Navigating the world of influencer marketing can often be daunting, especially when influencers may charge a brand up to $20,000 for a single post to their Instagram account. Such cost can be prohibitive – so what other options are available to brands

CFDA invited James Nord, CEO and Co-founder of Fohr, to share insights on working with micro-influencers – a demographic of influencers who can offer a brand more bang for their buck.

Fohr is a first-to-market influencer marketing platform that connects influencers with the top brands across luxury fashion, beauty, and lifestyle, and works with some of the top designers in luxury fashion, fusing both the art and the science to run the highest quality campaigns in the market.

Here, some of Nord’s top tips and suggestions:

• Micro-influencers generally have 50k followers on Instagram, but that fluctuates depending on the market. For example, a micro-influencer from the UK might only have 10k followers, where a U.S.-based influencer may have five times the amount.;
• Reach versus frequency? Based on your budget, a brand should evaluate whether they are looking to invest in a single post from a major influencer or a hundred posts from a micro-influencer.
• Working with micro-influencers can be more advantageous for your marketing strategy because these creators cost less to work with, have higher audience engagement (3-5 times better than large influencers), and will often post more content for your brand.
• Brief them thoroughly on your creative goals. Provide them with any necessary copy and hashtags, information about the product, FTC disclosure rules and visual guidelines like “smiles are welcome” or “happy and bright.”
• Generating a bank of content: Consider using micro-influencers for small photo shoots and various creative projects. You can repurpose their content for all your social needs like the brand newsletter, Instagram posts and your website.
• Micro-influencers have less sponsored content on their Instagram feed, so there is an innate sense of excitement, passion and desire to make their client happy.  An audience can get frustrated and lose belief in the voice of an influencer who shares too much sponsored content.
• Lastly, when working with a micro-influencer, remember that it’s an easier scale to test and learn with. If the content created didn’t generate the type of engagement you’d hoped for, you took less of a financial risk.