In today’s creator-driven landscape, brands don’t need million-dollar budgets or A-list celebrities to see impact from influencer marketing. This guide from EVINS breaks down five key considerations for working with nano and micro-influencers—those small-but-mighty content creators who are often more effective than their mega-followed counterparts.

Have you thought about working with influencers (aka content creators) for your business, but have no idea where to begin? Maybe you’ve seen a highly visible partnership between a social media personality and a brand in your industry, or are just looking for third-party content to share with new audiences? You are not alone. 

Shopify shared that 84.8% of brands surveyed found influencer marketing effective, and Marketing Dive found that 81% of consumers embraced influencer marketing in the last year, so the proof is there. But there is also a misconception that you need the GDP of a small country to play in the space, which couldn’t be farther from the truth. Let’s talk about what brands and businesses need to know about influencer campaigns, how to get started and what to do to provide the best opportunities for success.  

Let’s be clear – Gigi Hadid is not in the cards for most brand content creator partnerships, and that’s fine. For most companies, an approach including nano and micro-influencers will be much more affordable, easier to manage and effective overall. 

Sprout Social defines nano-influencers as those content creators with between 1,000 and 10,000 followers, and micro-influencers as those with between 10,000 and 100,000 followers. Content creators in this category have significantly less followers but often have much higher engagement rates and overall buy-in from their followers. But before you reach out, consider the following essentials:

1. Understand Their Audience (And Their Audiences’ Willingness To Take Action)

There are many reasons why people follow others on social media, and not all of them are because they fully respect the person and value their opinion – ask any politician. A little first-hand research is all it takes to determine if that skateboarding pro has 80,000 followers willing to follow her anywhere or 5,000 bored and disinterested followers and 75,000 bot accounts. 

First, ask any content creator for their metrics. Any influencer who is looking for brand partnerships will already have this ready. Is it going to offer the most unvarnished truth? Probably not, but it will provide some stats as well as insight into how the content creator tracks their audience and engagement.

Next, review their posts and see how many likes or comments each gets in relation to their total followers. On Instagram, for instance, to calculate engagement rate just sum all engagements (likes, comments, shares, saves) for a post and divide by the total number of followers, then multiply by 100. You can also use an influencer management tool like Klear to gather this information.

2.  Is Their Content Quality Up To Snuff?

This one is simple – do they post attractive, engaging content that is appropriate for your brand? If not, look elsewhere. Like any other creative avenue, what works for them as a content creator may not work for your business. 

3. How Much Say Will You Have?

In the excitement of establishing a partnership brands and businesses often forget to discuss their vision and needs for a campaign, only to find out much too late that the influencer has their own thoughts that do not align with those of the brand. To avoid this, it is very important to have a conversation upfront about what input your business will have throughout the creation and posting process, as well as your veto ability for ideas that don’t gel with your approach. This is also an important time to discuss deliverables, and exactly what you can expect in terms of quantity of posts and where they will be posted, as well as your future usage rights for any content. 

4. The Importance Of Compliance 

The Wild West days of influencer partnerships are over, and departments like the FTC in the U.S. are cracking down on compliance. What does this mean for you? It means finding a content creator that is well-versed with the rules and willing to play by them. This includes agreeing to disclose any material connection between the brand and the influencer — payment, free product, discounts, affiliate commission, trips, etc. Additionally, clear and transparent language is best, and avoiding any unsubstantiated or misleading claims is of the utmost importance.

5. What’s The ROI? 

Finally, the most important consideration – what are you getting out of the partnership? Visibility campaigns are easy to track, and upticks in website visits, share of voice, engagements and follows on social media are great indicators. For those looking to sell more product or services, this can be harder to quantify. Consider dedicated landing pages, special codes or other ways to track the performance of the collaboration. Also, remember that the more complicated or time-consuming the ask is for consumers, the less likely they are to engage – so keep it simple!