What is a Micro-Influencer and how do you leverage them?

LinkedIn B2B Marketing

This section talks about how LinkedIn is purpose-built to make B2B marketing more effective.

Purpose-built platform for B2B marketing

• LinkedIn provides a platform with tools to help build better relationships with key customers, boost the buyer journey, and build brand.

• The platform offers trusted data and lead generation to beat KPIs, drive ROI, and stand out amongst the competition.

• Targeting tools on LinkedIn allow reaching precise audiences based on job title, company name, location, etc.

TikTok's Platform Works

This section discusses how TikTok's platform works and how it has influenced Instagram's Reels.

How TikTok's Platform Works

• TikTok allows posts from creators with 30 followers to get a million views.

• Once a piece of content starts getting engagement, the social media platform shows it to more people.

• The more people that engage out of that new audience, the more they keep exploding that reach.

Nano and Micro Influencers

• Nano and micro-influencers can get even more reach than celebrities or mega-influencers if they create high-quality content that people love.

• There is a difference between being an influencer and actually influencing.

Performance-Based Affiliate Type of Micro or Nano Influencer

This section talks about performance-based affiliate type of micro or nano influencers who can drive sales for businesses.

Identifying Creators with Smaller Audiences

• Most businesses prefer performance-based affiliate types of micro or nano influencers who can drive sales.

• It is not easy to identify creators with smaller audiences who can convert sales.

Stack Influence

• Stack Influence is a micro-influencer managed service that focuses on creators who will trade a post for product and sign up for affiliate programs and referral deals.

• William Gastner, the CMO of Stack Influence, talks about influencer pay scales and the differences between creators of various audience sizes.

Tagger - Complete Influencer Marketing Software Platform

This section talks about Tagger, a complete influencer marketing software platform.

Tagger

• Tagger is an influencer marketing software platform that allows finding, reaching out, contracting, collaborating, paying, and measuring content creators for influence marketing efforts.

• The platform helps organize and manage lists of creators under different campaigns.

Tagger and Stack Influence

In this section, Jason Falls talks about two companies that can help with influencer marketing.

Tagger

• Jason recommends checking out Tagger for brands or agencies.

• Go to jasonfalls.co/tagger to get a free demo and see if it's right for you.

Stack Influence

• William Gastner from Stack Influence is interviewed next on Winfluence.

• LinkedIn has a platform purpose-built to make B2B mean more for your business called Stack Influence.

• Rethink your B2B marketing LinkedIn ads and get a $100 credit on your next campaign by going to linkedin.com/MPN.

How Nano/Micro Influencers Became Popular

In this section, the guest speaker talks about how he got into the influencer world and how they found that nano/micro influencers were the best bang for their buck.

• The guest speaker's background is in web development/marketing as well as e-commerce.

• They were one of the first e-commerce sellers to sell fidget toys on Amazon and run ads for them in 2015.

• They used all types of influencers from mega influencers to nano/micro influencers during their experiment.

• Micro/Nano influencers were cheaper, diversified risk, added authenticity, and had trusted audiences which made them the best bang for their buck.

• Micro/Nano influencers have everyday people as followers, which makes them more trustworthy and influential.

The Birth of Stack Influence

In this section, the speaker talks about how they started Stack Influence as a solution to their own issues with influencer marketing. They discuss the challenges of working with micro and nano influencers and how they developed automations to make the process simpler.

From Fidget Spinners to Stack Influence

• Started building out internal team to handle influencer marketing for their e-commerce brands.

• Found that even with top influencer software, reaching out to people and getting them to post was still a full-time job.

• Set out to create automations to make the process simpler, which led to the birth of Stack Influence almost five years ago.

What is Stack Influence?

• A nano/micro-influencer marketing platform that specializes in automated management at scale.

• Saves brands on average about 90 hours per month in management time.

• Developed unique systems into the platform that solve issues such as guaranteeing influencer promotions.

What is Stack Influence?

In this section, the speaker provides a more detailed explanation of what Stack Influence does and who it serves.

Elevator Pitch Explanation

• A nano/micro-influencer marketing platform that specializes in automated management at scale.

• Totally hands-off platform where everything is handled from A-Z.

• Saves brands on average about 90 hours per month in management time.

Unique Systems

• Guarantees influencer promotions unlike most other e-commerce platforms.

• Has developed unique systems into the entire platform that solve other issues.

Influencer Marketing Platform

The speaker discusses the challenges of scaling an influencer marketing campaign and how their platform addresses these issues.

Unique System for Influencers

• Clients were unhappy when influencers did not follow through on campaigns.

• Developed a unique system where influencers must be real consumers of a brand to participate in campaigns.

• Influencers buy clients' products at full price and are reimbursed after completing promotions.

• Occasionally, influencers are rewarded with monetary compensation based on their reach or actions.

Benefits of the Model

• Ensures that people do what they say they will do, preventing inventory loss and missed deadlines.

• Handles shipping logistics through e-commerce channels, making it easier to scale promotions.

• Enables outsourcing of influencer campaigns and guarantees transactions happen as intended.

Pricing

• Prices start at less than $30 per influencer and decrease with increased scale.

• Compared to finding influencers independently, the platform is cost-effective.

How Stack Influence Manages Influencer Relationships

In this section, the speaker explains how Stack Influence manages influencer relationships and curates collaborations between brands and influencers.

Stack Influence as a Marketplace

• Stack Influence is a marketplace similar to Uber, where it matches brands with influencers.

• The platform has two users: brands on one side and influencers on the other.

• The matching system is curated, meaning that Stack Influence chooses the right influencer for each brand.

Curating Influencers

• To curate influencers, Stack Influence taps into social media APIs to source information about people.

• Hashtags are the main feature used to tag and search for information.

• Other data points include engagement rate, frequency of posting, length of time on social media platforms, number of followers/following, use of bots or fake followers, and keywords/tags used in promotions.

Curation Process

• Once data points are collected about an influencer's interests and profile, Stack Influence needs to have the right product for them.

• The curation process involves choosing products that match an influencer's interests and aesthetic.

• Brands also need to be matched with influencers who fit their aesthetic and will be true customers of their products.

Data Collection

• Once an influencer is part of the community, Stack Influence collects more data points on what they do and what they're interested in.

Understanding Influencer Marketing

In this section, William Gasser of Stack Influence discusses how their platform curates new products for influencers and how they match influencers with brands.

Curating New Products for Influencers

• The platform gives options to influencers based on their interests.

• Negative data points are sometimes more valuable than positive ones because they help understand the demographics better.

• The matchmaking system is curated through constant opportunities and feedback from brands.

Micro-Influencers and Paying Creators

• Stack Influence works primarily with micro-influencers who will work for product only.

• Stack Influence is not against paying influencers in general but wants to allow people to build an influencer resume before getting paid opportunities elsewhere or within the platform.

• They plan to develop paid promotional opportunities in the future but want to focus on dominating the market of product compensation promotions.

Other Topics

• The discussion also touches on defining micro-influencers and exploring some controversial positions of paying creators.

• Carrie Barrett's podcast, "The VIQ Project," is recommended for tips and tricks on creating video content.

Leveraging Social Profiles to Save and Make Money

In this section, the speaker discusses how Stack Influence aims to help people leverage their social profiles to save and make money. They want to change the perception of being an influencer into that of a passion promoter.

Passion Promoters

• Stack Influence wants people who didn't realize their social profile's value to leverage it for saving and making money.

• Majority of social media users fall into the micro/nano space with less than 10,000 followers. Stack Influence wants them to think of themselves as passion promoters.

• People can make money or save money by leveraging their passions through Stack Influence.

Influencer Compensation Model

• Stack Influence wants to dominate the space of everyday people turning into passion promoters.

• While there will always be people who want to get paid for what they do, that's not where they're starting.

• Influencers are free to re-engage with brands they work with through Stack Influence campaigns. There are no exclusivity agreements.

Defining Micro/Nano Influencers

• For Stack Influence, a micro/nano influencer is someone willing to do a promotion for a product.

• Majority of people with less than 20,000 followers or over 20,000 followers want to get paid.

Affiliate Setups and Influencer Engagement

In this section, the speaker discusses how their platform encourages clients to engage with influencers outside of their platform. They also provide tools for brands to identify the best promoters for them.

Encouraging Influencer Engagement

• The platform encourages clients to engage with influencers during or after campaigns outside of their platform.

• Tools are provided in the dashboard that enable brands to download all influencer information, including engagement levels and follower base.

• Specific modules help identify the highest engagement influencers who participated in campaigns.

Leveraging Influencers for Maximum Benefit

• Brands should identify the best promoters for them and integrate them into their own affiliate networks.

• Authentic user-generated content (UGC) decreases ad costs and increases conversions.

• Brands should leverage all assets provided by a campaign during or after it has ended.

Driving Conversions through Influencer Marketing

In this section, the speaker explains how Stack Influence drives conversions through influencer marketing. They discuss what they look for in creators to know they will be a good investment with conversions in mind.

Correlation between Engagement and Conversion

• Engagement is the largest correlation to conversion that can be obtained as an overall metric.

• Social platforms now only show content to people who care about it, making engagement more important than ever before.

Identifying Good Investments for Conversions

• Stack Influence looks for high engagement levels when identifying good investments for conversions.

• Social media platforms show content only to people who care about it, regardless of the number of followers an influencer has.

The Rise of Nano and Micro Influencers

In this section, the speaker discusses how everyday people with smaller followings can have a greater impact on social media platforms than celebrities or mega influencers.

Nano and Micro Influencers

• Everyday people with smaller followings are becoming more influential on social media platforms.

• Engagement rates are more important than follower count when determining an influencer's impact.

• Impressions can be a vanity metric, while likes and comments indicate actual engagement.

• Brands should focus on working with nano and micro influencers who create high-quality content that resonates with their audience.

Understanding Amazon Influencers

In this section, the speaker explains what an Amazon influencer is and how they can benefit both brands and influencers.

Definition of Amazon Influencer

• An Amazon influencer is someone who promotes products on Amazon through their social media channels.

• Engagement rates are still important for Amazon influencers, as they determine the success of their promotions.

• The Amazon influencer program allows influencers to curate their own storefront of products they love and promote, as well as access Amazon Live to participate in live e-commerce shopping events.

Benefits for Brands and Influencers

• Participating in the Amazon influencer program allows influencers to get more value out of the products they represent by earning affiliate commissions from sales generated through their promotions.

• Promoting online marketplaces like Amazon can be more impactful than promoting D2C because it enables brands to drive traffic to a platform where customers are already shopping.

Benefits of Selling on Marketplaces and Amazon's Attribution Link Program

In this section, William discusses the benefits of selling on marketplaces like Amazon and introduces Amazon's attribution link program.

Benefits of Selling on Marketplaces

• 40% of every single e-commerce sale in the US is through Amazon.

• Being on marketplaces can be a necessary evil as it is a very competitive place with high fees, but it can also have many benefits if you become a top seller.

• Running influencer promotions through channels like social media can be more impactful in the long run.

Amazon's Attribution Link Program

• The attribution link program enables sellers to create unique URL links that track where their traffic is coming from, allowing them to see which marketing channels are effective.

• This program is great for influencer promotions and allows sellers to save up to 10% on fees by driving traffic from external sources like social media.

• The brand referral bonus program gives sellers even more savings when they drive traffic from external sources using attribution links.

Conclusion and Contact Information

In this section, William concludes the conversation and provides contact information for Stack Influence.

• To learn more about Stack Influence, visit stackinfluence.com or find them on social media at @stackinfluence.

• For any questions or inquiries, reach out to William directly at william@stackinfluence.com.

Introduction

In this section, the host introduces the podcast and encourages listeners to share it with others.

Sharing the Podcast

• The host asks listeners to share the podcast with others who might enjoy learning about influence or influence marketing.

• Listeners can visit winfluencepod.com or share a link to an episode on their social network of choice.

• The host also asks listeners to rate or review the podcast on their favorite podcast app.

Future Episodes and Book Promotion

In this section, the host discusses how listeners can help make future episodes of Winfluence awesome and promotes his book, Winfluence: Reframing Influencer Marketing to Ignite Your Brand.

Asking Questions and Recording Voice Memos

• Listeners can ask questions about influence or influence marketing by sending an email to jasonfalls.com.

• Listeners can also record a voice memo on their phone and email it to the host for a chance to have their question answered on the show.

Promoting Winfluence: Reframing Influencer Marketing to Ignite Your Brand

• The host promotes his book, Winfluence: Reframing Influencer Marketing to Ignite Your Brand, which is available online at winfluencebook.com.

• Listeners can sign up for periodic newsletters about influence marketing delivered by the author.

• The author is available for speaking engagements related to influence marketing.

Getting Help with Influence Marketing Strategy

In this section, the host discusses how listeners can get help with their influence marketing strategy.

Contacting Jason Falls

• Listeners who need help with their influence marketing strategy can contact Jason Falls by emailing him at jason@jasonfalls.com.

Guest Suggestions

• Listeners who know someone who would make a good guest for the show can email the host at jason@jasonfalls.com.

Conclusion and Other Podcast Recommendations

In this section, the host concludes the podcast and recommends other podcasts on MPN that can help listeners with their business.

Conclusion

• The host thanks listeners for tuning in to Winfluence: The Influence Marketing Podcast.

• The theme music is "One More Look" by The K Club and Grammy award-winning producer Jacquire King.

Other Podcast Recommendations

• The host recommends Izzy House's podcast, "The Space Marketing Podcast," which explores marketing principles, strategies, and tactics through the lens of space.