Understanding the ins and outs of influencer marketing can feel overwhelming, especially for small to mid-sized businesses.
For companies who don’t have the resources to track down the right talent, the time to nurture genuine relationships, or the money to pay for unique content creation, influencer partnerships can seem unattainable.
However, they don’t have to be.
In this case study of sorts, I’m going to show you how we recently found success for a client by experimenting with micro-influencer outreach via TikTok!
But first, what’s a micro-influencer?
As reinforced by Sprout Social, a micro-influencer is an influencer with between 10,000 and 100,000 followers. For further reference, influencers are typically broken down into four main categories:
- Nano-influencers: 1K to 10K followers
- Micro-influencers: 10K to 100K followers
- Macro-influencers: 100K to 1M followers
- Mega or celebrity influencers: 1M+ followers
Now that we have that covered… on to the case study!
Go Where the Influence Is
When it came to finding influencers for our newest client, a chef, we went where the types of influencers we were looking for (Foodies) were hanging out–TikTok.
And instead of buying expensive technologies to connect us with the biggest and most engaged Foodie TikTok influencers in Toronto, or doing hours of research and cold emailing, we tried something different.
We posted a TikTok video.
In our video, we explained who I was (TechWyse’s Social Media and Brand Manager) and what we needed help with–finding cool micro-influencers to collaborate with. As a call to action, we then concluded the video by asking influencers to get in touch (via direct message) if they were interested in learning more about the opportunity.
Okay, yes, this sounds kind of bonkers. But, it worked. Within minutes, engaged and excited micro-influencers in Toronto self-identified and began reaching out to us through TikTok messages and comments.
Suddenly, we knew we were on to something here. Instead of trying to find the right creators, they found us (thank you, TikTok algorithm!).
Source: Shutterstock
Build Your Interest List
Once our DMs started filling up, we began creating a list of people who had reached out.
From there, we took a look through each person’s content to verify that they matched the right tone for our client, and if they had the level of following and engagement we were looking for.
If they did, they moved up on the list.
Pick Your Top Talent
Once our list was prioritized in order of who best met the client’s strategic social media needs, we reached out to the top five via TikTok messages to update them that we were:
- Interested in partnering with them.
- Hoping to get their email so we can send over some more info.
All of them responded within a day.
Share the Opportunity
Moving out of TikTok DMs, we then created personalized emails explaining the unique dining and content opportunity.
Instead of creating super rigid deliverables, we invited the creators to come to eat at the restaurant and create video content that was authentic to their brand and vision.
We also encouraged them to bring a plus one to help shoot the videos and to have a more enjoyable dining experience.
Within just a few hours, all of the talent got back to us with a resounding “I’M IN”.
Why? How? It seems to have been a combination of the following:
- We had given them a heads-up to watch their email.
- They were still engaged and intrigued because we got back to them quickly.
- They saw value in what was in it for them.
- We didn’t overcomplicate things.
- Also… free food!
Nail Down the Deliverable
In the following emails, we began booking specific dates and times for the content creators to dine and to make their TikTok magic.
From there, we verified the bookings with our client and he prepared to host them.
Always Follow Up
On the day of the booking, we sent over a reminder email to the influencer (and our client) to remind them of the agreed upon details, as well as the timing to arrive at the restaurant.
From there, we handed it over to our client to ensure the influencer’s dining experience was memorable and magical–and that this would translate into content.
The next day, I checked in on our influencers to get some feedback about their visit and to connect on next steps for posting on TikTok.
At no surprise, our talent reported they had an amazing time and were eager to go back again. They also let us know a timeline for video editing completion and publication.
Engage and Amplify
Once we received the publication notice, we immediately amplified post reach by commenting our gratitude on the original photos and videos and resharing the content on our client’s profiles.
And while we still have a few more partnerships to go with our chef client, the first two videos that went live on TikTok have been extremely successful.
Most notably, in just one night, our most recent video reeled in the following stats:
- 15k Views
- 491 Saves
- 93 Shares
- 23 Comments
Better yet, all of the comments on this TikTok video were of engaged potential diners who chimed in to ask our micro-influencer more detailed questions about their experience and how they could take the next steps to book for dinner.
In the end, we couldn’t be more thrilled with these initial results, and we’re so excited to continue growing our micro-influencer outreach strategy for additional clients.
Source: Shutterstock
Conclusion
What we hope you take away from us sharing these learnings is that micro-influencer marketing isn’t just for big industry players–and it’s time to get on board.
After all, 69% of brands are now working with smaller creators, and 68% of brands and 80% of creators plan to increase their presence on TikTok.
Hopefully, this article also gives you a little more confidence to start dipping your toes into the new age of content creation. Social commerce is on the rise, and there’s endless opportunity awaiting.
Have questions? Need help with influencer outreach and content strategy? We would love to chat. Feel free to reach out to us anytime. Call (416)-410-7090 or contact us here.
