How to Boost Your Brand Awareness with Nano-Influencers

For many brands, influencer marketing has quickly become an important element of their overall marketing strategy. Many marketers mistakenly believe they will achieve greater success by working with well-known influencers. However, by working with nano-influencers, you can get your brand in front of narrower niche audiences — audiences that are therefore highly targeted — at a lower cost.

"Nano-influencers" have, by definition, few social media followers — generally fewer than 10,000, although this varies. Many of them focus on less mainstream subjects, products, and causes. They therefore have a highly engaged audience that actively seeks relevant, precise content relating to their interests.

Although nano-influencers work across a variety of social media networks, they are most commonly associated with Instagram. In this article, we will focus primarily on Instagram influencers.

In addition to being cost-effective, a nano-influencer can help your brand gain visibility as it grows and expand your audience. Let us explore how…

The Different Types of Influencers

There are three common types of influencers: mega-influencers, micro-influencers, and nano-influencers. Let us look at the differences between these three types.

Mega-Influencers

Mega-influencers have 100,000 followers or more, and many of them are celebrities and other well-known public figures. Because their advertising rates are generally high, they primarily partner with major brands. As a result, they are out of budget for most businesses, but they do allow large brands to reach the greatest number of people possible.

Micro-Influencers

Micro-influencers have between 10,000 and 100,000 followers and are considered subject-matter experts (SMEs) or key opinion leaders (KOLs) across a variety of topics, industries, and niches. They are likely to have a more engaged audience than a mega-influencer. Moreover, micro-influencers are more likely to cultivate genuine relationships with some of their followers. On the other hand, they can also charge considerable advertising fees for partnerships.

Nano-Influencers

Nano-influencers generally have between 1,000 and 10,000 followers, although some have even fewer than 1,000. Their audience is typically small and highly invested in a particular niche. Sometimes, nano-influencers may have followers within a local community. At other times, they simply serve a very targeted niche audience.

Why Work with Nano-Influencers?

Nano-influencers have the most engaged audience and the highest reach rate among all influencers. Partnerships are not as costly — indeed, some work with brands in exchange for free products, without asking for additional compensation. In this case, it is possible to partner with several simultaneously and thereby raise awareness of your brand even more widely.

Audiences who follow nano-influencers have generally chosen to do so for specific reasons. There is therefore a higher level of trust between nano-influencers and their community. The community may regard them as a reference on a whole series of topics, generally within a specific niche. Nano-influencers have an engagement rate of 5.6%, compared with 2.43% for micro-influencers and 1.97% for mega-influencers.

Given the very high trust factor and the limited audience, nano-influencers also benefit from the highest engagement rate on their platforms. According to HypeAuditor's "2019 State of Influencer Marketing" report, these smaller influencers have an engagement rate of 5.6%, compared with 2.43% for micro-influencers and 1.97% for mega-influencers.

Generating impressions costs less when you work with nano-influencers because your investment is low and their engagement rate is very high. If your brand occupies a unique niche, you will also have a strong chance of finding an influencer among them who aligns with your brand, product, or service.

If your brand operates in a more mainstream topic or sector, you can also partner with a nano-influencer. You may be able to find influencers who have a unique approach or perspective on your sector. Perhaps they also target a specific audience to whom you want to present your product.

How to Work with Nano-Influencers

To begin working with a nano-influencer, the first step is to reach out and establish a connection. Check their Instagram profile to find out how to get in touch with a view to a partnership. Often, they will provide an email address in their profile or indicate whether they accept DMs. Some influencers refuse to be contacted via DM, so pay close attention to their bio.

When you communicate with your influencer, enquire about the terms of the partnership. Some will accept free products to review in exchange for an occasional post in their Instagram feed. Others will ask for a nominal fee per post.

According to MarketingProfs, nano-influencers charge on average around €50 to €100 per post. If you are a small brand or a start-up, nano-influencers are an excellent choice as you can work with them at a lower cost. They are also perfectly suited to brands looking to grow. In the world of influencer marketing, they represent the best way to get value for money.

Here are some examples of influencer marketing strategies you can implement for your brand:

• Offer your influencer partners free product samples to review on their account
• Encourage user-generated content, then reshare it
• Sponsor giveaways via one or more of your social media channels
• Offer your influencer an affiliate link or a discount code to share with their followers for special offers and reductions
• Recruit nano-influencers as long-term brand ambassadors in exchange for free products
• Pay for sponsored posts

Be sure to draw up a contract setting out your agreement with the influencer. It should cover terms such as remuneration, post frequency, and repurposing permissions. You will need to ensure you have permission to reshare the influencer's sponsored posts about your brand online (social media, websites, email, etc.).

Give your influencer partners guidelines on how you would like them to present your brand, but do not dictate the content of their posts. Nano-influencers perform at their best when you allow them to bring their own perspective to your product or offering.

To Summarise

If you are looking to partner with influencers to grow your brand and raise its profile, working with a nano-influencer could be an excellent approach. This type of influencer marketing strategy is not only affordable — it is also likely to introduce your brand to a devoted, engaged audience.

Freely translated from English: article Elegant Theme