Micro-Influencers are becoming successful Micro-entrepreneurs

The future of work looks very promising. How people are ditching 9-5 jobs to become micro-entrepreneurs and how this is changing the world.

I want this article to be simple and full of useful information. So I’ll cut to the chase.

Micro-Creators have a harder time earning a living compared to their more famous counterparts. 

But things are changing, nowadays Brand Deals are the largest source of income for Creators, and two things are happening:

1. More companies want to spend their marketing budget on influencers, even the smaller ones.

2. Companies know that, even if a Content Creator is famous, a collaboration may capture traffic coming from irrelevant audiences.

I know this because I used to work at Amazon as a Seller recruiter. I managed accounts for Fashion sellers from all over the world. These people really want to showcase their brand to a peculiar niche, not the highest number of people. 

If you did not think about it, companies out there are desperate to reach their Audience of Interest. 

What is an Audience of Interest for a company?

It is an audience that:

1. Is interested in what the company has to offer

2. Is able to buy what the company has to offer

That’s it. This is what companies are looking for. They want to partner with Creators that can reach their Audience of Interest better than Google Ads.

Selling to your Audience of Interest

Everybody hates being sold something, no matter how useful or valuable that thing might be for them. It’s human nature, we tend to be wary of others. It is not by chance, after all, that countless sales books exist. 

How can I sell something without sounding too salesy and without alienating the interest of my followers?

I have drafted a list of simple rules:

1. Do not promote products or services that are not useful to your audience. 

2. Be direct with your audience and explain why you are promoting these products or services:

   1. “I thank COMPANY X for supporting me in this journey, I highly recommend checking out what they do. It’s an amazing service for people like us.”

   2. “Hey guys, we talk a lot about XYZ here, and company CYU asked me to promote this service , because we are so into XYZ - how cool is that?”

   3. Etc.

3. Become an expert on something very specific. Be the person that people go to for getting information about that specific topic or product. For example, if you are a barber, other barbers or aspiring barbers may want to ask you about the best electric clippers out there.

Keeping the audience happy

As a micro-creator, you need to balance two forces:

1. The need to make your content operation financially viable

2. The need of feeding relevant content to your audience

Striking a balance is not easy because internet users are used to not paying for things, but this is something that you can leverage. 

People love free stuff and if you can provide at least some real value for free, they will be back for more.

It is more important to create valuable content for your audience than to earn an income through it, especially when you are getting started.

If you keep creating valuable content for your niche, and not for “attempting to go viral”, you will eventually unlock your audience’s earning potential.

If you try to “oversell”, this will eventually alienate your audience of interest.

If you try to “go viral” with content that is unrelated to your niche, this will eventually push away your audience of interest.

Brand deals are not fan subscriptions

You need to imagine your TikTok, YT channel, Insta or Substack as a micro-news publication - and you are the Editor in Chief.

You are not just a Content creator or Infuencer, you are the Editor in Chief of a micro-news publication that provides information on a very specific topic in a unique way.

Now, as a micro-news agency, you have quite the cult-like following of a very specific niche - right?

That’s right. 

Now ask yourself the following questions: 

1. What brands need to reach out to my Audience?

2. What are my audience’s favorite products?

3. What brands does my Audience support?

4. What other accounts does my Audience follow?

Your account is as valuable as your audience. 

If your audience is composed of poor Indonesians who are looking for ways to make money online → you can promote simple gigs or coding courses. 

If your audience is composed of wealthy Americans looking for a house in a vibrant Californian sea-side community → you can promote real estate agencies, or realtor profiles.

Your fans are likely not going to subscribe and pay for seeing your content, but they are interested in your niche. Just give them what they want!

The future of online sales

After a decade (and more) of:

1. Affiliate links

2. Online Ads

3. Clickbaity content that only leads to product pages

4. “Free” ebooks that are just a way for the sales team to grab your email and pester you until you wish you had never downloaded that useless ebook

Things are finally changing. The internet is mature enough to welcome micro-creators and help them earn a living. No more working a 9-5 AND a side hustle. 

Just focus on your niche, understand the market, understand your audience, and give your audience what they seek.

Understanding how to deliver real value to your audience is simple, but everyone is still trying to go viral to rack up as many followers as they can. There is no money in short-lived virality. This is why what you write, post and share should be really valuable for your audience.

Anybody can create images with AI, anybody can follow trends, but very few creators really master their niche.

Be that creator.