A micro influencer is someone with a relatively small follower count, typically between 1,000 and 100,000 followers on a given social media platform. By comparison, a “macro influencer” has somewhere between 100,000 and one million followers. Any influencer with more than one million followers is considered a mega influencer. 

There’s no exact science to these categories, but they do help broadly sort influencers into groups that brands can (and should) treat differently. 

As for who is a micro influencer, the answer is lots of different types of people in many different industries. Something micro influencers have in common is that they’re generally focused on a specific area or niche. Their audience usually regards them as a specialist or expert in that area or industry.  

What Are the Benefits of Working With Instagram Micro Influencers?

Working with micro influencers instead of influencers with bigger followings has several benefits for brands including:

Better Engagement Rates

One question about influencer marketing that comes up often is, “how effective is influencer marketing?” The truth is that no two influencer marketing campaigns are created equal. 

A high engagement rate is one of the key differences between a strong influencer marketing strategy and an unsuccessful one. That’s a major reason brands choose to work with micro influencers — they have higher engagement rates. 

In other words, you can expect your sponsored post on a micro influencer’s page to get a higher ratio of likes, comments, clicks, and shares relative to their follower count. If you want your influencer marketing campaign to really pack a punch, utilizing the higher engagement rates of micro influencers is one method to try. 

Greater Authenticity

As influencer marketing has grown more popular, it’s become increasingly common for high-profile influencers to work with managers or other professionals. This practice can lead to questions about how authentic these influencers really are. 

Micro influencers are another story. They are real people who are typically sharing their own posts, engaging with their audiences, and creating authentic content on social media platforms

But why should brands care?

This authenticity pays off for brands who work with micro influencers because the audience is more likely to see the sponsored post as a real endorsement — a recommendation they can trust.  82% of consumers report being very likely to follow a recommendation from a favorite micro influencer.  

Lower Costs

If you want to take advantage of the power of influencer marketing but don’t have a big budget to work with, micro influencers could be the solution.

No one has an exact answer to the question, “how much should micro influencers charge per post?” The cost per post depends on many factors including the industry and the type of content that you’re asking the micro influencer to create. That said, working with micro influencers is generally much more affordable than partnering with celebrities or high-profile influencers. 

To put it in perspective, celebrities and mega influencers can charge as much as $75,000 or more for a single Instagram post. Micro influencers, by contrast, generally charge less than $500 per post

Targeted Audiences

It goes without saying that if you’re trying to reach the widest possible audience, working with micro influencers isn’t the best option. However, if you have a smaller, more specific target audience you want to reach with your influencer marketing campaign, micro influencers are the way to go.

Even though micro influencers have smaller audiences, their followers are typically very interested in the influencers’ specific niches. 

For example, say you’re trying to promote a new video game. Rather than reaching out to any influencer with a large following, you could connect with several micro influencers in the gaming space. Their followers are probably gamers themselves, and more likely to respond positively to your brand’s sponsored post. 

How Can You Find Instagram Micro Influencers In 2023?

There are micro influencers on every social media platform out there. Micro influencers on Instagram are some of the most popular partners for brands, but you can create effective campaigns with micro influencers on text-based platforms like Twitter, too. 

As for how to find micro influencers on Instagram, one option is to simply search your niche on the platform using an Instagram hashtag search. A better option, though, is to utilize an influencer marketing platform like Lionize.

Lionize can find the perfect partners for your brand — including micro influencers — and run your influencer marketing campaign for you. We take the work of influencer marketing off of your plate, so you can focus on other tasks. Book a Discovery Call today to see how Lionize’s influencer search tool works. We are happy to answer any questions you may have.