11 Simple Steps to Reach Out to Micro-Influencers on Social Media

Collaboration with micro-influencers can bring you higher results than collaboration with macro-influencers. It’s great news for small and medium businesses, isn’t it?

According to the Influencer Marketing Hub study, influencers with a low number of followers have higher engagement than those with millions of followers.

Are you excited to start a partnership with micro-influencers and get your brand noticed on social media? Here is a guide on how to reach out to micro-influencers.

#1. Become a follower

Have you already found micro-influencers who seem to be a perfect fit for your brand? Don’t rush to reach out to them. Before you offer them collaboration, you should check whether they can deliver your brand message the right way.

Follow chosen micro-influencers on social media for a week, and watch what they do. Read the captions they write, check the comments they post, and see how they communicate with the followers.

Also, take a look at the accounts of their most active followers. Who are they? Who writes the vast majority of comments and reacts to the Stories? Make sure that these accounts belong to real people, to your target audience in particular. There are lots of fake accounts out there, so you should be very careful and make it a habit to check everything twice.

#2. Present your brand in the most favorable light

Micro-influencers, just like macro-influencers, get dozens of requests daily, and it’s not that easy to win their attention. If you want top micro-influencers to collaborate with you, you should make your brand stand out.

Use the power of storytelling to make micro-influencers feel like they are already connected to your brand. Describe your company and your product in the most engaging way.

Write a few words about how you came up with a brand idea and how you started your business. Invite micro-influencers to become a part of your incredible brand story.

Human brains are wired for stories. So if you create a compelling narrative and present your brand the right way, influencers will be more likely to accept your offer.

#3. Show your appreciation

Micro-influencers want to feel valued and important. They want brands, and people appreciate their work and the content they create.

Reaching out to an influencer, you should specify what you like the most about his or her creative works.

Here is an example:

Imagine you want to collaborate with a micro-influencer who is an expert in cheese and charcuterie custom plated service. Today, you are going to reaching out to Modern Brie, an Instagram micro-influencer in the niche (see an example of her post below). What will you write to make the influencer feel valued?

The owner of Modern Brie Instagram account, Cynthia Baysinger, is famous not only for the visual content she creates but also for her with captions. Here is what you can write in your outreach email to win Cynthia’s loyalty:

“Hi, Cynthia

I’m Melanie from XYZ Company. I have been following the Modern Brie account on Instagram for a few weeks, and now I know for sure that you are the perfect fit for our brand.

The cheeseboards you create looks fantastic – you are a true master in your field. But what I like the most about your content is your one-of-a-kind “cheesy” captions. You are a witty person, and we’re glad to invite you for collaboration.”

#4. Offer something “special”

Some marketers wrongly believe that the only way to motivate micro-influencer for collaboration is to offer a fat paycheck. However, it’s not the best approach.

Even though micro-influencers don’t earn as much money as macro-influencers, they are picky – they accept only “special” collaboration offers.

So what can you provide to micro-influencers to make your offer irresistible?

• Support in content creation. For instance, you can cover travel expenses, so micro-influencer can get to another city to take beautiful landscape pictures for your brand. Or, you can provide professional photo equipment and pay for a photo studio.
• New products. Micro-influencer can be promised to be the first person who will see and test your new product.
• Free pass to niche events. Does your brand host or participate in a conference or exhibition? Invite micro-influencer to this event.

#5. Write a killer subject line

Modern people, micro-influencers in particular, get dozens of emails daily. And guess what? They don’t open each and every email that lands in their inboxes. Micro-influencers are picky. They open only those emails that have catchy, personalized subject lines.

Let’s take a look at a few examples of well-written subject lines. Imagine we are trying to reach out to Sarah Delaney, an artist who has 41K followers on Instagram.

• Invitation to collaboration: “Sarah, you are one of the few abstract artists on Instagram who focus on ‘community over competition’. It’ll be an honor for us to collaborate with you.”
• Invitation to a giveaway: “Hi Sarah, your 41K followers will be happy to get these art products for free.”
• Requesting advice: “Hey Sarah, we want to know your opinion on copyright infringement on Instagram.”

#6. Personalize your message

If you create one micro-influencer outreach template and send it to multiple people, you will be unlikely to achieve positive results.

Every message you send should be fully personalized. You should write something that will make the influencer believe that this very message was addressed to him/her, not to a random influencer in the niche.

Here is a little trick you can use. Read a few recent posts of the influencer to find something you can use to start a conversation.

Let’s say you want to reach out to Celest Pereira, a yoga instructor. She recently published a post about “spinal hinge”. Here is what you can write in your email:

“Hi Celest!

I’ve learned a lot of new information from your recent post about a spinal hinge! I’m impressed with your ability to explain complicated things in simple words.

I work for X Company, and I’m looking for an influencer who can present our new product in such a ‘light way’ as you do. I would be glad if you consider our collaboration offer.”

#7. Give the freedom to create

Micro-influencers are creators. They are true artists. If you do not give them the freedom to create, they will reject your offer.

Show micro-influencers that you trust them. Promise them that you will not control the process of content creation. And when the collaboration starts, don’t forget to keep the promise.

Do you doubt whether you can trust the micro-influencers? Well, if you doubt that a chosen blogger can advertise your brand the right way, it means you have selected the wrong influencer. Keep searching for an influencer whose style perfectly matches your brand.

You should find a person whom you can fully trust because trust is a basis for successful long-term partnership and collaboration.

#8. Say a few words about collaboration

What type of collaboration do you offer? Do you want micro-influencers to post unboxing videos, host a giveaway, or create Instagram Story ads? You should specify that in your outreach message.

Offering collaboration is like offering a job. The offer must be specific and relevant to the person’s interests.

Will you reply to an email that says, “Hi, I have a job for you. Write me back to learn more”?

Nope. You will think of this email as a spam message and delete it immediately. To accept a job offer, you need to get more information about the job, right?

If you want to get a reply from micro-influencers, write one or two sentences about your project and make it clear what you expect from the collaboration. Intrigue micro-influencers and make them want to learn more about your offer.

#9. Talk about the benefit for micro-influencer

The fastest way to convince micro-influencer to accept your offer is to specify the benefits of the collaboration.

You already know what you will get from collaboration. You will increase reach, boost sales, and achieve other goals you have set.

But what about influencers? What will they get if they agree to work with your brand? Try to find an answer to this question and mention that in your outreach email. Here is an example:

“You will get our vegan meals for two weeks for free. And you will receive a personalized referral code that will allow you to earn 10% of every meal sold to your followers.”

#10. Don’t call them “micro-influencers”

Here is one of the biggest mistakes that marketers make. When they write outreach emails, they use the word “micro-influencer” instead of “influencer”.

The word “micro” can hurt the self-esteem of the person you want to collaborate with. So please, try to avoid it. If you use “micro-” in your outreach message, a blogger might feel like you are trying to demolish the importance of his/her achievements or power of his/her influence.

Instead of writing “you are one of the micro-influencers we have chosen for our next project”, write “you are one of the influencers”. That’s a great example of how one word can make a big difference.

#11. Don’t be pushy

Micro-influencers owe you nothing. So please, don’t be pushy. Don’t force them to accept your offer.

Your task is to invite micro-influencers to collaboration and let them make a final decision. If no one replies to your emails and direct messages, you should revisit your current outreach strategy and figure out why it doesn’t work. You should build a new strategy from scratch and start it all over again.

Final thoughts

Now you know how to reach out to micro-influencers and make them want to collaborate with your brand. So don’t hesitate to take the next step and create your first influencer marketing campaign. Get your brand noticed on social media, and you will achieve the most ambitious goals.

About the Author!

Dorian Martin is a content writing expert at EssaySupply and a freelance writer. He has vast experience in working with macro- and micro-influencers and promoting new brands. When Dorian is not working or writing, you can find him working out in a boxing class or enjoying the outdoors on his mountain bike.