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How to Be a Nanoinfluencer and Make Money With Under 10,000 Followers

Learn how to become a nanoinfluencer and why brands are turning to niche content creators as their marketing secret weapons.

Claire Beveridge July 7, 2022
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Not sure what a nanoinfluencer is? Looking for some help on how to incorporate nanoinfluencers into your marketing campaigns? Feeling ready to become one? You’ve come to the right place!

Let’s start with the basics: Influencer marketing! It’s a relatively new strategy that lets brands work on campaigns with online personalities.

These partnerships benefit both sides. The brand gets increased product visibility and awareness. The influencer earns a few (or many) dollars for their effort.

Unfortunately, not every brand has the budget to hire Huda Kattan or Alexa Chung to help run influencer marketing campaigns. This is where smaller influencers can help.

Do it better with Hootsuite, the all-in-one social media tool. Stay on top of things, grow, and beat the competition.

What is a nanoinfluencer?

Anyone on social media with less than 10,000 followers. They partner with brands to promote products to a smaller and more specific audience.

Typically, nanoinfluencers are less polished than micro, macro, or celebrity influencers. They present a more down-to-earth and realistic approach to their content.

Here are a few examples:

Let’s start with two contestants from The Great Canadian Baking Show: Colin Asuncion and Megan Stasiewich.

Megan is using her time in the spotlight to promote small businesses.

Colin uses his influence to promote businesses and causes outside the bakery.

But having your 15 minutes of fame on TV is not a pre-requisite!

Emelie Savard is a fitness and lifestyle influencer from Toronto, Canada. She is using her podcast, and social media account to promote products she loves to her small but growing following.

Gabi Abreu is a health and wellness blogger who has started landing promotional partnerships. The best part is that the products and suppliers she promotes align with her (and her audience’s) values.

Why businesses partner with nanoinfluencers

Many believed only celebrities had enough star power to make people buy products. But nowadays, anyone with a follower count can work with businesses to endorse products.

As a marketer, you’re probably thinking, “why would I partner with an influencer if their following is so small?” The answer is two-fold: budget and audience.

Nanoinfluencers typically get far paid less than celebrity influencers. Celebrities can charge upwards of $1 million per post. Macro-influencers can charge up to $1,800 per post.

Nanoinfluencers, on the other hand, will sometimes work with a brand for no money in return for free products. However, depending on the type of post and campaign structure, the average price for a nanoinfluencer post is $10-$200.

Hiring smaller and more affordable influencers is an excellent idea if you’re a business with a limited budget. This is especially true if you’re testing the waters of influencer marketing for the first time.

the most expensive influence on Instagram graph
Source: eMarketer

Secondly, nanoinfluencers have a following of fewer than 10,000 people and sometimes will only have 1,000 followers. What’s important here isn’t the volume of the audience; it’s who’s following and how engaged they are.


How businesses partner with nanoinfluencers

Let’s say you have a new small business selling kites made for kids, and you’re looking to increase the awareness of your brand, Kiddies Kites.

You’ll want to save some of your marketing budget to run paid advertising on social media. You’ll also invest in search engine optimization (SEO) for your website.

But where is the best place to spend the rest of your marketing dollars?

Why not find a creator whose social media content focuses on kids’ activities and things to do with children? You could send them a selection of Kiddies Kites to promote for a small fee, getting your product in front of a niche but dedicated audience.

Not convinced that working with small-time influencers is for you? It might surprise you that almost 75% of US marketers plan on working with influencers in 2022. This number is projected to rise to 86% by 2025.

US marketers who use influencer marketing 2020-25

Additionally, the amount brands are looking to spend on influencer marketing will top a massive $4.14 billion in 2022. This is an increase of 71% compared to 2019 and pre-pandemic life.

graph of influencer marketing spend 2019-2023

Brands are splashing plenty of cash around, and audiences want a slice of the luxury influencer lifestyle. Here’s how you can do it.

Can anyone be a nanoinfluencer?

Pretty much! There are no qualifications or experience needed. What you do need is:

  • A social media presence and over 1,000 followers who engage with your content
  • The drive to get started working with brands and earning money.

How to become a nanoinfluencer

Nanoinfluencing isn’t exactly rocket science, but you will need to brush up on a few essentials to get started. All you need is:

An understanding of social media

You’ll need a good level of knowledge of how all the major influencer channels work to land collaborations with brands.

We have tons of fantastic social media resources that will help you familiarize yourself with the channels that matter most. Great places to start are Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

An understanding of social media metrics

Your nanoinfluencing career won’t last long if you aren’t able to show brands why working with you will give them a positive return on investment (ROI). Learn how to measure the effectiveness of your collaborations and campaigns. Invest time in understanding the key social media metrics that matter.

Engaged followers

Whether you’ve got 1,000 or 10,000 followers, you’re ready to become a nanoinfluencer… just as long as your followers engage with your content. Brands won’t want to work with you if your channel isn’t generating likes, comments, and community.

A suite of social media tools

It’s worth spending some time familiarizing yourself with social media tools. Anything that can help you manage your social posts and campaigns.

Consider tools that allow you to:

  • schedule posts ahead of time
  • view analytics
  • engage with followers in a snap

Hootsuite makes it easy to do all three across all the major social media networks at the same time. We may be a little biased, but check us out and see for yourself!

Tools like this make it much easier to monetize your Instagram channel and kickstart your life as a nanoinfluencer.

A rate card

It’ll be worth your while to figure out how much you’d ideally like to charge for different types of posts. Usually, brands will ask for your rate card, which is a PDF with all your rates and pricing on it.

Knowing how much you charge for a standard newsfeed Instagram post vs. a 4-minute YouTube video is crucial. It will help keep your conversations professional and allows you to be firm with pricing.

Being a nanoinfluencer can be a rewarding experience. This is especially true if you’re amped up about the power of social media and looking to earn some money promoting brands you love.

Sign up to Hootsuite to see how we help manage influencer marketing at all levels. Publish and schedule posts, find relevant conversations, engage your audience, measure results, and more — all from one dashboard. Try it free today.

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Bonus: Download a free, fully customizable influencer media kit template to help you introduce your accounts to brands, land sponsorship deals, and make more money on social media.

Get the template now!

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By Claire Beveridge

Claire Beveridge is a freelance writer, strategist, and editor. Over the past decade, Claire has leaned on her experience in content marketing and social media to help scale B2B and B2C businesses across North America and Europe — including work with Crunch, Lumen5, Method + Metric SEO Agency, and Quietly.

Currently, Claire runs a small marketing studio on the west coast of Canada whose clients include Hootsuite, ConvertKit, Superpath, and Graphite. She specializes in creating editorial assets that educate, entertain, and convert customers.

Claire spends her free time cooking, watching soccer, and spending time with her family.

Read more by Claire Beveridge

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