How to find Micro Influencers for your e-commerce (step by step tutorial + tools)

Let’s kick things off with some facts and figures.

➡️ 83% of people ask their relatives and friends about the product they want to get before buying it (source).

➡️ Traditional marketing campaigns aren’t as effective as they used to be due to customers being overexposed to them.

➡️ Clients who make a purchase based on a recommendation have a 37% higher retention rate (source).

And here’s a crucial fact: after using influencers in their campaigns, many businesses made a profit of $6.50 for every dollar they invested (source).

Got your attention, right?

But influencers pose a few problems:

• There are so many that it’s difficult to know who might be best for your company.
• Many of them are simply unaffordable.
• You must keep an eye on “pseudo-influencers” (people who get likes and followers for accounts in exchange for money).

That’s why we want to talk to you about micro-influencers in this post, so pay close attention because we’re going to tell you:

• Who microinfluencers are.
• How to find them.
• Some criteria to help you make wise choices about who to work with.

Let’s go find them! 😉

👉 How to find micro‑influencers for your e­-commerce: advantages over “big” influencers 

First things first.

If you’re not sure about what exactly influencer marketing is or how it works, we recommend reading this post first.

With that out of the way, let’s get to it.

✅ 1. What is a micro-influencer?

Have you never bought a shampoo or any other product because someone recommended it to you?

You trust that someone, so you buy what they recommend.

The concept of “influencer” comes from the idea of somebody having such a big Internet following that many people listen to and value their opinion.

Therefore, micro-influencers, as you can imagine, are “lower-scale” influencers. We’re talking about people with an audience of between 1,000 and 100,000 followers (which isn’t bad at all).

In general, they’re specialists in a specific market or sector, so they know the perks and downsides of every product (hence the trust so many people put in them).

✅ 2. Why should you find micro‑influencers?

While micro­‑influencers’ reach may be lower, working with them has many advantages compared to higher‑scale influencers.

• Lower investment: Teaming up with influencers can be very expensive and even unaffordable for many businesses. That’s why working with micro‑influencers is such an appealing alternative since their rates are lower.
• A more loyal community: According to an article by AdWeek, micro‑influencers run more effective campaigns. How so? Since they have a small community, they can interact and engage their followers more easily, which means the campaigns they run are more successful.
• More credibility: Clients are more and more in search of something genuine. They don’t believe in influencers who’ve been paid tons of money to talk about a product. They trust smaller, not-so-mainstream influencers who know the products they promote.
• They specialize in one sector: This allows you to target a very specific audience (essential when you have to choose the best product to launch a campaign for and want it to be successful).

Long story short, despite having a smaller audience, working with micro‑influencers can be much more profitable because their followers are much more loyal.

👉 6 steps to find the best micro­­‑influencers for your e‑commerce

Now that you know how useful partnering with micro-influencers can be, the next step is figuring out who’s best for your online store – and it’s the hardest part.

✅ 1. Do your homework

Before going on the hunt for micro‑influencers, you’ll need a basic plan of attack.

• Define your objectives: Be clear about what you want to achieve, both in strategic and economic terms. You might want to promote a specific product, boost a recently‑launched product, or give visibility to a specific campaign. Whatever the case, be sure to set your corresponding sales goals as well.
• Choose your platform: Find an influencer with a large following on the same platform that your target audience uses – and make sure they relate to your buyer persona.
• Filter by niche: Make a list of the relevant keywords in your sector. They’ll come in handy when you start looking for micro‑influencers.

Now that this has been spelled out, let’s move on to the next step.

✅ 2. Start with your own network

As it turns out, you don’t even have to leave home.

You can begin by searching for potential micro‑influencers from within your own list of followers and even those who comment and interact with your social media posts. If they already follow you, they must trust you and like what you do; they may even have bought one of your products.

Check out the profiles of those who’ve already recommended one of your products before (or talked about it).

Mind you, in both cases, you must make sure they meet the “good micro‑influencer” requirements – but we’ll talk about that later. 😉

✅ 3. Look into the hashtags related to your sector

Now it’s time to use the keyword list we told you about earlier.

You just need to use them as hashtags (by adding # before). This will allow you to spot other active users in your sector.

For example, if you sell vintage clothes, try using different related hashtags, such as #vintagefashion.

Your ideal micro‑influencer could be among the users that pop up using this hashtag. 😉

✅ 4. Use micro‑influencer search tools

There’s a tool for everything these days.

And searching for micro‑influencers is no exception, so here are a few tools (both free and paid) that can assist you with your search. All of them have different filters and metrics to help you choose the influencer who best suits your preferences.

Let’s check them out.

➡️ A. HypeAuditor

HypeAuditor is a highly intuitive tool that allows you to find micro‑influencers by keyword.

It’s also possible to analyze specific profiles by name.

As you can see, HypeAuditor shows you the metrics of each of the profiles owned by this influencer. Among them, the engagement and comments rates are particularly important to make sure you’re not dealing with a pseudo‑influencer.

➡️ B. Heepsy

Just like the previous tool, Heepsy allows you to search for micro‑influencers by using different filters and also gives you the metrics. Among other things, it analyzes the audience and the authenticity of the influencer in question.

➡️ C. Upfluence

This is an all-in-one tool.

Not only does it help you find influencers and analyze them to choose the most suitable for your needs, but it also allows you to manage your campaigns and track the results.

The full influencer experience.

➡️ D. Klear

Klear allows you to search according to different criteria:

• Location
• Sector
• Language
• Niche
• Price range
• Reach

Yet another tool to lighten the workload of hunting for micro‑influencers.

Any of these 4 tools can help you find relevant micro‑influencers in your sector and, more importantly, to see if they have high levels of engagement with their community.

✅ 5. Check out influencer marketing platforms

Aside from all of the above, there are specific platforms dedicated to connecting companies and influencers.

Here are three of the most popular options:

• SocialPubli: This platform grants you access to thousands of micro‑influencer profiles. Besides, once you’ve picked the most relevant ones, SocialPubli allows you to track your campaign and investment.
• BranTube: This website facilitates contact between companies and YouTubers who’ve joined the platform. If you want to advertise your products on YouTube, this is the perfect place.
• Coobis: A platform that offers different services related to SEO, branded content, and influencers. Another place to contact influencers to have them promote your products on social media.

As you can see, there are all sorts of platforms, but at the end of the day, it’s you who has to choose the option that best aligns with your goals and that fits your workflow.

✅ 6. Things to bear in mind when choosing who to work with

According to one study, 17% of teenagers in the U.K. dream of working as influencers (hence the importance of being picky when choosing your influencer).

At the end of the day, you wouldn’t hire anyone without a previous interview, right?

Well, this is no different.

Suppose you already have a list of aspiring micro‑influencers for your shop.

How would you pick the most appropriate ones?

Here are some key aspects to see if they pass this “preliminary interview”:

• Double‑check that they publish frequently.
• Their followers should participate and comment on the content they post. Don’t just look at the number of likes – pay attention to the comments too.
• Do they reply to comments and interact with their followers? That’s very important because it tells you how committed they are to their audience.

Lastly, if it’s possible, ask them for the metrics of their previous campaigns’ results. They should have a file with all registered activity and the results for you to check how they work.

With all this criteria and the steps we’ve given you, you should already have the perfect candidate in mind – or at least know where to look!

Congrats! 😉

👉 Time to influence

After this tutorial, you should be ready to find micro‑influencers for your e‑commerce.

It might take some time to find the right one, but the boost to your sales will surely make it worth your while.

Your effort will pay off.

We recommend that you read the following article on social commerce for more information.

Ready? Hop to it and start influencing.