Leveraging Micro-Influencers To Gather Insight On Your Product

Micro-influencers can help most brands in most stages of evolution. That’s why the influencer market is growing by about 50% each year, according to Influencer Marketing Hub. Besides, influencers bring as much as $6 for every $1 you spend on them.

It’s no wonder that happens.

The vast majority of teenagers trust influencers more than other stars, and up to 60% are buying according to influencer recommendations. Besides, about 75% of people rely on their social networks for buying advice. Here is the infographic to help you understand these stats:

Stats like these are everywhere, and you may feel pushed to use micro-influencers for your brand.

On the other hand, some experts claim that quantifying a micro-influencer’s actual influence on your audience is a grueling task.

But here’s what few specialists discuss: you can leverage micro-influencers to gather more insight on your products and brand.

Here’s how you do that:

Choose the Right People

You can find micro-influencers using Instagram’s search tool – after all, this platform is shown to be their preferred medium because it’s most lucrative. There are plenty of other online search engines, too. Some of them are reasonably affordable, but you can also find some free ones.

Remember this, though:

Only the right people will bring you valuable insights. Information is plentiful, but insights are rare gems. That’s why you should choose relevant influencers that understand, live up to, and according to your brand’s values.

Some sources claim, and rightly so that these “relevant” figures should resemble your brand’s archetype.

Here’s the deal:

Sometimes you can find terrific insights from people who are the exact opposite of your brand’s archetype. If they love your brand, these influencers can uncover new facets and new uses so that you can expand in a completely different way than initially planned.

Of course, make sure these people have a loyal fan base that actually listens to them. Look beyond the numbers and analyze the human interactions behind the comments, shares, and messages.

Once you’ve hooked these influencers, they will raise awareness for your brand, advocate for it, and generate incredibly unique user content.

How to Tap into Micro-Influencers’ Insights

Micro-influencers are treasure troves of information. Remember that these people are active on all social media, so they have a grasp of:

• New trends
• How their audience thinks
• What makes people tick

But as we noticed before, information is not the same with insights. To retrieve these precious stones, you’ll need to conduct several interviews.

You can start with structured questionnaires that set the stage. Use questions with quantifiable metrics, such as:

• How many times per week are you buying our product?
• What design features do you appreciate the most?
• What other similar products are you using?
• And so forth.

Afterward, you should move on to semi-structured and free interviews. Ask the micro-influencer to speak their mind about:

• Your brand’s and your products’ best and worst qualities
• The potential opportunities and threats for your brand
• What they’d change about it
• What they think makes your brand unique. If the answer is nothing, try to understand why

Sifting through these mountains seems discouraging, especially if you’re comparing various influencers’ insights. These people will have contrasting opinions, but that’s a good thing. That’s how you find the distinct approach that sets you apart from the competition.

When you’re positioning yourself on that empty niche, people will associate you with an idea. The result is more loyal customers.

For example, a while back, baby-wearing was something people did for preterm infants or in developing-world countries. Now, middle to upper-class working parents are doing that too.

The trend shifted as more parents want to spend quality time with their babies. Simultaneously, parents need one free hand for their Starbucks latte and the other for their smartphone.

This shift was born through an extraordinary insight into how Millennials parent based on this generation’s style.

If you know your audience’s style, e.g., how they think, the world is your oyster.

And who better to uncover your audience’s needs than a micro-influencer?

Learn to Talk to Your Micro-Influencers

So, you’ve used FameBit, Upfluence, or BuzzSumo, inbeat.go to find the right micro-influencers for your audience. You also know that they’re treasure troves of valuable insights for your brand. You’re prepared with a structured questionnaire and even some semi-structured interviews.

You’re ready for the challenge of sifting through the haystack to find that needle.

Unfortunately, only a few people are replying to your messages. Even those that do are brief and dismissive.

What went wrong?

You need a strategy to talk to your influencers. These people are bombarded with spammy messages on all their social media accounts so you must master the art of the outreach without looking spammy. Some brands they don’t like while others ask for free work. Besides, influencers aren’t much different than the 40% of people who use ad blockers. That’s why micro-influencer marketing is such a complex topic. 

Here’s the first step to ensure a trust-based business relationship:

Open the conversation by doing them a favor they really need, and (we can’t emphasize this enough) not one you think they need.

Psst. You can use that as dating advice too.

For instance, a reliable strategy is to identify some bugs on their website and let them know. If you’re a fan, you can leave a helpful review of their work.

The second step is writing your email.

Don’t say, “Hey, I’m the one who wrote to you about that bug; how ‘bout a quick quid-pro-quo as you work your influencer magic on my brand?” Of course, you can bring the conversation around to your assistance, but make it something like this: “Your recent posts gave me an idea for an awesome collaboration.”

Other tips to follow are:

1. Always send customized emails to your micro-influencers. If your correspondence sounds too general, it also sounds spammy.
2. Wait about three business days before sending your second email.
3. Use social media messaging or their website’s contact forms the second time if your first email ended up in the spam folder.
4. If the influencers don’t answer, stop at two or a maximum of three messages.
5. Use careful call-to-actions and hooks in your messages without being too obvious. Chances are, these people know all about marketing strategies.
6. Share a personal story that’s relevant to the topic to increase your chances of success.

Some micro-influencers will agree to become your brand ambassadors and work on your projects. After discussing the right platforms and your brand’s objectives, get to the point:

Ask your micro-influencers to fill in the questionnaire and to take part in the interview.

Pro tip: Make sure to tell them how much you value their opinion. Influencers like to take center-stage, and they’ll open up quickly if you’re asking the right questions.

So here’s another tip:

Don’t be boring.

Yes, that works for dates too.

How Not to Be Boring

People’s brains are wonderful because they release dopamine as a reward each time we get something right. Influencers are no different – they like a good challenge. They enjoy hard questions, puzzles, and sharing their thoughts.

Several online tools allow you to devise questions that bring out the best in your micro-influencers:

BuzzSumo

This platform is a fantastic question analyzer. You can rummage through an immense database of questions by several variables, including keywords or subreddits. You also have access to real-life queries from Reddit or Quora users.

Typeform

Typeform is best for engaging your micro-influencers in a streamlined manner. This platform boasts high completion rates, which means more people are answering the interviews to the end.

As a result, you’ll gather more unique insights about your brand.

Typeform is arguably a better tool than BuzzSumo because you’ll get more help structuring your interviews. Besides, this platform has an enhanced dopamine-releasing design, sprinkled with mini-rewards for the brain as influencers move through the questions.

The funny quizzes and stunning visuals will keep people engaged and entertained through the end.

Bonus: Typeform uses conditional logic, which means different follow-up questions appear in the survey depending on your micro-influencers answers.

Moreover, you can export all this information in your Google Sheets in the blink of an eye.

In Conclusion

Micro-influencers are vital for your brand’s market research.  Their unique insights will give you a whole new understanding of how your audience thinks and what motivates it. That way, you can access new consumer segments or access completely new markets.

Micro-influencers aren’t just familiar with current trends; they can foresee emerging ones.

So, whether you have a start-up, are going through an expansion phase, or experiencing a PR crisis, you can constantly hone micro-influencers insights.

It’s essential to start your relationship on the right foot. Choose relevant people and send them an impossible-to-refuse offer. Next, use intuitive platforms to devise a dopamine-releasing survey that can uncover their brilliant ideas. Remember to use CRM or a searchable database in Excel (if you can’t afford a CRM) to manage your contacts and nurture the relationships. 

Use these ideas to uncover a new use for your products or expand your product line with entirely new ones. Regardless of what you’ll choose, remember that the world is your oyster.