HOW TO BECOME A MICRO-INFLUENCER IN 9 STEPS (OR LESS)

With all the hype online about having millions of followers and growing your social media following, anyone would think you had to have this to have an influence or an impact.

However, that is simply not true.

With the rise of micro-influencers (more on that later), it’s possible to grow a very successful business and profile with the type of engagement others only dream of without hundreds of thousands (or millions) of followers.

It’s called being a micro-influencer.

Every year new words get thrown around and added to the dictionary, so you may not be familiar with the term micro-influencer, but they are fast becoming the new IT things in the social media stratosphere.

And they can do wonders for your business, brand and growth when it comes to getting yourself out there more.

So what is a micro-influencer, exactly?

Well, there’s been a huge increase in brands and businesses using “influencer marketing” over the past few years, however, the term micro-influencer is relatively new – and everyone wants one or wants to be one.

It’s something that is definitely in reach for you – even if you haven’t considered it until now.

‘Micro Influencers’ are defined as “everyday people with a decent following… more than 3000 followers on their Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, which usually revolves around a particular passion or niche.” (Tribe, 2017)

It doesn’t matter what subject – there’s a micro-influencer for every topic you can think of.

Micro-influencers work because they build rapport with their audience and their audience trusts them.

Why you should become an influencer?

So what exactly are the benefits to being a micro-influencer? Let’s take a look:

• You can choose the clients you work with and the jobs you take on.
• People with influence actually have a certain power others don’t possess and more opportunities come to them.
• You get to have an impact on the world and people around you.
• More people will buy from someone who is influential, especially on social media.
• There are other certain perks, like incentive programs for influencers too (some financial and some non-financial).

Remember, influencers are trend setters and will direct impact people buying decision.

The statistics speak for themselves and it’s worth some more research on your part. Just know… the return on investment is high.

TOP STATISTIC: The ROI has helped make influencer marketing a $1 billion industry on Instagram alone and has led nearly half of marketers surveyed to say they’ll increase their influencer marketing budgets in 2018. (mediakix.com)

So, are you ready to dive in and put some time and effort into influencer marketing?

How you become an influencer online in 10 steps

1. Choose your speciality

It’s your job as an influencer to create social circles and while typically micro-influencers groups might not be of massive proportions, they will be tight-knit. That’s the power a micro-influencer wields. Be the expert among your friends, family, colleagues and then take on the world.

2. Have a plan

The same rules apply for all forms of content, even influencer marketing. You need to have amazing content with a strategic twist. You will need to work with the people whose products you are talking about, come up with your own set of rules and also know what your audience wants (and needs) from you – on every social media platform you spread yourself and the products and services across.

3. Create amazing content

The second step to this plan is to make sure you are creating really valuable content, even though it will be “influential” and somewhat promotional – it still needs to have an impact on those who are consuming it.

Follow your favourite influencers, Instagrammers and social media stars and look at what they do and how they do it. Become a really great writer and speaker so you can produce all forms of content including social posts, blogs and videos.

4. Get your platforms in order

The same rules apply for your online presence as for any “business”. Micro-influencers must treat this form of marketing like a business of sorts. You’ll need a personal website, blog and social media platforms. Choose the platforms you will focus on, grow your list and build you following.

Make sure you have real relationships and connections with your audience and followers.

Whatever product or service you are talking about, make sure you post it to your website and/or your blog and then promote it on social media. Posts with links have more engagement than those without.

Know finite information about your platforms and statistics on who’s hanging out where. Do your research, make sure you are hanging out in the right places and then make sure you’re producing content that matches the platform and what your followers on that platform want from you.

Post regularly and consistently with valuable information and your audience will grow quickly.

5. Stand for something

Take a look at the influencers around the world. Go and research them. One thing they all have in common is that they stand for something.

What do you stand for, what’s the purpose for you wanting to become a micro-influencer? What does it mean to you?

Take some time to answer these questions. Your content will have more meaning and you will gain more followers.

6.Be yourself

One of the best things you can do is simply be yourself online and off. There truly is nothing worse when you meet someone you have been following online for some time, who you like and respect, only to meet them in person and find out they are different in real life to how they portraythemselves online. It breaks trust immediately. So the only solution here is to simply be yourself.

7. Talk with your people

If influencer marketing is going to be your thing, then you’ll want to influence, right? And the only way to influence is to engage with your audience.

You can do this through your content, videos are great for engagement, as well as actually talking, replying and responding to people’s messages and comments. Even if someone shares one of your posts, you should comment on it and say thank you for sharing.

It doesn’t matter what type of marketing you decided to use, all forms of marketing follow the same or very similar rules.

One of the rules is to make sure you are talking with your audience. Show them you are human and be personable. Be approachable to them so they feel connected to you.

8. Stay abreast of what’s happening “out there”

As an influencer, your job is to know what’s happening in the world, have great conversations about almost any topic and create content that is topical and timely.

Having a significant understanding of the news and current affairs will allow you to have informative conversations and also create timely content.

Creating content that educates, inspires and entertains is crucial – so make sure you are educating yourself, being inspired and having fun in your business, life and marketing efforts. This will make the process so much easier – and people will love to watch this happen before their eyes, so share it.

9.Share and share alike

Influencers are not in it for themselves. They are in it to have an impact on those around them, so if you find anything of substance and worth that your audience would appreciate, why not share it with them?

This comes with the job. Becoming an influencer is not about the metrics or “what’s in it for you”… that’s the reward that comes from you putting your audience first and building relationships with them and other influencers.

That’s how you will get long-term results from this particular form of marketing.

If becoming a micro-influencer is something you have wanted for a while or it’s just new to you after reading this post, it’s certainly something you should consider.

If it’s not for you, think about how you could engage a micro-influencer for your brand or business. It’s one of the main trends of 2018 and has already seen a huge increase in people using this form of marketing to grow their audience, leads, customer base and sales.

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