Influencer marketing is one of the hottest trends in the current digital marketing space. Brands spent a whopping combined $603.9 million on YouTube influencer marketing in 2021. As companies – both big and small – shift their marketing budgets to include influencer marketing, it makes sense why this trend continues to boom.
Who does not want a promotion from someone that receives thousands, even millions, of views? But not everyone can afford partnerships with colossal personalities like MrBeast or Charli D’Amelio. So, how do smaller companies jump into the world of influencer marketing? They can start by considering the benefits of micro-influencers.
What is a YouTube Micro-Influencer?
Meet the YouTube micro-influencer! A micro-influencer, while not having millions of subscribers, can still reach thousands of people with their content. Micro-influencers typically boast between 1,000 and 100,000 subscribers, yet their videos often garner more views. The main attraction of micro-influencers is that they formed a tight-knit base of followers that likely trust their endorsements. More importantly, they dedicated thousands of hours to growing their channels through authenticity and quality content.
Micro-influencers on YouTube tend to attract long-term followers. More often than not, they cornered a niche market – like beauty or tech – with their videos. So, if your brand lies in the same niche industry, we guarantee you will have an easier time partnering with micro-influencers on YouTube.
Finding a Micro-Influencer on YouTube
YouTube became a helpful tool for recruiting potential micro-influencers. By searching up the market you want to target in YouTube’s search bar, you can identify a swath of different content creators. If you want to find micro-influencers in the beauty industry, try searching “eyeshadow tutorial,” “best lipsticks 2022,” or other related search terms; your team will discover an enormous collection of videos by different creators.
You will also want to conduct further research on each of these creators, though. The deep dive involves calculating many subscribers they have, looking at their comments for honest engagement, and even finding out if they have other partnerships.
Social Blade
Social Blade is another helpful tool for exploring different YouTube micro-influencers. By relying on this platform, you can unlock analytics for a specific YouTube channel, as well as other platforms like Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, etc. Social Blade also allows you to see a micro-influencer’s precise subscriber count growth over the last month, and graphs of their growth from a few years back. This snapshot of potential audience growth can help your brand determine if a micro-influencer’s presence has longevity, and if forming a partnership will become mutually beneficial.
Discovering Micro-Influencers Before They Make It Big
If you cultivate a relationship with YouTube micro-influencers before they take off in popularity, you will save money overall. Think for a second – as a micro-influencer becomes more well-known, more companies will vie for partnerships. Thus, micro-influencers will become scrutinous about the YouTube partnerships that they accept. Further, the micro-influencer will raise fees for forming partnerships.
You may also want to spend some time understanding how these YouTuber micro-influencers gained their followers. Did they gain their audience authentically, or did they cheat the system by somehow purchasing their followers? Micro-influencers with thousands of fake followers will yield unsatisfactory results, so stay diligent in your research before reaching out.
What Can Micro-Influencers Do for Your Business?
Before contacting micro-influencers on YouTube, remember to consider the types of video content you want them to create. Do you just want a sponsorship spot, a product review, an unboxing video, or a tutorial?
Sponsorship Spots
A sponsorship spot is a dedicated portion of the video where the creator promotes your product or business. Businesses like Squarespace, BetterHelp, and Skillshare made a name for themselves through early partnerships with YouTube micro-influencers. In most cases, content creators place these spots right at the beginning, the end, or even in the middle of a video.
Product Reviews
In exchange for a free product or monetary compensation, YouTube micro-influencers will record a video that discusses your product or service and provides a comprehensive review. However, this style of video lets the micro-influencer frame your product. If they did not like it, they could post a negative product review.
Unboxing Videos
Unboxing videos involve opening a box and revealing each piece inside and reviewing them. Unboxing videos are popular with subscription box products, PR packages, or high-end products. This type of video gets a lot of views because of the air of surprise. Curious followers will want to know the box’s contents, and if it provides them with substantial value.
Tutorial Videos
In a tutorial video, the YouTube micro-influencers will walk viewers through the process of using or setting up your product, and even give a small review. Tutorials are invaluable because they give audiences an introduction to how to use your product. Depending on your video creation potential, the videos these micro-influencers create can be higher quality than what can be created in-house.
How to Contact a Micro-Influencer
First, figure out your pitch message. Email is the most common way to connect with micro-influencers since YouTube does not offer a private messaging feature. Your initial pitch letter to the micro-influencer should include compensation information. You and the micro-influencer can negotiate the closing price once the line of dialogue opens.
Next, the pitch letter should also include why you want to partner with this creator, whether it be that their values align with your own, or the content they create works with the products or services you provide. Micro-influencers on YouTube thrive off their authenticity, so your message to them should feel authentic as well.
If the micro-influencer is happy with your pitch and decides to work with you, congratulations! You entered the influencer marketing space! Hopefully, this relationship will yield mutually beneficial results. Once you partner with a few micro-influencers, other influencers may want to partner with you as your brand grows through word-of-mouth referrals.
Launch Your Next Campaign with YouTube Micro-Influencers
Micro-influencer marketing can help you break into the influencer marketing industry and grow your business. It is an effective way to build trust in your brand since the creator has a close subscriber base that trusts what they say. Combining your brand with a creative and positive influencer will create a successful campaign unlike any other. Furthermore, you may want to consider adding third-party influencer marketing software to your tool belt.
At Premiere Creative, we keep up with all the latest digital marketing trends, including influencer marketing. If you need help promoting your brand and want to dip your toes into the world of influencer marketing, dial (973) 346-8100 to contact our team of specialists.
