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In today’s world of social media marketing, brands are taking as much advantage of social media as they possibly can. They either advertise their products and services on their own or hire social media influencers to do so. Influencers are people who have access to large audiences and can sway them towards their recommendations. Whether micro-influencers with less than 10K followers or well-established influencers with millions of followers, there will always be brands looking to collaborate with you.
While you might think that among macro-influencers (influencers with around 100K followers), micro-influencers would get ignored, but brands recognize the advantages of hiring micro-influencers. For example, micro-influencers cost way less than macro-influencers because their reach is not as far as the latter’s. Also, since fewer followers, more personal one can get with their followers, their engagement is higher than those of macro-influencers.
Brands that collaborate with small influencers
Thus, with the above in mind, here are some brands that collaborate with small influencers on Instagram.
1. Audible
Audible is a brand under Amazon that provides audiobooks to listen to on the go. Audible usually approaches Youtubers for collaborations and offers free access to audiobooks for a couple of months with unique codes. However, in recent times, Audible has started approaching small influencers on Instagram. Jesse Driftwood on Instagram, who is now a significant influencer but was a micro-influencer at the time, partnered up with Audible. It was a simple, relatable post about his love of running and books, perfect for his niche audience. Small influencers well like audible because it allows them to structure their advertisements according to their audience.
2. Glossier
Glossier is a New York based make-up brand that takes pride in claiming that their beauty and skincare products are inspired by real life. In line with the brand’s ideals, it believes that no matter how many followers one has or no matter what the gender, make-up is for everyone. Hence, today, Glossier has a large number of micro and macro influencers promoting their products on Instagram. Glossier has this much following because it believes in authentic and straightforward branding. They encourage every follower and influencer regularly by posting about them and inspiring others to join them.
3. Pink Lily
Pink Lily is one of the fastest-growing online retail stores in America. It is a female exclusive clothing brand. Pink Lily believes that all women are beautiful and everyone should be given equal opportunity to advertise for their brand. Hence, it doesn’t have a lot of conditions and criteria for hiring its influencers. Pink Lily sells all sizes and styles of clothing. Thus, one of the reasons it is so widely loved by its influencers and followers is that they promote plus-size beauty all around. Also, influencers are provided with perks like free promo products and discounts.
4. Mattel
Mattel is an America based multinational toy brand. It is one of the biggest brands for children’s toys and entertainment. Mattel launched a micro-influencer campaign with a blogger who is a mother and goes by Peace Love and Mommy. The campaign was a huge success, and Mattel has since started hiring small and big influencers. Mattel made the campaign relatable by hiring an influencer in a similar niche. Mattel identifies influencers by looking at the specific demographics that can relate to the influencers with nostalgia. Hence, since then, all its campaign collaborations with small influencers have been very successful.
5. Dove
Dove is one of those brands that believe in unfiltered beauty. It doesn’t believe in models using filtered pictures to promote the brand and rather prefers common people. Hence, Dove hires nano influencers (with less than 1K followers) and micro-influencers to post on Instagram. That is why nano-influencers’ recommendations are more likely to translate to new customers because you know they genuinely like the product. They choose to engage nano-influencers to raise awareness of the products. For example, Ritso Yipsa only has 1.3K followers but was paid to post an ad for Dove.
6. Ideal Flatmate
Ideal Flatmate is a UK-based website that strives to find suitable flats and flatmates for students and others. It benefits mainly by hiring small influencers to promote the brand. Ideal Flatmate ensures to hire people within the same niche, that is, young student influencers who are usually searching for safe and cost-effective flats. Small influencers know the interests of their followers, and therefore, what recommendations are best to make. Thus, Ideal Flatmate has built a healthy relationship with many small influencers that promote their services to their target audiences. Targeting your audience ensures a better impact with fewer resources.
7. Gillette
Gillette is a razor manufacturing company that is one of the biggest within its niche. While Gillette is a well-known brand of its time, it felt the need to reach out more to the younger generation. Razor industry is usually male-dominated, so Gillette decided to focus its branding towards women by involving women influencers. It hires small influencers and encourages them to tag Gillette on razors in daily life posts. It works against showing aesthetic pictures of luxury bathrooms and encourages natural unfiltered photos. The campaign is still running successfully and is looking to involve more influencers.
8. Purse For The People
Purse For The People is a US-based ethnic fashion brand. While it is still not a big name brand, it has over 20K followers on Instagram. The brand sells handmade bags and purses by local artisans and promotes vegan leather. It also promotes environmentally stable fashion and supports local artists and small influencers. These unique accessories are made by indigenous artistic communities across the world. So when you support Purse For The People, you are also empowering these communities. The brand welcomes small influencers if you believe in promoting sustainable fashion. As an added benefit, it gives commissions on its sales.
Brands are well aware that small influencers have a better reach and engage better with their audience than more prominent influencers. They build a loyal community, and the brands get more bank for their buck. Brands constantly hire small influencers to promote themselves and realize how effective their branding is.
You may also like: How to reach out to brands as an influencer.
