Micro-influencers: cheaper and often better

The market talks about big names and works with small ones. Accounts between 1,000 and 25,000 followers are the segment where most collaborations actually happen, for three sound reasons.

Engagement falls with size

The pattern is consistent across platforms and years.

A 5,000-follower account at 8 per cent reaches 400 engaged people. A 200,000-follower account at 1.2 per cent reaches 2,400, at perhaps thirty times the cost.

Proximity is the actual product

A small account knows its audience. Questions in the comments get answered by the person, not a manager. A recommendation there reads as a recommendation from an acquaintance.

The content dividend

Twenty collaborations produce twenty sets of photographs and videos in twenty settings. If your usage rights are properly agreed, that material becomes the raw stock for a year of advertising.

Compared with a studio production, the cost per usable asset is often lower by a factor of five, and the material performs better in paid channels because it does not look like advertising.

How to run twenty at once without drowning

1. One brief for all, one page, with three fixed points and everything else free.
2. A fixed period, all posts within four weeks, so the effect concentrates.
3. Product and payment standardised, no individual negotiation below a threshold.
4. One tracking link per person, so you can see who actually delivered.
5. A shared code, different per creator, which measures purchases rather than clicks.

Start with your own customers

The most overlooked source is your own follower list and customer base. People who already buy from you and post regularly are the most credible partners available, and often the cheapest.

Search your followers for accounts above 1,000 followers, check the four selection numbers, and write to them personally. Response rates from that source are far higher than cold outreach, because a relationship already exists.