What are Nano Influencers and How Can You Become One
You may have heard of the micro-influencer, but have you heard of the nano-influencer? While micro-influencers have smaller followers (up to 50,000 depending on who you ask), nano-influencers have even smaller followers (as low as 500). And in the world of influencers, accounts with smaller followings are becoming increasingly attractive. Read on to learn about how to become a nano-influencer.
According to Influencive, 83% are more likely to purchase a product recommended by a micro-influencer. And another study from AdWeek and HelloSociety found that smaller social media accounts saw 60% higher engagement rates than others. Numerous other studies have noted the strong correlation between smaller social media accounts and engagement.
If you’re interested in becoming an Instagram influencer, this is all great news for you. Many wannabe social media influencers are concerned about taking an influencer leap because they don’t believe they have enough clout on their account to make it happen. But as you can see, lower follower counts are valued, and as you embark on the influencer journey, now is a better time than ever to take advantage of the community following you’ve curated.
Why You’re Valuable to Marketers
By now, companies around the world understand the power potential of influencer marketing. There are plenty of influencer marketing statistics that demonstrate this. For example, if a marketer spent $1 on influencer marketing, they would yield a $6.50 return on average. Based on this study alone, you can do simple math and assume that if a company gave you $500 for a post, they’ll receive $3,250 back.
Those are good odds; it’s no wonder so many brands are prioritizing influencers like you in their strategies. It’s important for influencers to understand the dollar potential in their worth because it demonstrates the power that influencers even nano-influencers have.
Furthermore, nano-influencers make for easy, smooth partnerships. While macro influencers tend to ask for more money and control, beginners are often satisfied with the terms of the agreement early on, and eager to get to work. As a nano-influencer, keep this in mind. You are much more approachable than run-of-the-mill influencers and have a lot to offer if you can harness that power.
“There is such a saturation at the top,”
Mae Karwowski, the chief executive of Obviously, told the New York Times.
“We’ve seen a real push to work with smaller and smaller influencers because their engagement is so high and we have the technology to work with a lot more influencers now and track and measure what is and isn’t working.”
Tips for Becoming a Nano-Influencer
Even though nano-influencers don’t have as many followers as micro-influencers, they are still in high demand by marketers. That’s why we’ve put together this list of tips for achieving influencer success.
Study Your Niche
It’s not just important to focus on an industry; instead, you should hone in on a niche. A niche is hyper-focused around a specific segment of an industry. This helps you stand out from the rest of the influencer crowd and allows you to avoid option paralysis when it comes to posting content.
For example, instead of focusing on travel, you might be interested in backpacking niche content. In this case, you’d want to study the backpacking industry. This means consuming the types of content related to backpacking and jotting ideas for future social media posts. Look at trending backpacking feed posts on Instagram, check out backpacking blogs, and watch popular backpacking videos on YouTube. Note any commonalities you see and think about how you’ll use those consistencies in your own content.
Be Your Audience
It would be difficult for nano-influencers (or any influencer for that matter) to attract marketers if they didn’t embody the philosophies they pushed. For this reason, it’s important for you to be your own audience. Be a follower of your own brand.
If you’re passionate about your industry, think about the accounts that you follow. If your own account were a third-party account, would you follow it? If not, why? Taking yourself outside of your username allows you to look subjectively at your content. If you focus on backpacking, you should be a backpacker, or at the very least have a strong, demonstrable interest in backpacking. This connection should shine through in your posts. People don’t just want to connect with an image they want to connect with the people behind the camera, too.
Get Involved In Discussions
In marketing, there’s a saying that you should go where your audience goes. Once you decide to take the leap into influencer marketing, you are essentially the marketer of your own brand, and the same advice applies to you. For instance, as a beauty blogger, you should be commenting on other beauty blogs and social media pages. On Twitter, join beauty discussions and engage in dialogue.
Less popular social forums, like Reddit and Quora, should also be leveraged to your advantage. Although these platforms are smaller and inherently not the ideal platform for influencers, they do make a great stepping stone towards gaining deeper insight and building genuine connections with other passionate people.
Engage With Your Followers
As previously mentioned, one of the biggest draws to nano-influencers is their high engagement rates. You can’t have a low follower count and low engagement if you want to be an influencer. Constantly engaging with your followers will not only make you more attractive to potential marketers but will also help you grow trust in your industry in a niche, as well as accrue more followers. The comment section is the best way to do this; simply responding to comments goes a long way. Notice how Black Milk Clothing does this on its own page:
Another way to create engagements and grow your following is to create contests and giveaways. You may have to invest a little into your brand, but this is just a small price to pay for a larger payoff later down the line.
Lastly, you can also engage with your followers by “re-gramming” their content. For instance, if you found an amazing photo posted by a follower, you could ask to use their content and tag them. Brands do this often to showcase their followers, and it’s a great way to interact with fans.
Reach Out to Complementary Influencers
As a nano-influencer, you should be thinking of creative ways to stand out. Earlier we mentioned investing in your brand and hosting contests. Another way to build out your social media brand is to work with other influencers whose content complements yours. Stick to partnering with other nano and micro-influencers, so that you both have something to benefit from the partnership.
For instance, as an influencer focusing on backpacking, perhaps you’d like to create a small campaign with an influencer that focuses on mountaineering or hiking. Keep in mind that a partnership doesn’t have to be a grand affair; it can be something as small as a simple agreement to tag or mention one another in the comments. On the other hand, you could partner with another influencer for a giveaway, thereby doubling your marketing power, budget, and reach. This allows you to piggyback off each other’s followers and clout.
Plan Your Photo Strategy
Your social media platform should embody your aesthetic and your photo strategy is critical for a stellar first impression. Therefore, it’s important for you to curate its appearance strategically. Instagram grid planning tools are a great way to do this.
But it’s not just your photos that are important. It’s also crucial that you optimize your bio. Although your pictures should tell a story and speak for the page itself, your bio should have a call to action and details about your brand, such as your email and branded hashtag. If you take a look at some of the top brands and influencers, you’ll notice they take advantage of this space by using clear, concise descriptions, adding your email, and linking.
Join an Influencer Platform
Conduct a search for “best influencer marketing platforms” and you’ll receive hundreds of results and a dozen viable platforms. However, as a nano-influencer, you might find trouble standing out as a small fish in a big pond. Here at Scalefluence, we’ve considered every type of influencer in the development of our influencer marketplace including the nano-influencer. This makes Scalefluence a great starting point for people wanting to reach influencer status.
Joining the platform is simple. Simply sign up using your credentials, and our system with verify your account so you can set up your profile. From here, you’ll be listed in our marketplace, where marketers can easily find influencers with high engagement rates and beautiful content like yours.
All communication and transactions are dealt with directly through the platform. Although Scalefluence will offer you a suggested price per post based on your credentials, you’re free to set the price on your own posts. Yes, nano influencers make money, too. And because your price is listed upfront, you can avoid the haggle and awkward money talk and get straight to creating. Once a marketer makes a payment, that payment is held in escrow until they approve your content, and the funds are released to you within 1-3 business days.
