How nano influencers fit in your marketing strategy
Nano influencers have been around for years but just recently became the trendiest type of influencer to work with. Why would someone with 2,000 followers be more desirable to work with than someone with 200,000 followers? Authenticity, engagement and trust!
Let’s dig into what a nano influencer is and how they can enhance your marketing strategy.
What is a nano influencer?
The definition of a nano influencer is someone with between 1,000-10,000 followers on social media. Their feeds focus on one subject, such as recycled fashion or fun day-trips, because they love sharing their interest with others. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, nano influencers have high engagement rates of 1.70% - 4.84%. For comparison, mega influencers have a 1.06% engagement rate.
Social sharing is not their full-time job so they don’t rely on brand deals for income. Instead, they can post what they want and accept brand deals if it fits with their content and personal beliefs.
Followers form connections to nano influencers because they feel like they know them from their genuine posts. We often hear followers share about small influencers fondly - whether they have a personal relationship with them or not!
Who makes a great nano influencer?
Anyone with a passion for a specific subject, and wants to connect with people around the world through that passion, makes a great nano influencer.
The best, most authentic creators let their personalities shine through every facet of social media. This includes the content they share, the description they write, how they interact with comments, and if they interact with others’ content.
For example, nano influencers that cordially respond comments will appear more favorable than influencers who don't engage with them. In addition, the person they responded to will get a boost and form a loyal attachment to the influencer.
Avoid accounts with low engagement rates
You’ll see some accounts share beautiful content, but their posts get little engagement. The primary reason for low engagement is not interacting with followers or other accounts on Instagram.
When the conversation is one-sided, followers struggle to form a connection with the influencer. Later, when they advertise a product or service, followers are more likely to be skeptical of the 'sponsored' recommendation. When they're skeptical, they're less likely to make a purchase.
Engagement rate holds a lot of weight when choosing influencers to collaborate with.
Examples of nano influencers
Here are three examples of great nano influencers in popular categories.
Women's health and nutrition - Alyssa Cuellar-Curl
Men's fashion - Kalan Laws | The Designer
Allergen friendly cooking - Cara Lundy | Effortless Eats
What types of companies should work with nano influencers?
Does your business sell directly to consumers (B2C)? Then you should absolutely work with nano influencers! They aren’t just more relatable, according to Harvard Business Review, “nano influencers consistently outperform” larger influencer types when comparing costs.
Nano influencers share content with other, real people that could become your next customer. If they (hopefully!) have a great experience, they could even become a returning customer and brand advocate.
We’ve also seen B2B2C companies use nano influencers with great success! For example, beverage distributors sell to retail stores, not customers. But, by activating influencers to try and share about their beverages, they can get their products to fly off the shelves in-store. This increases demand and strengthens their relationship with the stores they distribute to.
B2B companies can work with nano influencers, too, but they’re more commonly called B2B influencers. These influencers are subject matter experts or thought leaders who try a product or service and share their thoughts with their followers. It sounds pretty similar to traditional influencer marketing because it is! The main difference is that the audience is much more targeted.
Brands that work with nano influencers
Many brands work with a variety of influencers from local to macro! Here are a few examples of brands that incorporate nano influencers into their marketing strategy.
Mac Cosmetics
This well-known cosmetics company does a great job of incorporating multiple influencer tiers into their content strategy. They frequently share user generated content from their creator partners on Instagram. Using real people, instead of models and celebrities, to showcase products helps brands connect with followers effectively.
Lola’s Fine Hot Sauce
Bring on the hot sauce! Lola’s Fine Hot Sauce activates local and nano influencers to promote their CPG products in stores across the country. The local influencers are effective at showing how to use the products and moving them off shelves in their target markets. Nano influencers are good at creating interest and drumming up online sales.
Stanley
The incredibly popular water bottle brand gets a lot of publicity for their popular and large water bottles. (Who didn't hear about the cup that survived a car fire??) Even so, they regularly use nano and other types of influencers to promote their sturdy bottles and tumblers.
Nano influencer rates
Budget and rates is where influencer marketing gets tricky. Deals with nano influencers can vary dramatically based on a number of factors. These factors include deliverables, deals they already have, their level of experience, follower engagement rate, niche and more!
On the low end, your brand could pay $50 for a static image post on Instagram. On the high end, your brand could pay $300 for an Instagram reel and story. However, we've heard of them charging much more - in once instance a nano influencer charged up to $1000 per post!
Prepare a price that you’re comfortable paying before you start contract negotiations with your desired influencer. If they ask for more compensation, consider their reasons before saying no. If they have a highly engaged audience and track record of driving results, it might be worth paying more.
How to find nano influencers to partner with
Deciding to work with influencers is easy, but starting is more difficult. Here are four ways to find nano influencers for your marketing campaign:
DIY
Activate your current customers
Use an influencer marketing platform
Use an influencer marketing agency
Each method has pros and cons, but they all boil down to time and money.
Depending on the subject you’re targeting, nano influencers can both be easy and incredibly difficult to find. Because these creators post (mostly) for fun, they don’t always optimize their profile and post descriptions for discovery. If you spend 30 minutes searching and only find a couple nano influencers, using a platform or agency might make sense.
Is your marketing budge tight? Can you set aside time dedicated to influencer marketing? If the answers to those questions are 'yes,' DIY or activating current customers is a great approach.
If you have a marketing budget, consider using a marketing platform or agency that specializes in influencer marketing. You’ll pay more, but you’ll save a significant amount of time finding, reaching out to, and negotiating deals with influencers.
