glossary
Micro influencer
A creator with a small, specific audience that pays attention.
A micro influencer is a creator with a small following, usually taken to mean somewhere between about 10,000 and 100,000 followers. The numbers are a convention rather than a definition, and different agencies draw the line in different places.
Why the size matters
The point is not the follower count. It is what tends to come with it:
- Their inbox is not full. A creator with ten million followers gets pitched every day. A creator with twenty thousand often gets pitched never, and answers.
- The audience is specific. Small accounts are usually small because they are about one thing, which is exactly what makes them easy to match to one product.
- The comments are real. At this size the creator is still replying to people by name, and you can read the audience instead of guessing at it.
Where it gets misused
"Micro influencer" is sometimes used to mean "cheap". That is not the same thing, and treating it that way is how brands end up with a list of small accounts that have nothing to do with their product. The size is a symptom of a focused audience, not the reason to pitch one.