How Your Nonprofit Can Utilize Micro-Influencer Marketing
2 min to read ✭ In this post, we will define what micro-influencers are and how your nonprofit can utilize them in a mutually beneficial relationship.
By now, you’ve probably heard the term influencer thrown around, but these days influencers are not just celebrities with millions of followers. There is a new category called “Micro-Influencers.” These people generally have anywhere from 1,000 to 15 or 20,000 followers and operate in a specific niche. They are very particular about the type of content that they create and share, and are very deliberate with their branding. Because of this, they generate trust from their followers. Their followers look to them to help them make informed decisions about which brands, causes, and products they should be interested in and support.
1. Decide on a Goal
When creating a micro-influencer marketing campaign, the first thing you need to decide on is a goal. What do you want to get out of this? It could be something simple like raising awareness to your nonprofit and widening your audience or it could be something more specific like promoting a fundraising campaign or gala you have coming up.
2. Find the Right Influencers
Once you decide on a goal, it’s time to find influencers that will be a good fit with your organization. The best place to start is looking at your own social media. Look through who already follows you on your social channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. See who has been commenting on your posts or even someone that has already held a fundraiser for your organization. Someone who is already engaged with your content is much more likely to be open to a partnership with you. You can also search hashtags that are relevant to your nonprofit and its cause. Finding users who are already using these hashtags is a great strategy to find influencers who will be a good fit with your brand.
3. Engage Before Reaching Out
Now that you’ve found your perfect influencer, engage with them! Be sure to follow them, like and comment on their posts before reaching out to them. This gives them a chance to see you and get to know who you are, plus it shows your interest. When initially reaching out, be sure to personalize your message. Let them know why your organization is a fan of them. This will go a lot farther than a basic message template with no customization.
4. Define the Relationship
After you’ve made that first contact, let them know what you would like from this relationship and don’t be afraid to be specific! There are many different ways that you can leverage an influencer from static posts to a story on Instagram to inviting them to come out to your facility and go live. You could even have them come to an event that you are having and provide social coverage. Decide what will be best for your nonprofit and communicate it clearly to them. And don’t be afraid to follow up. Often times your message will go into their requested inbox, which they may not check as often but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t interested.
Building a relationship with micro-influencers takes time and effort, but can yield great results. Widening the reach of your nonprofit and also generating high-quality content for the influencer is ultimately mutually beneficial.
